Not me. Once I had joined a club and began stand hunting deer, I turned this into a positive. I let the other hunters know I wanted the meat, and quite a few of them would go ahead and drop a doe when it was available. They’d tell me where it was (or after cellphones, call me) and I’d run over in the 4 wheeler for free protein. This way I could usually fill my freezer. The distaff side of my household was perpetually on some sort of diet, and the super-lean meat was always in demand.
Q: I thought that hunters were required to bury the innards to prevent drawing predators that could be a danger to other hunters. Is that an urban legend?
Don’t know where you live, but check your area for “outfitters” There are people who make a living by taking people out on hunts.
When I was a teen, my friend Dave went for his first deer hunt with his dad and a group of his dad’s friends. The guys all gave Dave pointers, but they also told him that if he got a deer he had to eat the buck’s balls, raw, to insure good luck in future hunts. He knew they were messing with him, but didn’t let on.
So, toward the end of opening day Dave got his deer. He gutted it as he’d been taught, but he also cut off the deer’s scrotum and smeared some blood on his face around his mouth.
He dragged the deer to the cabin where everyone cheered him. His dad noticed the blood on his face and the ragged cut where the scrotum/testicles had been and freaked out. The other guys were all grossed out as well. Dave just played along.
It depends. In the US there are 50 separate jurisdictions/agencies. All operating separately. The predatory animals are just going to dig up whatever you bury anyway, but some areas may want you to bury the entrails.
Each state is divided into separate units with their own rules. I live in Oregon, controlled by the ODFW, Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, other states call it by various names like the DNR, Dept. of Natural Resources. And the hunting units within each state have different rules. And the units don’t even necessarily correspond to actual counties.
I am in the Saddle Mountain unit. I must bag a male, buck, deer with at least one forked horn on one side that is large enough to hang a ring on. No doe hunting. Except when I was bowhunting I could bag a doe, rifle no. If hunting elk, it must have 3 points on one side. Western count, we only count the horns on one side. A three point has 3 pointed antlers on one side.
The only way to be sure of your regulatory compliance is to get a synopsis and check out the rules specific to your area.
You don’t really need a lawyer to figure it out, it just seems like it. Hence my advice for the OP to start with the synopsis, learn, and understand, before starting out.
It is a great hobby and an excellent way to re-connect to nature. Enough quiet time in the woods and you will understand the chipmunks calling out a warning to the other forest animals when they see you. Fucking chipmunks, you can’t hide from the little tree rats. The ravens will be watching you and similarly warning. A nice day in the forest or field even if you don’t get anything is well worth the time. And once you harvest an animal you can add it all up and realize that your 50 pounds of harvested, free, meat only cost you about $18 per pound!
It is all about getting outside for a new experience, much less about the actual harvest of an animal.
Hunting with a mentor will give you a jump on things, but there’s plenty of good resources online these days as well. YouTube will give you a good start and you can learn a lot that way. Someone else suggested Steve Rinella’s book “The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game”, which is also an excellent resource. I’d also advise checking out the web site below.
It goes into depth answering a lot of questions new hunters have and is a great resource in addition to YouTube and the Rinella book.
Bring $$$. An outfitter is someone who provides the “whole experience.” Expect them to cook you dinner every night, build a really nice camp with tents that are likely better than your house, depending on the hunt possibly provide pack animals, etc. A guide provides the more direct experience of getting on animals, but you might be expected to bring much of your own stuff.
I did, and yeah it’s not just a good book, but check out his other stuff. He’s a good advocate for the benefits of hunting. His show has 4 seasons on Netflix, and isn’t what you might expect with some blowhard talking about giant antlers, but much more based.