Carcass disposal

I'm curious how you guys handle this. If I bury them on my 5 acres, it seems like something almost always digs them up. If I put them in a pile, they attract flies and can smell. Sometimes I'll throw a pile of pine needles over them. I'm probably keeping the area opposums happy.

Toss them on the freeway,people are used to seeing dead animals on the freeway.(JK).

I toss them on my burn pile.

It depends on different situations. If I can not dispose of them, I bury or leave the carcass where I catch them. If I am making a draw station, I pile them there. What I do often is place them at locations to check for larger predators. I check for prints in the dirt or snow. They make entertainment as today in coming home, there was a buzzard feeding on a possum I had placed on an approach on a hill.
I never though leave them exposed, as we have an idiot around here who dumps things he catches in plain sight. I can not figure this moron out, as he will leave animals out in the open, when there is brush or a bridge on the same road. In that, out of the way places, under dry bridges is out of the way, hidden, and you can keep track of predator visits.

As the weather warms, heat and maggots deal with the problem.

Compost the carcass. Get wood chips from utility or tree service and cover with the chips.

I do not do much wild animal trapping but when I do I dispatch them and put the in a old freezer I have and put them in the garbage. IF you shoot them do not leave above ground because of the lead in them. The lead will kill Eagles and many other raptors. That is way I put them in the garbage.

Depends on the animal. Moles go back into the hole they came out of. Mice, roadkill, etc goes to the landfill.

In a freezer until garbage day.

I compost most, bury some. Need to find better solutions though, something that can be done on the road and handle volume.


Does anyone throw them directly at the landfill or is this going through your trash pickup only?

All my carcasses return to the wild. I use them for draw stations. Everything always gets eaten even the coon and coyote. I put them out of the way so every day people never know they are there. I am in an area with much woods and swamp. Not farm fields and back lots. I make sure no domestic animals live anywhere near the drop zones. This seems to have improved the quality of my predator population over the past 5 or 6 years. Before that I put them in trash can on garbage day.

Mine go into the trash. Mole go back in the ground.

Maybe that's 1 of the reasons you catch so many bobcats. I suppose it brings in its share of skunk & opposum.

Most time I don't even set a trap near the car was drops. None of the bobcat were near them at all. Matter of fact with cameras on the carcass I don't have a single bobcat picture. Most of the carcasses are eaten by birds.

My partner burns his. I either send out in garbage or have a farming friend who likes watching eagles. On more than one occasion, I’ve had Eagles circling the truck as I drove in. They knew supper was coming. After 2 days, even the possums are gone.

Methods of disposal:

1. A large tractor with a 3 point hitch auger with a large diameter bit with a long shaft. Dig a hole, deposit a couple carcasses and toss in a bit of dirt. Repeat until half full. Then fill in completely with the front end loader.

2. Use a backhoe to dig a trench deep enough - about 4 feet. Deposit carcasses and cover with dirt as you move along the trench. Then fill as above.

3. Make a deal with the trash company. They may not be permitted to knowingly accept carcasses.

4. As this pandemic progresses, there will be starving people willing to buy carcasses.

5. When I do a big cleanup of raccoons, possums, and skunks on land managed for hunting, I make arrangements with the landowner for a bury pit, and then cover it over before I leave.

I’d use an auger if I had one. Sounds like a great idea.

I brought beavers to a landfill today. They charge, but the cost can be passed on. Great way to dispose of em when traveling to do adc work

Just curious, since this is on the ADC page, are we talking fur trapping carcasses, or from commercial ADC work ? All of our carcasses are frozen, then transported to the local landfill to be buried. It's very inexpensive, I can drop 450 pounds for 15.00 right now. I have a large piece of land and wanted to do a burial pit, mostly for deer I take for some local municipalities. I don't have a way to hold them over, and the landfill is 45 minutes each way. When I asked the DEC about burying on my own property, they politely informed me they would ticket me, for operating an unlicensed landfill. The same would go for a bait pile,(illegal dumping) or if I wanted to dispose of them in my residential refuse pick up. I have been doing the landfill thing for many years, mainly because I know it is legal, and I have a paper trail of where my carcasses go if ever needed. We also have another landfill close by, that uses an incinerator, instead of burial. I asked them about legally disposing there and they told me they had no permit to burn animal carcasses, and now that they know me...not to try and slip any in. LOL It's interesting to see that other states have different regulations that are much less stringent than ours.

I toss everything out back in nature where it came from. Any carcass I've thrown out would not stand the chance of laying there for 24 hours before it was completely a skeleton without hardly a trace of anything on it. There are these things called Ravens here.

Michigan ADC carcass disposal laws are different than yours. I know this because I just filed for my ADC permit today and read all the rules. I was referring to season carcasses when I first posted. I didn't read forum heading.

