Thread: Carcass Disposal

How do people generally deal with this? I’m relatively new to all this so haven’t had to do it yet. What are people’s preferred method once you’ve de-meated your animals?


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Depends where you are, but ideally not close to a watercourse or out in the middle of the clearing.

So you bone it all out in the field rather than bring the whole thing home?


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I leave the bones in the bush. Unless it's handy and I want bones for the dog.

Originally Posted by HOO

So you bone it all out in the field rather than bring the whole thing home?

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Seems better than the 'take the hindquarters and toss the rest' approach. The more you leave, the more you feed pests such as rats or 'possums.

At the other end of the spectrum, you might use everything from rug to brain sausage and bone handles ... but then you don't get much hunting done, and the environment suffers from lack of top predation.

I'm told any pigs nearby will hoover down anything left behind.

Neighbours lawn. Free organic fertiliser.

Leave anything you don't won't where you shoot it. Once home, anything you don't won't should simply be put in your weekly rubbish collection. I freeze it until rubbish day to avoid a big stink up. If u know someone with a dog, they might want the trimmings and bones.

Please don't be one of the arseholes that leave carcasses at road ends near town or drape skins over fences. This spreads TB and other diseases, looks crap and gives the rest of us a bad rep.

Apply common sense. In the bush, away from water, off the track, leave it right there. In most places, the pigs will deal with it. Near water, near the track, move it.

Near or on farmland, talk to the cockie, know the rules. Carcasses left to rot produce flies, and flies are not good for sheep. I have two properties where goat shooting is limited to cold winter months specifically because of flies and impacts on associated livestock.

On another property the cocky couldn't give a rats arse about flies it seems and is happy to just leave the carcasses where they drop.

Never dump offal, bones or hides adjacent to, or in watercourses. There is nothing more annoying than finding rotting carcasses in dams on hill country blocks, washed down from where they were dumped. In summer it will quickly turn a dam on which the stock rely for water into a stinking, fetid, insect infested horror show.

Thanks chaps, seems like boning it out in the field is the way to go


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Originally Posted by HOO

Thanks chaps, seems like boning it out in the field is the way to go


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Easier to carry too!

If I bring a whole animal home the leftovers get frozen until rubbish day, same as Dama dama does. Same for fish frames etc.
Occasionally I'll dig a hole and bury it, mainly if it's summer, the freezer is full, and it's six days until rubbish day

Fertilise your trees.
Dig a hole near a fruit tree or any other, throw the bones and guts you don't want in the hole, add a hand full of lime and cover with soil.
Make sure it's deep enough or your or neighbours dog will start digging.

Looking at where they fall I choose a nearby spot where I can leave the guts (assuming you are already not in the public's way or near a stream) Ideally in a bush or against a tree on a slight slope

If I gut them - rather than just taking the straps and legs- then I do it at that spot and drag the carcass several metres away

I find that the flies really go for the guts and not so many bother me over with the carcass when I'm breaking it down

Also I've heard of tunnel boning but not tried it myself - bones make a 4-hour walkout less pleasant so if you can drop them in the field that is a good way to go