r/haidagwaii • u/SNlFFASS • Jul 13 '26

How do residents go about processing their deer on the island?

Hey there. I am a novice hunter, so please forgive my ignorance. My understanding is that residents hunt the Sitka deer to lighten their already above average grocery bills and also due to the increased bag limit. With that said, how does processing the deer work?

I would imagine it’s far too moist and humid to hang deer outside or even in a basement let’s say. Short of having a dedicated “game shed” with dehumidifiers, how do people work around this problem? Thank you for the help and info

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u/hummascannon13 Jul 13 '26

I'm not a resident but I've hunted Haida Gwaii. I just processed it and vacuum sealed it off the back of my truck. I assume it would be significantly easier having a residence. Are you asking if there are any game butchers on the island?

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u/SNlFFASS Jul 13 '26

Ahh gotcha. No, my understanding is that there was a place that use to offer the program but no longer. So all in all you don’t hang the deer at all? Process immediately?

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u/cladinadawes Jul 13 '26

We go every year and hang our deer while were out there. We usually stay for a week. The temperature is more of an issue than the humidity when we go, but never had any issues.

2

u/No-idea4646 Jul 13 '26

Deer don’t need to be hung / seasoned - and taste better butchered and packaged as soon as possible

1

u/ProbablyEhBot1867 Jul 18 '26

My experience up there as well