Lessons / Hunting / Game identification, meat and trophy care
Hunting · 8 min
Game identification, meat and trophy care
Why this matters
Two named exam subjects, and both are what clients judge you on afterwards. Anyone can find a deer. The guide is the person who identifies it correctly before the shot and turns it into good meat afterwards.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- Identify New York's principal game species and the legal distinctions that matter
- Field dress and cool a deer properly
- Prepare a trophy for a taxidermist without ruining it
Identification that has legal consequences
| Pair | The distinction |
|---|---|
| Antlered / antlerless deer | New York counts an antler of three inches or more. Some WMUs add antler restrictions on points. Antlerless deer generally require a Deer Management Permit |
| Bearded turkey / hen | Spring seasons are typically bearded birds only. Beards are visible against the breast, and a small number of hens carry them. Look, do not assume |
| Black bear age and family group | It is unlawful to take cubs or a bear accompanied by cubs. A lone bear that looks small may not be alone. Wait and watch |
| Ruffed grouse / woodcock | Different seasons and limits, and woodcock is a federally regulated migratory bird needing HIP registration |
| Ducks and geese | Species-specific bag limits mean identifying a bird in flight, in poor light, is a legal requirement, not a nicety |
| Cottontail / snowshoe hare | Different seasons in some units. Hare are larger with much bigger hind feet and turn white in winter |
The rule that covers all of it: if you are not certain, it does not get shot. As the guide you own that decision, and saying "no" is the service.
After the shot
- Wait before following, unless the animal is clearly down. Pushing a wounded animal turns a short recovery into a long one
- Mark the spot where the animal stood and where you were standing
- Read the sign: hair, blood colour and location. Bright frothy blood suggests lungs; dark blood with stomach content suggests a gut hit and a much longer wait
- Track carefully, marking blood as you go so you can return to the last sign. In New York a licensed leashed tracking dog handler can be called for a wounded big game animal, and knowing one locally is worth having
- Tag it immediately on recovery, as the guide requires, and report within the required window
Meat care, which is mostly temperature
- Field dress promptly. Body heat is what spoils meat, and a whole deer holds it for hours
- Work clean. Avoid puncturing the digestive tract, and if you do, rinse and trim generously
- Wear gloves, both for hygiene and because New York carries rabies in wildlife and tularaemia in rabbits and hares
- Cool it fast. Open the cavity, prop it with a stick, hang the animal, get air moving. In warm weather get it skinned and into a cooler with ice
- Keep it dry and clean. Do not wrap warm meat in plastic, which traps heat and moisture and sours it
- Drag on a tarp or a sled rather than through dirt where you can, and keep the cavity out of the mud
- Age it cold, around 34 to 40°F, or not at all. Warm ageing is spoiling with a nicer name
- Get it to a processor or a cold room promptly, and know their hours before opening day
Trophy care
- Photograph it in the field, cleaned up, tongue in, blood wiped, in good light. Those are the pictures the client keeps
- For a shoulder mount, cape generously: cut well back behind the shoulder, past the front legs. A taxidermist can always trim, and can never add. Never cut the throat for bleeding on an animal you intend to mount
- Keep the cape cool and get it to a taxidermist or a freezer quickly. Hair slip from a warm hide is unrecoverable
- Do not salt or attempt to treat a hide unless you know how
- Antlers and skulls: leave them attached to the skull plate for a mount, and know the CWD rules before any part crosses a state line
- Talk to the taxidermist before the season, so you and the client know exactly what they want delivered
From the field
A client wants a shoulder mount and starts the cut at the base of the neck, the way he field dresses. You stop him and cut well behind the shoulder instead. That single decision is the difference between a mount and a taxidermist explaining there is not enough hide.
This lesson is part of the NYS Licensed Guide Exam course. Open it in the course to answer the retrieval checks that go with it, track what you have read, and quiz the whole unit. Lessons, quizzes and the glossary are free.