# Deer



## HayleyMarie (Jul 6, 2011)

So this is our first year of deer hunting and using the deer to feed the dogs and we want to use as much of the deer as possible, so what do you guys use of the deer for your dogs and what don't you use??


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

I use every part of the deer to feed my dogs except intestines, bowl, and stomach. My dogs will eat everything else including the head and spine. I let my big dog play with the legs but some people do not like offering the legs because the femur is pretty hard. I would suggest freezing the deer for a few days first to kill any parasites.


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

wolfsnaps88 said:


> I use every part of the deer to feed my dogs except intestines, bowl, and stomach. My dogs will eat everything else including the head and spine. I let my big dog play with the legs but some people do not like offering the legs because the femur is pretty hard. I would suggest freezing the deer for a few days first to kill any parasites.


Ditto. I always give mine the legs to chew on, and no issues thus far. I freeze for two weeks before feeding.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

We feed everything but intestines and stomach of a deer.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

How long does it take your dogs to work on a head? We haven't gotten any deer of our own yet but several carcasses and I've been throwing out spine and the one head I got because they won't fit in my freezers and it wasn't cold enough outside yet to store, I let them work on the legs until they are cleaned off but seemed like there wasn't enough on the spine to make it worth it. We are hunting solely for the dogs so I can butcher our own much differently-if we get anything that is. I forgot I hadn't really given venison to the younger two dogs because I've been out except a little ground for the last couple months and they are newly switched-wow, not sure if it's because it's richer or what but jesus the gas coming out of Nero after working on the legs was deadly OMFG. And they've gotten a lot of legs this past week lol.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

I had a party a few months ago and gave my mastiff a deer head that had been in my freezer to keep him busy (he can be annoying when we have guests over). I would say he ate the whole thing in 5-6 hours of just gnawing away at it. He is a big dog though and every dog is different. For a smaller dog, I would suggest cutting the skull in half. I know my other two dogs would not have been able to manage what Dozer did. Nothing left at the end except the teeth!


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## Fundog (Oct 25, 2012)

naturalfeddogs said:


> We feed everything but intestines and stomach of a deer.



So the green tripe (stomach) of the deer is not safe, do you think? I would have thought the green tripe of a deer would be totally awesome.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Ditto to what everyone has said. I'd feed the whole animal, aside from digestive tract.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Fundog said:


> So the green tripe (stomach) of the deer is not safe, do you think? I would have thought the green tripe of a deer would be totally awesome.


I don't feed tripe, but I think cow stomach and deer stomachs are different. I've never seen deer tripe, it's always beef. Someone who feeds tripe will be able to give you more info on that.

Cows have four stomachs, and I think tripe comes from the fourth stomach.


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## HayleyMarie (Jul 6, 2011)

Thanks guys you have been a great help.

Tyler got a doe on Monday. He brought home about 30lbs or organs that includes heart, liver, kidneys and tongues from is friends animals as well. I have no idea what meat we are going to get off this animals for the dogs because we are taking this to the butchers to get done. I know Tyler asked to get all the carcass back, but I guess we will see.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Just tell the processor you want all the scraps back as well for the dogs, and maybe you will get the whole thing back. I know when I go to the processor for our scraps, I'm always shocked at what gets thrown out. It's good for us raw feeders but bad for the paying customer wanting meat.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

naturalfeddogs said:


> Just tell the processor you want all the scraps back as well for the dogs, and maybe you will get the whole thing back. I know when I go to the processor for our scraps, I'm always shocked at what gets thrown out. It's good for us raw feeders but bad for the paying customer wanting meat.


This x2, I've got scraps coming from a couple processors, they don't have a use for it. You might get some nice stuff.


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