My husband phoned on his way home from work. "There are two Great Pyrenees in our driveway!"
Not Jasmine and a new friend, as he'd first thought, but a neighbor's dogs. They wagged their tails, but retreated across the ditch when we approached.
We were puzzled, until we spotted the dead deer lying in the water. We figured he'd been hit by a car on the highway, then wandered over onto our property to die. There was a cut near one knee, but otherwise no obvious injuries.
I thought we should try to keep the antlers. As it turned out, we didn't begin the boiling-the-excess-meat-off process (that the internet recommended) until two days later. In hindsight, I probably should have guessed that the process would best be suited to the outdoors at that point.
Oh, the stink. I am not completely sure that I'll ever get that stench out of my nose. It was revolting. Fetid. Malodorous.
I am unable to find a word that means, "my brain clings to that hideously repulsive odor like flypaper, and brings it back fresh (ugh) to memory every time I even think about a deer".
Have you ever seen the show Dirty Jobs? They had an episode that took place at a "hide preserving" company. They would boil the hides and cure them. The host said that it was one of the worst stenches he'd ever smelled. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI certainly hope when the time comes for someone to boil off my antlers they have the good sense to do it outside.
ReplyDeleteNfmgirl, I have seen that show, but not that episode! Glad to know it's not just me... Hubby didn't seem to be nearly as bothered by the smell as I was.
ReplyDeletePablo, I'll make a note. :)
By the way, nfmgirl, and anyone else who has their blog comments set up that way - I can't comment on your blog! I don't know what the problem is, since other people seem to be able to comment just fine. But my comments just go into never-never land. Something about that set-up just won't work for my computer.
ReplyDeleteOh, just reading this is making my tummy roll! Lol
ReplyDeleteThe word is "blechmaupchugfetidity"
ReplyDeleteI thought you would know that since you like lexi ...lexic... word study so much.
I hate the smell of burning/boiling hair and flesh. I have been near those facilities that preserve hides and wow it is awful. I will never forget touring the former Nazi concentration camp in Dachau Germany though... The smell is still there in the crematory even after all these years.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to be LOL and falling off the chair but your last description was too good and I had to laugh. IOn top of laughing i know have a sense of how badly it smells and want no part of the experience...ever!
ReplyDeleteGail
There's no other smell quite like it. I've noticed it hiking in the woods, or on the beach when there's a huge sea lion or elephant seal carcass in the vicinity. I can't imagine that smell in the house.
ReplyDeleteUggg . . . that for sure was a messy job! But nice rack on that deer!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check out that Dirty Jobs show, too.
ReplyDeleteRurality: I say poor deer also, but I agree with keeping those antlers. How pretty. (But it's still sad for the deer.)
Wow. You are brave. I probably would have waited a couple of years until the antlers were the only things left.
ReplyDeleteEgassner, I am wondering if I'll even be able to look at the antlers without imagining that smell...
ReplyDeleteFC, thanks for the new word. :)
James, wow. I wondered if it was the hair that made such a bad smell, or the fact that we'd waited too long to do it.
Gail, yes, stay far, far away from this experience!
RA, it wasn't quite the same as rotting meat... it was different, but highly offensive in its own way.
Tom, yeah I was starting to wish I'd let Hubby cut them off above that knobby part on the outside, like he wanted to.
Maktaaq, I'm hoping that leaving them outside for a while now will take away any odor that's left. Otherwise I may just have to admire them outdoors!
CPP, well if I'd been smart, I would have done just that! I thought of it, but really was afraid a racoon or something would steal them. Plus it was Hubby that did all the dirty work. Though I did watch.
When my husband would come home from a big fire (he is now retired from firefighting) I could smell the fire when he breathed out.
ReplyDeleteYucky! I hit a buck with the car several years back, and my BF buried the rack about 12" below the surface of the ground (upside down so mice couldn't eat the antlers). It took less than a year for the entire thing to be clean and the skull white-not a speck of goo left! Your method is faster, of course. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL. And that sounds *exactly* like something I would do.
ReplyDelete