We used to let a deer lay over night in my part of the country. Not anymore due to the many coyotes. Now when I gut and tag a deer and need to leave it to get my car, cart or whatever. I lay a coat over the hind quarters. I am just wondering if someone has a better idea for keeping predators away (?).

Is there a way that you can hang the deer off the ground? Out west where I hunt for elk, mountain lions and bears are common. Quartering, bagging and hanging those bags is mandatory if you want to have any meat left on your third or fourth trip to pack it all out.

Pull 'em up in a tree....I can't see the coat doing anything around here other than giving them something else to tear up.

Yep, around here the coat or hat will usually keep most away for a short time. I also hang a headlamp about head high at the site which makes it a bit easier to find my way back to the deer in the brush in the dark. We've taken 8 off our farm 3 years ago and 6 2 years ago--- mostly snares but some daytime calling. I had none in my snares this year and very little sign, but unfortunately I have no doubt they'll filter back in.

Therifleman, do you have the best luck trapping low spots along fences or just along worn down trails?

Never heard of a mountain lion poaching a carcass, though maybe they’d recognize a wounded deer as an easy mark….. ?

Coyotes are opportunistic a creature as God ever created. Can’t fault them for being smart. Seems like the best solution is to be just that much pickier about which shots you’re willing to take. Some people have given me hell for it, but I’m a big proponent of thinking through the odds of recovery while looking at the time, temperature, tracking conditions, and so on. What happens if I make a 1-hour recovery kind of hit or a 2-hour or an overnight, or whatever?? There’s a lot more to it than just range and shot angle, but fortunately you usually have time to consider all of the details well in advance of the shot materializing.

And since everybody seems to be on board with the bennies of a clean pass-through and the way that animals don’t run as far or as hard, it really seems to clarify the importance of a truly sharp 2-blade and a really well-tuned arrow which will zip right through.

So the “close enough” school of thought doesn’t really hold up that well…

Canepole-- I have a few well worn trails that come from brush to our hay field. One spot where I've gotten several is a 2 track that I neck down a bit to funnel them. The trails really pop around December and I focus my trapping from then through February. Any openings in woven wire fences or low spots along fences as you described would be good.

I never thought of posting a headlamp over the kill. I always have one with me along with another pocket flashlight for getting back. Any more ideas, keep them coming !

We use a flashing light like the kids use at Halloween for safety to mark the stand location and the deer so we can find each after shooting deer. I might even use a cheap bicycle flasher.

I have never left a light overnight on a deer kill, but I have thought about a 12- hour chem light or glow in the dark light. I carry two small ones in the hunting pack to use to mark a major turn off the trail, but never on the kill. I imagine one dangling off a limb by paracord over the kill may be a deterrent, at least to coyotes.

My trapping days are long over here in the West, but many times I’ve wrapped a light sweatshirt over the gutted body cavity of deer and elk and never had predator or bird problems, usually in cooler weather. In September, you better get it boned and packed out, even if during the night, due to warm weather.

One time for certain a pair of coyotes circled the gutted buck carcass in the snow and likely got down wind and smelled a lot of my scent from the sweatshirt and kept on going. The coyotes are pretty scent wise from the government trappers, and generally spooky of people from being educated by them in our neck of the woods.

Worst case scenario, you could also leave a cell phone/air tag with the kill and use location services to find it. Could be the stealth option if you’re in an area where you wanted something less obvious to whoever might pass by.

I'm too old for air tags! I use the lights to mark the spot where the shot came from and then to find where I may have left some of my equipment at the stand. Then to mark where the deer is so I can find it if I have to walk away from it. I never leave a deer overnight, because of coyotes.

I'll be honest: when I'm trailing a deer at night I can get turned around in a dark woods and all trees look alike!

Hunt coyotes year round! Not shoot as opportunistic targets but hunt hard! With rifles or shotguns depending your location. Right know, they are raising pups and are vulnerable to puppy distress calls. You will gain respect ufor them! They are survivors. Hunt, not shoot, Hunt them year round! Super smart, Learn from your mistakes , and a match for anyone! If can reliably kill them with archery equipment, I bend to worship you. Arrowchucker. Kill as many, and as often as you can!. Best you can do fo deer, turkeys, grouse, ducks, rabbits, squirrels…… Kill with any legal means possible.

In Texas there has been a time or two, that I walked out to the truck to get the game cart and returned to a striped carcass. Best think to do is hang the deer. Had once that at the end of a 60 yard track the yotes had started eating when I got to downed deer. We also have hogs that will take advantage of some free meat.

Arrowchucker: Shooting a mama coyote, whose pelt is absolutely worthless this time of year, and leaving the pups to die of thirst or starvation is completely without honor.

If ya can't wait for winter, then wait 'til August, then shoot 'em.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here