# Why cut the throat?



## duane (Mar 29, 2004)

I frequently see hunters with their fresh deer kills that have the throat of the deer cut. It amazes me why this is even practiced? Does anyone really think that cutting the throat will efficiently "bleed the animal out"? This is the response I receive when I ask the question to the hunter.

If you do, stop and think reasonably! If the deer is dead AND the heart is not pumping, how much blood do you really think will come out after the neck cape has been gashed?


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## Militant_Tiger (Feb 23, 2004)

Quite a bit, the deer is usually hung upside down and mean old mister gravity takes care of the rest.


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## GunRunner (Oct 18, 2004)

Duane,

Actually quite a bit IF it is done within a reasonable amount of time after death. the whole purpose of this is to drain as much blood out of the animal as possible. alot of people atribute a certain amount of venison's "gamey" flavor to the blood thats left in the meat. haveent you ever heard of animals ,after being cooked taking on a certain amount of the flavor of the forage they have been browsing on? in no scientist,but i know a an animals blood carries alot of this flavor.....another thing some sportsmen do is to drain the animal in this manner, but instead of draining it onto the ground, they drain it into a bucket and save it for blood sausage (never had it. heard its good, but it sounds pretty nasty to me!)

now, if your going to do it to finish an animal off, most experts recommend not a slash, but a STAB AND INTERNAL SLASH. this is supposed to not only dispatch the animal, but also cut the main artery and help with bleeding the animal.

hope this answers some of your questions. if not dont hesitate o do alittle research on the web ( i bet you thought i was gonna say give me a shout eh?....well, what i posted is al i know....LOL LOL)


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## Sasha and Abby (May 11, 2004)

Cutting the throat does very little... unless you kill it and hang it within a few seconds like they do at a stock yard. When a bullet goes through both lungs, the animal is usually bled out pretty well.


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## GunRunner (Oct 18, 2004)

actually, i have to agree with the vital shot thing too. if you get a good kill zone shot on the animal ( I.E,both lungs or clip the heart) most of the blod will pump right out into the body cavity. i also agree with it only doing some good if hung promply, but disagee with the time stated. in my opinion , a "reasonable" amount of time would generally be up to about 1/2 hour after death. if you wait too much longer afer that, the blood will congeal ( i spelled that wrong m sure) and it wont flow anyway. ive hung them up as late as an hour though and had them bleed a full metal bucket ( as to use it to fertalize my garden....works great)

opinions differ ( which as ive stated before is great as far as im concened)...

anyway, do a search on the web and im sure youll hear all sides.


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## Blake Hermel (Sep 10, 2002)

I agree, I dont understand it either. Even bowhunting I have never had to "slit the throat"... I think some fathers use it as a right of passage for their kids. I was never taught the practice, instead I was told not to take the shot unless I was positive I could make a clean kill.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

My brother does taxidermy. It always amazes him how many people bring their deer in slit ear to ear and want it mounted. Of course some will drag it around in their pickup for a month to show all their friends then throw it in the barn. They then bring it in for mounting in February. No exaggeration it happens. Even bow shot deer which are all bled out sometimes have the throat cut. I have found that I get very little blood unless the deer has been head shot. I have tried it with a few does and hung within 15 minutes. I didn't get more than a cup full of blood. If you shoot a nice deer and cut the throat then decide you want to mount it you should hope you have a friend that has an undamaged cape.


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## farmerj (Jun 19, 2004)

If I have a trophy I want mounted, I would never cut past the ribs behind the legs. just the way I was taught.

If I am just cleaning the deer and want it cooled off now, I will slit the sternum all the way into the throat and cut the windpipe.

I was never or have I ever thought it was due to bleeding out. We just split the chest wide open to cool it off faster.


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## mallardhunter (May 15, 2004)

:withstupid: The only reason I have cut the throat is because the deer was wounded. It is a waste of time doing it otherwise.


