Sat down to enjoy breakfast this morning when in through the open windows wafts the odor of decomp.
Put on shoes and walked toward the stink. About 150 - 200 yards from the house is a dead dear. He’s outside of the horses pasture in the woods along the fence line. Stinks like a mf.
What can we do to deal with the odor? If we do nothing, how long will it persist? When the winds shift it is very unpleasant.
The first thing that came to mind was using lime to aid in decomposition, and I found this as a quick reference as well:
But I would want you to check with your local/state requirements, as this one is specific to Oregon.
How do you know? He might have been a complete asshole.
I’ve heard they can naturally decay in a week or two ETA: in summertime, depending on size. Or you can always hire an exterminator to take care of it for you ($$$).
If it is out of season and was shot you will want to contact the authorities (not by emergency number) and they may want to look into possible poaching.
Assuming you aren’t in an urban area since you mention a horse pasture.
~Max
OMG. Deer. A buck in velvet. Guess who’s drinking
Yeah, we’re in the country. I wanted to poke around looking for evidence of trauma. Couldn’t quite do it though. Too early in the morning. He could have been hit by a car and made it this far, or shot by some asswipe.
If you have bears in the woods you might get “lucky” tonight.
~Max
I have never had to dispose of a large animal. But I have read a lot on the theory of managing compost piles. And if you mix enough “brown” with your “green” (which is what is usually high in nitrogen in a compost pile) the pile doesn’t stink.
Try dropping a truckload of dry leaves or woodchips over it. Those are “brown”. And just burying it will reduce the amount the odor will drift. You want to use something fluffy, so oxygen still gets in and it does, actually rot.
Or use lime. I think that’s what people used to do for human bodies, so it’s probably good for deer carcasses, too. I’ve never used lime for anything. But if you have a lot of “brown” organic matter already around, it will likely help.
Yeah, took a bale of hay over, will cover that with manure tomorrow. Composting seems the way to go.
Anytime I’ve dumped agricultural lime on a carcass it has continued to stink. I’ll see if composting is better.,
Or, there’s this. Every so often I find half a dead bunny. The cat, or some hawk, or something ate the other half. I used to dump the rest into our compost heap, where it would rapidly disappear. But moving it was nasty. Now I just leave it out. It’s always gone by the next day.
Of course, lots of things can eat half a rabbit. Raccoon, owl, fox, etc. And the rabbits always go away before they stink. So you may not have suitable scavengers to deal with a whole deer.
I hope you never have to. We have an excavator who has buried horses for us when it was necessary.
Whatever you do, don’t get a couple tons of dynamite.
Lest you velocitate venison verily.
We’ve been bringing in our bird feeders at night because of a mischievous black bear!
Nuk, nuk, nuk, nuk, nuk,
Heh, when I lived in Philthadelphia I was a volunteer for the whale “team” to help stranded water creatures. That video was a favorite.
Me, too!
Ahh, not that,
this,
I know Philly’s a tough hardscrabble place full of tough hardscrabble dudes like Rocky, but youse guys give a whole new meaning to “help” if that’s your idea of a training video for whale rescue. 
Land sakes, isn’t that smell enough trauma?
( Does your local pharmacy sell menthol that you can rub under your nose? )