# Best way to dispose of dead deer by natural means?



## w1000w (Aug 28, 2007)

I maintain some bike trials and found a dead deer on some the single track. It is too far back to carry out, so have to dispose of it best way where it is. I can push it down a hill 50 feet or so, but that is about it. 

I heard that if one applies lime powder to the carcass it will help the decomposition. If this true? If so, should I let the raccoons eat some of it for a few days and then apply the lime or do the lime thing right away? 

The deer was pretty fresh. No odor at all, just flies laying eggs. It died in the last 24 hours or So. Do not know how it died. 

Thanks


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## Too Rass Goat (Sep 16, 2005)

Lime will help it decompose faster and keep the smell down. Make it smell better? Not by much. Moving it 50'? Ain't gonna help the smell much. That stench carries a LONG way.


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## w1000w (Aug 28, 2007)

Too Rass Goat said:


> Lime will help it decompose faster and keep the smell down. Make it smell better? Not by much. Moving it 50'? Ain't gonna help the smell much. That stench carries a LONG way.


I know about the smell...they reek.

Wonder if I put lime on it then put a little layer of earth over the lime covering? I can't do too much since it is on a hill, but could try to dig up some dirt nearby.


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## kuksul08 (Oct 8, 2006)

Lysol...."kills 99.9% of odor causing bacteria!"

I'd just push it away from the trail and let nature work. I've seen the maggots and ants take care of an entire deer in a very short period of time.


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## Berkeley Mike (Jan 13, 2004)

*Take it to CalTrans*

they have a special place in Saratoga just for this purpose.


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## Jayem (Jul 16, 2005)

maggots.


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## frdfandc (Sep 5, 2007)

The best way would be to move it as far as you can from the trail. If you apply lime to the deer, then other animals who scavage it for a meal will get poisoned by the lime.


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## Nat (Dec 30, 2003)

w1000w said:


> I heard that if one applies lime powder to the carcass it will help the decomposition.


If you are going to add lime then don't forget the salt.


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## w1000w (Aug 28, 2007)

frdfandc said:


> The best way would be to move it as far as you can from the trail. If you apply lime to the deer, then other animals who scavage it for a meal will get poisoned by the lime.


Yes, good point to remember.

I also heard about composting them under bark. I could try to buy a bag of bark and break the bag down and make multiple trips to try to cover it up with the backpacks of bark.

We get tons of dead deer and raccoon here. When a road kill starts to decompose you have to shut your nostrils for a long time and just can't breath at all. Then you gently test the air to see if you can breath again after you drive a long enough distance to bring in some fresh air in the car.

Tough business to deal with. Imagine disposing of a dead cow? I smell a few dead things now and again on the trails, but they are far enough away to not see and just get a whiff.


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## shiggy (Dec 19, 1998)

w1000w said:


> I maintain some bike trials and found a dead deer on some the single track. It is too far back to carry out, so have to dispose of it best way where it is. I can push it down a hill 50 feet or so, but that is about it.
> 
> I heard that if one applies lime powder to the carcass it will help the decomposition. If this true? If so, should I let the raccoons eat some of it for a few days and then apply the lime or do the lime thing right away?
> 
> ...


Cougars, vultures, coyotes and crows.


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## dusthuffer (Nov 30, 2006)

bring a hibachi and some hungry friends?


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## Boyonabyke (Sep 5, 2007)

Let nature run it's course and don't interfere, predators will do their job in short order. That smell of carrion is a magnet for coyotes, and leaving it in the open is an invitation to the turkey buzzards that a meal awaits them if they'll just fly down for a nibble.


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## Atomik Carbon (Jan 4, 2004)

*Well if you were in jamaica...*

you would take 2 old tirea and place it over the carcass and put some accelerant on it and light it. 2 hours later you would not find anything but the cords from the tires.


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## ussprinceton2004 (Apr 9, 2007)

I don't know, but I smell quite a few during my rides


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## vz1 (Aug 18, 2007)

They are not predators if its already dead.


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## ussprinceton2004 (Apr 9, 2007)

vz1 said:


> They are not predators if its already dead.


:lol:


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## zrm (Oct 11, 2006)

The things you see when you don't have a knike and fork, huh?

Actually, just let nature take it's course. Scavengers, insects, and bacteria will make short work of it although it will reek for a few days at least. It will probably be best to get it as far from the trail as possible though, not just for the smell, but it will attract a crowd looking for a meal and scavengers protecting a carcass can be pretty aggresive


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## saturnine (Mar 28, 2007)

roll it up in a carpet and throw it off a bridge!


