I don't know about you guys, but I have been extremely busy(why I haven't been commenting)...so busy that I failed to realize deer archery season starts in TWO weeks, which seems crazy. Normally I would never hunt this early due to heat etc., but a

[jcarlin]

I think I'm hanging stands and cutting lanes this weekend. It's not worth doing early on the public land around here.
What was almost a disaster was my doe permits. My unit historically doesn't sell out til very late in season. Last year it was the first week in September. We do three mail in applications and then for certain units, mine included, it's over the counter sales at the county courthouses. I work a few minutes away from said courthouse. Been in the habit of sometime a week or two after they go over the counter popping in and buying two. OC sales started Monday, I happened to glance at the stats and realized that by last weekend 90% of them were sold. Was in a good sized line at 8AM Monday. Got mine and they were sold out by the end of day. That.. would not have been OK. Most of the state if you haven't hit the early mailings you're not getting a tag. This is new for my unit.

Same here, hft. There was no excuse for me not being aware. Like 7500 of the 70000 for my unit were remaining on Monday morning when OTC sales began. Guy in front of me had the webpage up on his phone. 1500 of them were sold while I was in line.

[charlie elk]

Since I am confident that you will kill more deer later in the season, I think I'd pass on trying to bring the deer home whole. There are more things that can go wrong than can go right. You don't want to take a chance on screwing up the trunk of your car---if it has AC in the trunk, it must be a nice one---and although we hold deer meat in high regard, it is not sacred stuff, and I think the best thing to do is quarter the deer and use ice chests. When it comes to something like transporting a whole deer, never forget that Murphy is waiting in the corner, chuckling evilly.

It's still too dang hot down here to be doing much prep unless you have a tractor with an air conditioned cab, which I do not. It's too early to plant---the drought and army worms will get your crop---and still too early to mow trails and roads since there is a month of growing time for it to come back. I think I'll stay inside and read about the secrets of killing monster bucks. I used to get out and do stuff in this heat back when I was young and dumb---I am no longer young.

That's because Murph prefers to help the younger, less experienced hunters.

[charlie elk]

Every time I click on Answers from the home page, it still lists jcarlin's question from 7/18 as the most recent; this one and the one about GPS aren't even there. I got here by clicking on it in the margin of an article. Anyone else having this problem?

Delete your browsing history. I have mine set, so all history is automatically deleted on exit.

[jcarlin]

JM,
Credit where credit is due. Every once in a while someone asks a question that has me dig into my regs and laws here.
I'd have sworn were weren't allow to quarter here. The wording is.. vague. and I've gone onto forums in the last couple of days searching and people have gotten different answers from WCOs.
So.. the deer has to be tagged immediately and the tag has to remain until at place of consumption or processing for consumption. This is stated in the rules clearly.

After that the gray areas, hearsay, and advice from LEO appear to be if quartered a separate tag with your info has to be added to all parts... like I'm going to come up with a couple of extra legs. And no part of the deer beyond entrails can be left in the field.. so no removing backstraps and leaving the spine, ribs, or the head or hide of a doe behind.
Honestly after looking into it I'm more confused.

So in my best bar stool expert tone I'm just going to say: IN PA YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE DEER WHOLE AND KEEP IT WHOLE UNTIL YOU PROCESS IT... yet I don't think it's the case as much as not doing so can cause some hassle depending on who you run into. I will say that I don't know one PA hunter who has ever so much as mentioned quartering a deer prior to having it hanging.

[huntfishtrap]

Since I am confident that you will kill more deer later in the season, I think I'd pass on trying to bring the deer home whole. There are more things that can go wrong than can go right. You don't want to take a chance on screwing up the trunk of your car---if it has AC in the trunk, it must be a nice one---and although we hold deer meat in high regard, it is not sacred stuff, and I think the best thing to do is quarter the deer and use ice chests. When it comes to something like transporting a whole deer, never forget that Murphy is waiting in the corner, chuckling evilly.

It's still too dang hot down here to be doing much prep unless you have a tractor with an air conditioned cab, which I do not. It's too early to plant---the drought and army worms will get your crop---and still too early to mow trails and roads since there is a month of growing time for it to come back. I think I'll stay inside and read about the secrets of killing monster bucks. I used to get out and do stuff in this heat back when I was young and dumb---I am no longer young.

And here I thought he was particularly fond of assisting old, infirm hunters because they think they've learned everything. ;-)

[huntfishtrap]

JM,
Credit where credit is due. Every once in a while someone asks a question that has me dig into my regs and laws here.
I'd have sworn were weren't allow to quarter here. The wording is.. vague. and I've gone onto forums in the last couple of days searching and people have gotten different answers from WCOs.
So.. the deer has to be tagged immediately and the tag has to remain until at place of consumption or processing for consumption. This is stated in the rules clearly.

After that the gray areas, hearsay, and advice from LEO appear to be if quartered a separate tag with your info has to be added to all parts... like I'm going to come up with a couple of extra legs. And no part of the deer beyond entrails can be left in the field.. so no removing backstraps and leaving the spine, ribs, or the head or hide of a doe behind.
Honestly after looking into it I'm more confused.

So in my best bar stool expert tone I'm just going to say: IN PA YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE DEER WHOLE AND KEEP IT WHOLE UNTIL YOU PROCESS IT... yet I don't think it's the case as much as not doing so can cause some hassle depending on who you run into. I will say that I don't know one PA hunter who has ever so much as mentioned quartering a deer prior to having it hanging.

Most Eastern or Midwestern hunters don't know anything about quartering out game, period. It's mostly western hunters who do that - that's how I learned about it.

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...!!

Chilling your gutted deer prior to transport can be easily done by using 'ice packs', which you freeze in your reefer or freezer, and place in the gut cavity...!!