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## duane (Mar 29, 2004)

Maybe some have missed the point. I have NEVER seen a "bucket" of blood come from a hanging deer...that is unless the hunter forgot to gut the animal first. Most if not all trauma to the inside body cavity will result incopious amounts of blood expelled internally that upon immediate gutting the blood should come out.

When a deer is laying on the ground stone cold dead and a knife is pierced through the throat (and I have seen this many times) very little comes out of the deer as blood does not generally "pool" in the neck area and IF there is no heart left to pump there is no blood left to exit.

A simple gutting job resulting in total removal of all entrails is more than adequate enough to get your deer ready for processing. SO my call stands...you do not need to cut a throat of a dead ungulate.


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## duckslayer (Oct 30, 2003)

:sniper:


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## Ryan_Todd (Apr 11, 2004)

i never cut the throat on my deer. to cut the esophagus i just reach up inside the cavity and cut it off. i usually hang my deer head up and they drip out fine.


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## northerndave (Dec 6, 2004)

I'll tell you what, I got some unsolicited "help" on a very nice 8 pointer that took me 24 hour to get last year. About 8 miles of tracking in total, lots of damn work. I pushed the injured buck out of the woods into CRP on day 2, he was slow, damn near out of blood as he was hit hard the day before, amazingly tough deer. He provided me with a shot in the open, I took a knee as I was out of breath, centered the scope, got him. Flip the safety & squeeee, what the? Orange coat in my scope! Holy crap I almost shot this dumb *** kid who was "helping me" unbeknownst to me. Son of a lousy son of a ***** (kid didn't know any better, just doing as his dad told him) I couldn't shoot. All I could do is watch as this kid raises up & sends one under the belly of my buck shaving some hair off the belly (sends the shot right across a busy county rd blind intersection a ¼ mile down, nice huh?) didn't even open the hide on the buck. The buck fell in a deep ditch & was completely spent, couldn't get up. I ran as fast as I could across that field, I had 250 yds to cover before that dumb *** (the father) did something stupid. Bang! I heard, well they finished him for me, "thanks a lot" I thought to myself. When I arrived I learned that they blew both front shoulders out with their "kill shot" and the throat was cut like jack the ripper got hold of him. Now that buck was going on the wall & I knew that from the moment I laid eyes on him the day before. That pi$$ed me off so bad I just can't even explain how mad I was. Then the old buzzard has the audacity to say "well it's the last one to get a shot in the deer that gets to tag him right?" & he's all proud, takin pictures. I could have smashed his face in with my rifle butt. 
Cut the throat, what the heck? Boy I was mad, certainly didn't make my taxidermist's job any easier.


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## izaak23923 (Jan 9, 2005)

only if they are wounded
if will give a bucket of blood if it is wounded and then you cut the throat


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## tr0b3 (Jan 6, 2005)

Cutting the throat to bleed an animal is also part of a Kosher tradition. Just an interesting note.


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## ARMallardSlayer (Jan 8, 2005)

Cutting the throat is not needed..............the animal bleeds from the wound until it's dead.....what didn't fall on the ground will be in the body cavity, when you gut it, that comes out then.........


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

northern dave


> "He provided me with a shot in the open, I took a knee as I was out of breath, centered the scope, got him. Flip the safety & squeeee, what the? Orange coat in my scope! Holy crap I almost shot this dumb a$$ kid who was "helping me" unbeknownst to me. Son of a lousy son of a b#tch (kid didn't know any better, just doing as his dad told him) I couldn't shoot. All I could do is watch as this kid raises up & sends one under the belly of my buck shaving some hair off the belly (sends the shot right across a busy county rd blind intersection a ¼ mile down, nice huh?)"


This kid was obviously directly in front of you and took the shot in the same direction you were gonna shoot, towards the busy country rd blind intersection.................correct?

Not trying to start anything, just want to understand your point. Sounds to me like there was 3 people out after this buck, throwing hail mary's at it till it dropped and no one was paying attention what was beyond the buck within the distance of bullet travel. Kudo's to you northern dave for paying attention to what was in between you and the buck. There are enough accidents and fatalities every year during deer huntng, your alertness to the situation prevented another one from happening.


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