Bowsite.com

State park field dress?

Never hunted a PA state park. What is the law/rule about gutting the deer in the field vs. taking it home first?

I've taken a number of deer from Hickory Run SP and Evansburg SP. I've always dressed them in the field. What you don't want to do is dress them in a parking area. Nor do you want to dress them on a hiking trail. In State Parks, common sense rules the day.

What Bob said. I've had park rangers, at Moraine S.P., standing right next to me.... and one guy was an AAAAA-hole, as I drug them out of the woods and loaded them into my truck, and they never uttered a word about whether the deer was gutted or not. We hashed out other rules concerns he had... and he was wrong... but never anything about gutting. And I was in an area where it was legal to hunt, but one that had hiking trails, picnic areas, boat launch, etc. There is no criteria in this park for gutting, or not gutting, a deer.

That said, often, each park has its own sets of rules, so I would simply stop in or make a call to the park office and ask.

I guess I wasn't clear in regards to your question with that post. I've killed a pile of deer in state parks and always, always gutted them in the woods... as did everyone else. Never even heard it discussed prior to this. But still... if you have concerns... just call. That way you're sure.

Register here to reply to this topic