10-28-2008, 05:38 AM
I've never had a coyote get on any of the deer we've killed over night, let a lone a lion, before this hunt. I was asked the same thing by my dad, grandpa and uncles. I'm still kicking myself in the butt for not caping him. My only problem was light. If I'd have even attempted to cape the other buck, I'd have failed. Miserably. I can pretty much gut a deer by feel, which I did with the big boy. I'm sure it was pretty dang messy in there, I just couldn't see it. When I caped the other buck, it took me around half an hour. I'm just not all that fast. Gutting both deer combined took me maybe 10 minutes. Trust me, I know I made a huge mistake. I'll just have to learn from it. Next time I'll probably just camp out on the mountain with the deer. It's safer that way. I don't feel right about just taking antlers ever. If I'm not getting meat at the same time, I just don't like to do it.