What to do about dead deer?

[Stihlrunner]

Discovered a dead 3 point on the land bordering our place and the neighbors. The neighbors house is abandoned since the renters moved out and left all their garbage.

The deer is a fairly recent addition but decomp has been going on for awhile. There is what appears to be a bullet hole near the eye.

Called the game warden and the county, they aren't real interested.

With all the recent rain I'm not sure I can get the tractor down to it and it may be a disgusting mess trying to move it. Any suggestions? Maybe covering in lime and dirt?

It's kind of off our driveway and the smell is noticeable, fortunately the weather has been mild. I also don't want dogs and the like discovering it.

 

[themichelob]

Actually, it's not fortunate that the weather has been mild--that's why you're smelling it. Hard to advise without your location, but I would bet that once "the like" discover it it'll be gone in no time. That is what happens on my property. Only a few hairs left by spring...Regards, Mike

 

[bamboozled]

Leave it be. Definitely don't try to move it with your tractor if its already starting to rot.

 

[bucktaker]

diesel fuel and a match

 

[20 20]

Don't use diesel and a match, there is enough chemicals spewing into our envir. Just let it be nature will take care of it.

 

[forgeblast]

Get a bag of lime and throw it on there by next year it will be clean and the smell will not be so bad. I did it with a deer that was hit the first year we moved in.

 

[Gary Fowler]

If you cant get to it to bury it, I would do as suggested and leave it to the buzzards, coyotes,possums and crows and other carrion eaters to do away with it. Use the lime after the critters have finished up to kill the smell a bit. A couple of weeks and it should be pretty much gone.
If you are worried about your dogs getting to it, you will have to bury it. If you have a backhoe, it should be easy enough to just dig a hole right beside it and shove it in. I buried a goat for my brother in law a month or so back and it just fit in a 12" wide by 4 foot deep hole. Of course it was fresh so no smell to bother us.

 

[Pops15]

Leave it for the scavengers or use the diesel and match idea.

 

[dave1949]

You can compost it in place. Cover it well with straw, leaves, whatever organic material you have, add some lime. It will disappear. This is one of the recommended ways of disposing of dead farm animals from goats to horses. It would help if you could put down some straw, then roll the carcass onto that bed and then cover it.

If you put the carcass below the biologically active layer of soil, say deeper than 8 to 10 inches, you will actually slow the decomposition.

The coyotes, ravens, crows and such would clean it up around here, but I can understand wanting to control the smell and pet dog attraction.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

You can compost it in place. Cover it well with straw, leaves, whatever organic material you have, add some lime. It will disappear. This is one of the recommended ways of disposing of dead farm animals from goats to horses. It would help if you could put down some straw, then roll the carcass onto that bed and then cover it.

If you put the carcass below the biologically active layer of soil, say deeper than 8 to 10 inches, you will actually slow the decomposition.

The coyotes, ravens, crows and such would clean it up around here, but I can understand wanting to control the smell and pet dog attraction.

What kind of lime do you recommend? Ag lime or quicklime? I think both might work; Quicklime, or burnt lime (Calcium hydroxide) would certainly hasten the decomp, (Dad used to put it down our old privy) but it is very chemically reactive and not something you would want to get on your skin. Ag lime, of course, is just crushed limestone (Calcium Carbonate) and would probably absorb a lot of the fluids and keep the odor down.

 

[dave1949]

What kind of lime do you recommend? Ag lime or quicklime? I think both might work; Quicklime, or burnt lime (Calcium hydroxide) would certainly hasten the decomp, (Dad used to put it down our old privy) but it is very chemically reactive and not something you would want to get on your skin. Ag lime, of course, is just crushed limestone (Calcium Carbonate) and would probably absorb a lot of the fluids and keep the odor down.

I was thinking that ag lime would cover some of the smell, but apparently it can delay decomposition in shallow burials: http://archlab.uindy.edu/documents/theses/ThewHAAbstract.pdf

Your question made me go looking and apparently this is an active criminal forensic topic. Who knew?

 

[Rock knocker]

........ There is what appears to be a bullet hole near the eye.

Called the game warden and the county, they aren't real interested.....

Who cares whether they are intersted or not. Poaching or wastage of game are crimes and should be investigated.

I don't give a **** that the cops are too busy eating doughnuts, tell them to do their job.

Lazy lazy lazy

 

[jobguy]

I covered a dead deer with plastic and shoveled some dirt on it to hold the plastic down. The smell was taken care of right away. The deer (which was only 50 feet from my garage) still decomposed normally, and the smell was gone. I have six acres in the burbs and find two to four dead deer every spring. Since I got my tractor with loader and when they are accessible I move them to the back of the lot. I'm not allowed to hunt them, sorry to say. Good luck.

 

[jinman]

That same thing happened to me just Monday of this week. I was helping a neighbor evaluate a possible pond site by digging a trench with my backhoe to examine the soil types. The neighbor just bought a piece of land from a guy I sold it to before (long story). As I drove my tractor across a grassy meadow, I first got a whiff and then saw the carcass. The head and lower legs were still intact, with the eyes missing from the skull and skin and ribcage visible. The carcass was much too decomposed to evaluate for wounds, but out in the open it is doubtful that this buck was anything but a kill that bolted and was not pursued by the shooter. About 100 yards away was the tree stand of feeder of another neighbor just over the property line. I have my suspicions, but can't know for sure. The unfortunate thing was this buck was 10 pointer with a beautiful rack. I have the same buck on my game camera video from last year. An deer hit by a car in Texas cannot be taken off the highway by a motorists, but I can find no law that says if you find a dead carcass such as this you cannot take the rack. The new neighbor says he is going to cut off the head and hang it in a tree to dry. It's really sad to think that a hunter shot this beautiful buck and just left it. What a shame. The coyotes and buzzards got a free meal though.

 

[Rock knocker]

...... but I can find no law that says if you find a dead carcass such as this you cannot take the rack......

Almost without exception, all states make it illegal to posses animal parts not legally harvested (read hunted) or naturally discarded by the animal.

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/279468/2

It is easy to skirt this, and is not likely to be investigated or prosecuted unless another crime was commited. Wardens will often give racks and other trophys to people who find and report dead animals on their property

 

[studor]

If the smell is the problem just bury it -- if dogs really want it they will find it and dig it up anyway. A dead deer at my place lasts for a couple of weeks max before crows, turkey vultures, coyotes and foxes take care of it -- there are always some remnants that hang around londer but even those disappear after a season or two. Lime, burning etc just delay natures processes.
I understand the frustration with the local authorities but the odds of them being able to do anything but spend your money on a fruitless effort are slim. Here you can now take roadkill deer so they tend to disappear a little quicker -- used to be that any part of any animal not taken legally through hunting or trapping --(i.e even the horns) was a no no -- changes in the last few years make more sense

 

[Rock knocker]

And it's often not even a game violation, but tampering with evidence of a felony or gross misdemeanor if poaching was involved or suspected

 

[dmccarty]

Around here the buzzards take care of dead critters pretty quickly. I saw a dead deer in a front yard last week just after dawn and the buzzards were already taking care of business.

Later,
Dan

 

[tcreeley]

I have hit two deer in the last couple of years on 220 heading to Detroit. I was going 50-55 at night. The first I caught with the right corner bumper on my Silverado 2500HD. The second ran smack into my passenger door. I never stopped and never saw a sign of the deer when I passed through later. I doubt they lived for more than a few minutes if that. Food for the crows.

 

[whistlepig]

The state of Ohio has started covering road kill deer with wood chips.