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## keeb (Sep 20, 2006)

Is it really that big of a deal? As has been said...Just let nature run it's course. This isn't your front yard, it's a trail in the woods. Drag the deer off as far as you can manage, and then give it a couple of weeks. It's not like the smell is going to kill you or anything. Mother nature is better at this sort of thing than you are, so just let her handle it.


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## zrm (Oct 11, 2006)

saturnine said:


> roll it up in a carpet and throw it off a bridge!


Maybe some concrete overshoes?


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## Nat (Dec 30, 2003)

w1000w said:


> Imagine disposing of a dead cow? I smell a few dead things now and again on the trails, but they are far enough away to not see and just get a whiff.


Fantasy Island in Tucson, AZ had a cow die about 10" off the trail. That event begat the name Dead Cow Loop. I remember the stench lasting for about a year. It was pretty awful, enough that I'd have to shower to stop smelling the odor.


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## Manmountain Dense (Feb 28, 2007)

Barbecue sauce.


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## Mr.Bob (Jan 6, 2004)

Nat said:


> Fantasy Island in Tucson, AZ had a cow die about 10" off the trail...


Ever see This is Spinal Tap?


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## Micrastur (Jul 31, 2007)

Please retitle "How to dispose of dead bodies in the woods." 

If you can't handle the smell, bury the thing, no lye needed. I used to raise 2 or 3 sheep a year to eat for food, and had to bury the inedibles after slaughter. As little as 4-5 inches of soil cover should do it, but then the trick will be making sure it doesn't get dug up. 

Perhaps one could ask an ecofriendly mobster whether lye would poison scavengers or repel them.

And as long as you have got a shoval out there on the trail, how about adding a jump or two?


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## NoManerz (Feb 10, 2006)

Berkeley Mike said:


> they have a special place in Saratoga just for this purpose.


maybe if he lived in california..... but he doesn't :madman: :madman: :madman:


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## crashomatic (Jan 16, 2006)

*wow*



YaMon said:


> you would take 2 old tirea and place it over the carcass and put some accelerant on it and light it. 2 hours later you would not find anything but the cords from the tires.


That would be an amazing stench, worthy of beer fueled exaggerations for years.


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## NoManerz (Feb 10, 2006)

Get a couple of m1000's and put it inside the deer reno 911 style...


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## croscoe (May 23, 2007)

zrm said:


> Maybe some concrete overshoes?


that'll teach it to expire near the trails when it's sleepin' with the fishes, sea. :lol:


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## mtnbikej (Sep 6, 2001)

Procter said:


> Won't the lime poison scavengers?
> 
> And yeah, wow that is some crazy random spam.


On a thread that is 7 years old....woof.


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## Ricko (Jan 14, 2004)

Taco Time!


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## random walk (Jan 12, 2010)

NoManerz said:


> Get a couple of m1000's and put it inside the deer reno 911 style...


Still one of the funniest things I have ever seen:






"OW!" at 2:17 :lol:


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## Procter (Feb 3, 2012)

Hey OP, 

So, where is the deer now? In your freezer? Deer jerkey?


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## dbhammercycle (Nov 15, 2011)

If you're in WI you could just leave it on the side of the road. It seems like every time I drive there that's what everybody does.


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## DIRTJUNKIE (Oct 18, 2000)

random walk said:


> Still one of the funniest things I have ever seen:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes that video has always been burned into my brain since seeing it as a kid. Pretty stupidly funny.


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## Mookie (Feb 28, 2008)

random walk said:


> Still one of the funniest things I have ever seen:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is so funny. :lol:
If I hadn't seen this years ago I would have been convinced that this is a hoax. The news narration is awesome.


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## random walk (Jan 12, 2010)

True story:

Back in the 80s I was backpacking with my dad over Bishop Pass in the Eastern Sierra. As we labored up the switchbacks a faint smell of rotten meat began to get stronger (yeah that was pleasant, sucking in that stench at 10,000 feet), and we noticed spatters of dried blood on the rocks. About 50 yards off trail we spotted the skin-covered rib cage of a very large animal, a horse or mule by the looks of it. Neither of us had a clue what happened, but we were pretty sure it wasn't from a predator.

