What to do about dead deer?

[Stihlrunner]

Discovered a dead 3 point on the land bordering our place and the neighbors. The neighbors house is abandoned since the renters moved out and left all their garbage.

The deer is a fairly recent addition but decomp has been going on for awhile. There is what appears to be a bullet hole near the eye.

Called the game warden and the county, they aren't real interested.

With all the recent rain I'm not sure I can get the tractor down to it and it may be a disgusting mess trying to move it. Any suggestions? Maybe covering in lime and dirt?

It's kind of off our driveway and the smell is noticeable, fortunately the weather has been mild. I also don't want dogs and the like discovering it.

 

[themichelob]

Actually, it's not fortunate that the weather has been mild--that's why you're smelling it. Hard to advise without your location, but I would bet that once "the like" discover it it'll be gone in no time. That is what happens on my property. Only a few hairs left by spring...Regards, Mike

 

[bamboozled]

Leave it be. Definitely don't try to move it with your tractor if its already starting to rot.

 

[bucktaker]

diesel fuel and a match

 

[20 20]

Don't use diesel and a match, there is enough chemicals spewing into our envir. Just let it be nature will take care of it.

 

[forgeblast]

Get a bag of lime and throw it on there by next year it will be clean and the smell will not be so bad. I did it with a deer that was hit the first year we moved in.

 

[Gary Fowler]

If you cant get to it to bury it, I would do as suggested and leave it to the buzzards, coyotes,possums and crows and other carrion eaters to do away with it. Use the lime after the critters have finished up to kill the smell a bit. A couple of weeks and it should be pretty much gone.
If you are worried about your dogs getting to it, you will have to bury it. If you have a backhoe, it should be easy enough to just dig a hole right beside it and shove it in. I buried a goat for my brother in law a month or so back and it just fit in a 12" wide by 4 foot deep hole. Of course it was fresh so no smell to bother us.

 

[Pops15]

Leave it for the scavengers or use the diesel and match idea.

 

[dave1949]

You can compost it in place. Cover it well with straw, leaves, whatever organic material you have, add some lime. It will disappear. This is one of the recommended ways of disposing of dead farm animals from goats to horses. It would help if you could put down some straw, then roll the carcass onto that bed and then cover it.

If you put the carcass below the biologically active layer of soil, say deeper than 8 to 10 inches, you will actually slow the decomposition.

The coyotes, ravens, crows and such would clean it up around here, but I can understand wanting to control the smell and pet dog attraction.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

You can compost it in place. Cover it well with straw, leaves, whatever organic material you have, add some lime. It will disappear. This is one of the recommended ways of disposing of dead farm animals from goats to horses. It would help if you could put down some straw, then roll the carcass onto that bed and then cover it.

If you put the carcass below the biologically active layer of soil, say deeper than 8 to 10 inches, you will actually slow the decomposition.

The coyotes, ravens, crows and such would clean it up around here, but I can understand wanting to control the smell and pet dog attraction.

What kind of lime do you recommend? Ag lime or quicklime? I think both might work; Quicklime, or burnt lime (Calcium hydroxide) would certainly hasten the decomp, (Dad used to put it down our old privy) but it is very chemically reactive and not something you would want to get on your skin. Ag lime, of course, is just crushed limestone (Calcium Carbonate) and would probably absorb a lot of the fluids and keep the odor down.