Deer recovery kit

[Twanger]

Here's what I carry in the pack that gets used *after* the trigger is pulled.

* Three small but bright flashlights. One with lots of black-tape wrapped around it.
* Several writing pen. One with duct-tape wrapped around it.
* Tags and tie-wraps for affixing them to the inside of a deer's ear. I cut two vertical slits in the ear and tie-wrap tag inside. Then tape the ear shut.
* Trusty Buck110 folding knife. Razor sharp.
* Six reflective tracking clothes pins. Red on one side and white on the other.
* Several pairs of field-dressing gloves
* gallon-sized plastic bags for heart, liver, and kidneys.
* 30feet of 400lb breaking strength camo rope. I haul deer up in a tree to gut it. Saves my back and keeps tenders clean.
* toilet paper or paper napkins in a baggie - good for marking small spots of blood, or taking a dump on a long track.
* (not shown) Hunting license.

Making some clip-on trail-markers for tracking at night.
Hoooneeeeeey! Where'd all the clothes pins go?
Adhesive-backed reflective tape from auto-parts store.
Red on one side and white on the other.
Red leads to the deer and white back to the stand.

 

[JP100]

do you allways carry all this?
seems alot of stuff to carry about.
All you need to gut a deer is a knife then some string/shoe laces to carry it out. or hang it in a tree and return later and bone em out and put into a back pack.
Looks like you havto track alot of wounded deer?

 

[Twanger]

Well, I kill a lot of deer with a bow.
Totaled up the last four years recently - 106 deer.

Some run farther than others. Some have poor blood trails and some are great.
No rhyme or reason to it.

Then there's helping other guys on the team track their deer.

Probably have recovered something like 200 deer in the last four years.

My little pile of stuff there weighs about 2lb. I weigh 250 lb.
I don't notice the weight all that much.

It pays to be prepared. Just sayin'...

 

[JP100]

Well, I kill a lot of deer with a bow.
Totaled up the last four years recently - 106 deer.

Some run farther than others. Some have poor blood trails and some are great.
No rhyme or reason to it.

Then there's helping other guys on the team track their deer.

Probably have recovered something like 200 deer in the last four years.

My little pile of stuff there weighs about 2lb. I weigh 250 lb.
I don't notice the weight all that much.

It pays to be prepared. Just sayin'...

Fair enough with a bow. with a rifle i was thinking maybe your doing something wrong haha. Dogs are the best to find wounded stuff but can be hassel if your not using them all time.(i dont have a dog anymore.)
Thats alot of deer to get with a bow, good on ya.
im only 165lbs so I dont like carrying anymore than I havto haha.

 

[Twanger]

You are right about dogs.
We have two available to the group.
We use 'em a few times a year. Not too many.

 

[JP100]

Are you allowd to carry a gun as back up on bow hunts?? like for badly wounded/poor shots. and people bow hunt bears right???

 

[Twanger]

No guns allowed in bow season in Maryland.
Anyhow, I hunt deer in suburban neighborhoods and guns would be out of the question, even if generally legal.
We ninja in and out, keeping as low a footprint as possible.

 

[JP100]

thats a good idea. Im just getting a bow for areas that are near public tracks and in tight bush. dont like guns when there is the possibilty of others being around

 

[Dlewis82nd]

Well, I kill a lot of deer with a bow.
Totaled up the last four years recently - 106 deer.

Some run farther than others. Some have poor blood trails and some are great.
No rhyme or reason to it.

Then there's helping other guys on the team track their deer.

Probably have recovered something like 200 deer in the last four years.

My little pile of stuff there weighs about 2lb. I weigh 250 lb.
I don't notice the weight all that much.

It pays to be prepared. Just sayin'...

106 in 4 years? how much do you want for your ocean front property in arizona?

 

[Twanger]

it's hard to imagine.
It's a ton of deer.

I run a deer management group in the Maryland suburbs near Washington DC.
They are overrun with deer.
We have unlimited doe tags and a bow season that's almost 5 months long.
We run corn feeders with a camera on every one.
Kill Probability is about 80% per hunt.
So if you only kill 5 a month that's more than 20 a year.
I'll often kill 2, 3, or even 4 in a single day.

I've been doing it for 9 years now.
I'm pretty good at it.

We feed a lot of hungry / disadvantaged people.

It's not really "hunting" but once in a while I'll get out and kill a deer on public land for a real hunting experience.

 

[Tikkamike]

why even gut it? sounds ilke you take most of the guts home in a bag anyway! haha jk thats a lot of deer! most people think I kill a lot of stuff out here in Wyoming cause I usually get 3 elk 6 deer and 6 antelope. 100+ is crazy! although one of my deer is probably like 4 deer back east weight wise

 

[Dlewis82nd]

Talk about a dream job

 

[Twanger]

I'd love to get paid to do this, but it costs our group about $1000-$1500 a year in corn, batteries, feeders, cameras, etc. Still, on a per-person basis it's maybe $200 a head for exclusive rights to bowhunt about 800 acres. In this day and age, that's a cheap 'lease.'

The neighborhood does take up a collection to help defer some corn costs. It helps, but does not come close to covering our costs.

We do it because we want to help the community, fill our freezers, feed the hungry, and help the deer. It's a multi-way win.

 

[Dlewis82nd]

That would be 200 dollars well spent!