Deer season opens next week on Aug 1. I got a head start on processing practice today. Samuel and I delivered fish after work and just as we got done I got a text from Shane that Fish and Game had dropped off a road kill deer. And left the guts in. Yikes. Who drops off an ungutted deer to a church when it’s 70 degrees out ? Luckily Shane was smart and put the whole deer in a bag and into a chest freezer. It was cool when we took it out and we loaded it in the van and headed to my favorite gut deposit site.
Shane married into a hunting family and was eager to learn about dressing a deer. The church cadet from L.A. was here too, and was eager for another Alaska experience. We got to my spot, and I could see that the little deer was a bit bloated. I wasn’t careful enough as I opened it up and poof. I nicked the stomach. The smell was not pretty, but everyone held their cookies. I got the insides out and into a bucket, then put a bar through the rear hocks and strung the deer up a tree, skinned it, butchered it, and put the parts in a bucket. Easy Peasy.
We dumped the hide and entrails into me secret spot, then policed the area where we parked to remove any sign of us being there. Then back in the Salvation Army van and headed for town. The boys dropped me off then took the bucket of goodness to the food bank for distribution.