Boning Out A Deer In The Woods (MN)?

Is it legal to bone a deer out in the woods and pack it out? (If it’s phone registered first)

From what I read it should be, but just checking with the crowd.

No clue on the legality in MN, sorry. If you can you’ll never drag or hang a deer again. It’s so much easier packing just the meat and head out. All the work is done immediately.

Not having to gut a deer is another plus

I would GUESS no because of CWD.

If you’re in a CWD testing area, no you cannot bone the deer in the woods. Any area outside of a testing area I believe its legal.

This question was brought up on a archery page earlier this fall. The answer from one Co was you cannot. If you had cell service and could register it before I don’t know that it would still be a issue. Check out page 80 in the regs.

I took an advanced hunter ed class and was told NO by the CO that came to the class.
He said leaving the remains would be considered offal or waiste.

Tom schmitt wrote:

I took an advanced hunter ed class and was told NO by the CO that came to the class.
He said leaving the remains would be considered offal or waiste.

I could see that point for public land, makes sense.

I’ll be on private, where it is legal to bring a carcass. So it should be fine to “leave” a carcass.

The regs say you can quarter an UNregistered deer in the woods, leaving the head attached to one quarter. (And register later)

It doesn’t say anything about completely boning out a Registered deer at the kill site. (Gutless method)

It shouldn’t be any different than gutting it, dragging it back to camp, phone registering it, cutting it up there, and then dumping the carcass back on private land.

Call a warden

Out west they’d just laugh at that being illegal.

basseyes wrote:

Out west they’d just laugh at that being illegal.

I know lol

But we live in the Land of 10,000 LAWS

I don’t want to break any of them.

From what I read in the book, nothing should be illegal about it as long as it’s done on private land.

It should technically be legal on public land if you made another trip to pack the carcass out…..but I doubt anyone would spend the extra effort, since the whole point is to reduce labor.

Copy that. It’s always a good idea to ask, and doubly good to ask and call CO’s in MN.

Call the DNR
Even on private land it would be the same as public.

I’ve always wondered the same, just never done it. My land in 601 is a very steep climb back to the truck and I am unable to get an ATV in to pull it up. Never fun dragging deer back to the truck. Interested to hear the answer a CO will give. I’m a volunteer instructor and I have never had it asked, nor have I read anything for or against it outside a CWD zone.

Well I just got off the phone with the MNDNR.

FOR REGISTERED DEER

On Private Land: Perfectly legal as long as the land owner is okay with the carcass being left there.

On Public Land: Not legal unless you took the time to pack the carcass, head, and skin out too. (Guts are the only thing that can be left in the woods on Public land).

I did not ask about CWD zones.

The woods I’m hunting is private land that was recently logged. The debris everywhere combined with a wet summer (water and mud all over) would make using an ATV almost impossible without a lot of zig-zagging and tearing the woods up more. A deer cart would be almost impossible too. My stand is 3/4 of a mile from the road. The gutless/boneless method would be ideal

For those saying “gutless” do you leave the inside loins ?

No heart or liver dinner either?

big_g wrote:

For those saying “gutless” do you leave the inside loins ?

No, you can make a cut behind the ribs and feel your way inside. I’ve only done it once. It’s a little tricky since you’re going by feel, but still a lot easier than fully gutting a deer.

I tried a heart once, brined it and cooked it….made a fawn heart Philly sandwich. Just not for me.

As for the liver…..never kept one. But I’ll give you coordinates to the next gut pile. I eat a lot of stuff, but that just isn’t one of them

The tongue and eyeballs will also be there waiting for you

B-man wrote:

I tried a heart once, brined it and cooked it….made a fawn heart Philly sandwich. Just not for me.

As for the liver…..never kept one. But I’ll give you coordinates to the next gut pile. I eat a lot of stuff, but that just isn’t one of them

The tongue and eyeballs will also be there waiting for you

Yup. My motto….no nuts, no guts….don’t eat either one.

It really is stupid to not allow it. If you ever hunted mountain country you would never go back to dragging your deer.

Tom schmitt wrote:

It really is stupid to not allow it. If you ever hunted mountain country you would never go back to dragging your deer.

This isn’t mountain country. We don’t have elk size animals, we have whitetails that average less than 150 dressed. We don’t have millions of acres of public land where carcasses are unlikely to ever be seen again. We don’t need any more mess on our public lands.

Plus, there’s absolutely no reason to be boning out a whitetail in the woods on public land and leaving the carcass behind. If you can’t cart or drag a deer out, don’t go in so far, get help, or check into a gym and get in better shape.

Grouse

Very good point on grouses end. On private land get it. On public land a bunch of carcasses would turn non hunters into anti hunters

slipbob_nick wrote:

Very good point on grouses end. On private land get it. On public land a bunch of carcasses would turn non hunters into anti hunters

Even if it was legal on public land, few people would do it, and it’d be far from the road.

Then coyotes or wolves would have it down to a spine the second they found it.

How dare anyone suggest breaking MN tradition! This is like talking about munis or fishing in the summer with 2 lines instead of just the winter (where the real damage is done). Don’t ruffle the feathers in the land of 10,000 laws!

Alagnak Pete wrote:

How dare anyone suggest breaking MN tradition! This is like talking about munis or fishing in the summer with 2 lines instead of just the winter (where the real damage is done). Don’t ruffle the feathers in the land of 10,000 laws!

What are you talking about?

I think grouse summed it up nicely. Nothing to do with “tradition” and everything to do with it’s not needed.

And you just summed up what I’m talking about, thank you. The old timer mentality that everything in MN is the golden rule best of the best and there’s no other way to do it.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Plus, there’s absolutely no reason to be boning out a whitetail in the woods on public land and leaving the carcass behind. If you can’t cart or drag a deer out, don’t go in so far, get help, or check into a gym and get in better shape.

Unfortunately this attitude and the prevailing laws based on that mentality is the biggest reason I do not bow hunt for deer any more.

I’d be very glad to trade my arthritic joints, ailing heart and senior body for one which could do as suggested above. Years ago, I could handle a 200 lb deer with little sweat. Now a 30lb load is my limit. If the law would allow me a 30lb load, I’d still be able to enjoy the hunt.

Last time I hunted, my “help” was unavailable when needed. Even with a cart, it took me 3+ hours to get my deer back to the truck. ( I wasn’t in that far.)

Grouse, I am happy for you that you are still in the prime of your life. I hope you continue to have many more enjoyable deer hunts.

BTW; I do what I can, to stay fit and active. I have an elliptical I use and I’m the guy parking in the far corner of the lot and walking to the door to do my shopping.

Dave, you must be misunderstanding the difference between quartering or otherwise breaking down a deer for ease of field removal (legal) v boning out a deer which to me means reducing a deer to edible parts only and leaving the rest behind (illega on public land).

If cutting the deer into 6 or 8 parts and packing the whole animal out is too much for you then yes, sorry to say that your physical limitations are going to mean you’ll have to find a way to kill those 225+ plus pound bucks you’ve been shooting a bit closer to the road.

Nothing to do with attitude, the law requires this for what in my view are good practical reasons.

Sorry about your physical limitations but those are part of hunting. No state lets you do anything you want. I can’t drive a jeep anywhere I want to in Wyoming just because my knees aren’t as good as they used to be.

Grouse

Grouse,

Re-read your quote, You are the one that implied a hunter should be capable of dragging an entire deer out of the woods. Do you drag the quarters of a deer if you quarter the deer for removal?

Alagnak Pete wrote:

And you just summed up what I’m talking about, thank you. The old timer mentality that everything in MN is the golden rule best of the best and there’s no other way to do it.

Your…welcome????