I love to hunt and occasionally, I kill a deer when I want to put some meat in the freezer.
Over the years, I have learned to not only gut and clean the animal, but to then hang, skin and butcher it rather than having a local processor handle that part. I enjoy the process and like to know what I am packaging to freeze.
Yesterday, I came upon an alternative to the legally described process above.
Taking our dog for a short walk on the rural road near our home, we came upon not one, but two skinned and abandoned deer carcasses left by the side of the road.
Anyone who has ever appreciated venison and has taken a deer knows the most highly-prized cuts are the tenderloins and the backstraps that parallel the spine, inside and outside the back of the animal.
The two animals abandoned by the road had been stripped of those prized cuts, but the entire remainder of the animals was left to waste.
Here in Oakland County, Michigan, the DNR has attempted to thin the herd by allowing antlerless (female usually) hunting of deer, so it is quite possible that the hunter(s) who killed these animals were hunting legally, but chose not to tag them out of concern for being found out.
I really have no words strong enough or printable enough to describe the perpetrators of this type of ‘hunting.?
If, in fact, the animals were taken legally (which I doubt) the obvious choice to waste rather than offering the majority of the meat to a neighbor or needy family is shocking.
I found the animals at the intersection of South Coats and West Drahner roads.
I would hope that anyone with knowledge of this despicable act might choose to phone the sheriff’s office or DNR to report the offenders.
Dave Hilty
Oxford