After a few days in the mountains we were coming back out over the same pass and met someone at the top who filled us in. A trail crew had been on the switchbacks when one of their pack mules fell off the side and broke its neck. They called in a vet from Bishop who euthanized it there, but they didn't want to drag it back out to the trail head through streams and such.

So they decided to burn it. But to do so efficiently they needed it to be in smaller pieces. This trail crew did not have chain saws, but they did have -- dun-dun-DUNNNNNN -- dynamite. Well, just like the whale, there was a bit of over-estimation on the needed charge, and they blew the mule carcass to smithereens over half the hillside. They gathered as many parts as they could and burned them at the bottom of the switchbacks -- we saw the ash pile on our way down.

20 years later I was going up that same trail and there are still rib bones here and there.


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## DIRTJUNKIE (Oct 18, 2000)

random walk said:


> True story:
> 
> Back in the 80s I was backpacking with my dad over Bishop Pass in the Eastern Sierra. As we labored up the switchbacks a faint smell of rotten meat began to get stronger (yeah that was pleasant, sucking in that stench at 10,000 feet), and we noticed spatters of dried blood on the rocks. About 50 yards off trail we spotted the skin-covered rib cage of a very large animal, a horse or mule by the looks of it. Neither of us had a clue what happened, but we were pretty sure it wasn't from a predator.
> 
> ...


Amazing stupidity.
Why not just leave it for the natural process of scavengers to eat it. When every large animal in the wild dies of natural causes or what have you do we run out to dispose of it. Nature takes care of it.

The human race never ceases to amaze me.


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## DIRTJUNKIE (Oct 18, 2000)

Just wondering how the OP decided to get rid of it.


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## mtnbikej (Sep 6, 2001)

DIRTJUNKIE said:


> Just wondering how the OP decided to get rid of it.


After 8 years.....it probably decayed away on its own.


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## Finch Platte (Nov 14, 2003)

Damn, who dug up this rotting carcass of a thread??


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## leeboh (Aug 5, 2011)

ZOMMBIE deer carcass thread, run, run!


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## airwreck (Dec 31, 2003)

bump again for the butchered pig carcass that I found yesterday on the exit to my new trail. Should have taken some photos. I'm hoping that the other pigs will have a feast of it. It would probably be easier for me to make a new exit then move the carcass. I found this thread when I googled lime on animal carcass. I'm just hoping that it wasn't a diss of my new trail by some hunters...


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## DIRTJUNKIE (Oct 18, 2000)

airwreck said:


> bump again for the butchered pig carcass that I found yesterday on the exit to my new trail. Should have taken some photos. I'm hoping that the other pigs will have a feast of it. It would probably be easier for me to make a new exit then move the carcass. I found this thread when I googled lime on animal carcass. I'm just hoping that it wasn't a diss of my new trail by some hunters...


Thanks we missed this thread.


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## billj121 (Jul 29, 2011)

Dynamite!!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ut-then-his-act-of-kindness-blew-up-big-time/


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## Redmom (Feb 23, 2021)

Atomik Carbon said:


> *Well if you were in jamaica...*
> 
> you would take 2 old tirea and place it over the carcass and put some accelerant on it and light it. 2 hours later you would not find anything but the cords from the tires.


BIG FINE for this.


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## DIRTJUNKIE (Oct 18, 2000)

saturnine said:


> roll it up in a carpet and throw it off a bridge!


Thread winner.


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

Redmom said:


> BIG FINE for this.


statute of limitations has already run out. no fine...


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## Sir kayakalot (Jul 23, 2017)

Drag that sumb!tch right to the middle of the trail. Helps to ward off hikers and it can serve as a trail feature. Hold your breath and bunny hop it. Good training for.......
holding your breath and bunny hopping dead stuff


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

that's the old way to dispose of it...

(aquaholic knows)


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## 006_007 (Jan 12, 2004)

Someone should lime this thread


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## looks easy from here (Apr 16, 2019)

Redmom said:


> BIG FINE for this.


You really joined just to respond to a 14 year old joke post, from a poster who hasn't been on in 5 years, in a thread that's been inactive for 10 years?

Honest question: how did you even come across this thread?


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## r-rocket (Jun 23, 2014)

looks easy from here said:


> You really joined just to respond to a 14 year old joke post, from a poster who hasn't been on in 5 years, in a thread that's been inactive for 10 years?
> 
> Honest question: how did you even come across this thread?


Maybe he found that dead deer from 2007 still by the trail side, and it still stinks?


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