What Visits a Deer Gut Pile? With Dr. Ellen Candler of the Offal Wildlife Watching Project

June 21, 2023 By: NDA Staff
Trail cam photo of a raccoon feeding on a deer gut pile.

Have you ever wondered how much leaving your deer’s gut pile behind benefits other wildlife, or how many different critters visit it for an opportunistic snack? The Offal Wildlife Watching Project was designed to answer those questions and much more. It is a research and citizen science project aimed at better understanding the scavenging of deer gut piles provided by hunters. Although it’s focused in Minnesota, hunters can participate nationwide.

Dr. Ellen Candler is a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Minnesota and also the coordinator of the Offal Wildlife Watching Project at the University of Minnesota Extension. She joins the show to talk about the project, some of its exciting findings, and where she hopes to take it in the future.

This is an Ask NDA Anything episode and our hosts answer a two-part question about deer and human urine in the deer woods. In this episode’s B-Team Report, one of our hosts still struggles to understand time zones while the other gets hit in the pocketbook once again due largely to a failing memory.

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Important Links

Offal Wildlife Watching Project Resources:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/offalwatch

Instagram: offal_watch

Twitter: offal_watch

Website: https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/offal-wildlife-project/home

Zooniverse: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/embeller/offal-wildlife-watching

Title sponsor: Black Rifle Coffee Company

Show sponsor:  Wildlife Research Center

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Music by Bensound

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