Deceased deer
 

Here's a question...an island neighbor reached out telling me there's a deceased doe on the property adjacent to theirs. Apparently, it's starting to smell pretty bad, and they're not sure what to do with it. They called Fish and Game, but they don't handle that kind of thing. Any thoughts on what to do with this?

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Drag it to the middle of the woods and let mother nature take care of it…

Dan

You need to dig a hole somewhere and bury it or it will continue to smell for weeks.

On second thought, doing nothing and just leaving it out there in the woods on Mark Island could be good-to-go. A dead deer in the woods out there will probably attract crows, eagles, maybe a black bear that will gnaw it down to its bones and less.

Seems that crows are especially good at finding a fresh kill and their scavenger activity alerts other animals to come chow down on dead body before all gone. Crow is like instant messenger in the great outdoors ...... caw-caw-caw!

Those two above are the options, but if choosing to dig, bury it deep as, otherwise, animals will dig it up and/or the smell will still be present.

Also, make sure it's not close to a water supply.

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On an island and in the woods I am expecting finding any govt. agency to do something about it, is unlikely....

The other options here all work to some degree....

Steve, please pass along my condolences to those folks, regarding the missed opportunity to enjoy yummy venison all winter. And second, I second the idea of digging the hole (though if it was me, I would keep procrastinating until the thing just freezes in a month or two)

Most islands exist because they are knobs of ledge and rocks the glacier failed to move. Have fun digging that hole. Set up a game camera to take pictures of the wildlife that show up to take advantage of the extra calories before winter. I would bet on mink and eagles showing up. Most islands won't be big enough to have larger predator/scavengers unless the smell is enough for them to make the swim.

A couple of winters ago, I noticed a dead deer one morning out a couple hundred feet from shore, on the snow-covered ice. From the blood trail, it appeared to have suffered an attack by a predator (coyotes?) and perhaps pursued to where the carcass lay. I called F&G and was told to let nature take its course. Over the following days, other wildlife, most often birds, picked away at the remains. A couple of times I saw an eagle going to work on it, with many other birds waiting for their turn, unwilling to challenge the big guy. The carcass kept shrinking, down to very little left. I guess the bones sank when the ice went out. Nature wastes nothing.

We had one die right beside lake that stunk. Called F&G and asked how to get rid of it. They told us to stick it with a sharp object to let the gas out, tie a rope on it and tow it out in the lake and cut the rope.