I'm curious about this. If you use a carcass pile. Dead animals start piling up, even 1 or 2 dead animals. It sits there for a week rotting out. Now a Fox or Yote comes along, and starts eating rancid meat. Does it affect the Fox & Yote ?? Are they able to tolerate eating rotting rancid carcasses ?

Are you serious here? Although they don't prefer carrion, they eat it if hungry enough.

I am serious. I have another serious question. What if I have a carcass pile with lead in it. lead pellets, lead .22 ammo in the carrion. I certainly don't want to harm predators coming into a pile of remains...

Lead might just make them retarded. Then they would be easier to catch. They are not going to eat anything that will harm them.

Some raptor centers and wildlife rehab outfits will take some carcasses to feed the animals in their facilities. Could be worth checking with any in your area.

Used to have a guy that had tigers, wolves, panthers and lions etc... Rehab place and he wouldtake all carcasses

Take them down to the inner city for the kids to play with.
I found out they can have some great fun with skinned carcasses.

Our local Audubon Center won't feed anything that has been shot to the raptors.

I've tossed a bunch under the manure pile. It's hot under there and it cooks them down quick.
I've also buried a bunch with a 3 pt. auger. It's fast and effective but the manure pile is easier.

I throw mine back side of our land. I drop the beavers off at night in the neighbors drive way. Makes good dog food. Saves the dogs from having to drag them so far.

Over the carcass pour powdered lime and cover with wood chips.

I like your idea.

That is a very fast way to get rid of the carcass. For awhile the DOT was doing that with roadkilled deer instead of picking them up. They looked like graves along the highway. Maybe that is why they stopped.

Disposal of carcasses was one of the biggest factors in the catching as many animals as I did over 14 year period of time. Every hour saved more profit for me because of the way I was being paid. I would fill up with gas at night or in the morning before daylight. I would discard animals at night or before daylight. The nearest landfill there was two of them were 18 to 20 miles away. They weren’t open seven days a week. During that time some of the years about 7 years my son trapped near the house (Within 75 miles) part of the season. We each usually caught 10 to 15 beavers every day seven days a week. When my son was there in the winter when schools out he would catch up to 10 to15 beaver per day. I usually caught three otters every day. My son usually caught 1 to 3 every day. I caught some bobcat and fox and a few coon. We essentially were discarding up to 4 tons carcasses a week.How we did it was all of the previous post but the main reason we were able to do it was that we had up to six pits dug each winter . Half to 3/4 of a mile from any home or dwelling. They were on my farm.I had a small tractor i used to backfill the holes when the discarded animals were placed. By doing this I was able to gain equivalent to at least 1 to 2 more days daylight to set new locations every day. To verify that I did this you could ask Slim Pederson because he trapped coyotes some of the years that we filled the pits. I traveled over 300 miles average per day checking up to 60 locations each day with a 24 hour check. I used up to 175 330s ,10 to 15 snares, just under 15 foot hold each day.There was no GPS. So I memorized The county maps prior to the season Or at night.I also lined up my permissions in the summertime or on any free time that I had. I was trapping up to eight counties. Usually three counties at a time. It was critical to work this way because of the warm weather in the south during the winter time. Animals would start stinking within three days and had to be discarded in ground as soon as possible.And December January and February they were usually so many animals caught the truck had to be emptied at least once a day sometimes twice a day to make room for traps needed for new sets.Most winters the fur market was no good for beaver and animals were just discarded.Most of the years and trapping was done in about 100 to 120 days or less each year. This was because of the warm weather after March 1 and before December 1.An alligator farm offered to buy the carcasses and put a refrigerated truck at the barn. The state would not allow it.

Every few years or so,. somebody finds a carcass dump in the woods, and the media morons make a big deal about "Witches, and Satanic rituals"! LOL

Composting in wood chips has been good. Had a tree service remove a lot of pine after a tornado. Kept 50 yards of chips. Had to laugh about tossing them on the highway. Might work with one or two, but think some might get suspicious if there were dozens in a clump.

Don't be silly! Animals die all the time from eating things that can and do kill them. That's how poison works.

Don't be silly! Animals die all the time from eating things that can and do kill them. That's how poison works.
And naked.

If you're leaving animal carcass' to render or be eaten by maggots or vultures, 5 acres wouldn't be enough.
500.......that's more like it.
Many places in today;s world you can't get away with it.

If you're leaving animal carcass' to render or be eaten by maggots or vultures, 5 acres wouldn't be enough.
500.......that's more like it.
Many places in today's world you can't get away with it.

Made a deal with the local garbage company who also owns the dump. I have two chest freezers. When they are full, to the dump, to the dump, to the dump dump dump! They definitely pinch me for it, and require a bunch of paperwork, but its worth it. I can pass on the costs to the customer. Very handy when I pick up a deer carcass that wont fit in the freezer.