DEER CHUTES
DESIGNED FOR SAFETY, EFFICIENCY By: Gail Veley • Sponsored by WOL
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t was 10 a.m. and Len Jubinville was waiting on a delivery of six does. “The guy said he’d be here at 10 a.m. Three hours went by,” Jubinville, a deer chute specialist, said. “At 1 p.m. he showed up with nine stitches above his eye. One of the young does had jumped the fence and went flying right past his eye.” Any experienced deer farmer such as Jubinville realizes two things most important for safely handling deer – having the right deer chute and the right layout of your land to get them into it. Designing a functional way to run your deer into a chute is instrumental to your success whether your plans are to perform A.I., trim antlers, inject vaccines or any other medical or necessary procedure. Once you have determined the best location for your chute, designing and creating a holding pen, crowding alley, crowding pen and tunnel system is next. Keeping in mind that “low stress is so important when handling deer, two things that stress them the most is separating them and predators. And we are predators. If you start ‘stealing’ from your desired group they will want to follow each other and you will have no problems,” Jubinville emphasized. However, an ideal layout should coincide with an ideal deer chute. “In 1988 I started extracting deer from the wild and started regularly handling wild deer,” Jubinville said. “And it didn’t take long to realize we needed better equipment. There are just certain things you want to have that over time were developed through trial and error.” Although deer chutes are available in a variety of price ranges “you do not
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want a chute specific to just one thing or another. You want a chute that is functional that will do it all. For a couple thousand more you could get the right one.” The proper chute will allow you to have adequate access to the front of the deer. “That’s where you will be testing and drawing blood and trimming and scoring antlers,” Jubinville said. “You also want a chute where you can stand right beside them from either side and work on them, too. If you have a lot of work to do on a deer, you will want to use a backpress or backstrap so it applies pressure and they feel comfortable and it takes the fight out of them.” Adequate access to the back of the deer is additionally vital, as this is where A.I. and other procedures are performed. Given that deer move and react quickly, modifications to deer chutes throughout the years has led to more efficient models and much less anxiety for the deer once they are inside. With more modern versions, walls are more soundproof. Deer cradles are more accommodating and perhaps easier to walk into. “Drop floors” have been replaced by the handler’s ability to gently raise the cradle appropriate
to the size of the deer being worked on, void of the loud “bang” found with dropping mechanisms. More specialized deer chutes, used mostly by veterinarians and researchers, contain a makeshift table where a tranquilized deer can be laid flat on its side for any number of procedures. Presetting your chute to fawn, doe or buck size is extremely important as this can reduce anxiety or struggling on behalf of the deer and enable the handler to get his job done more efficiently. This makes the overall operation of your farm and management of your deer much safer and ultimately more cost effective. In addition, safely directing deer away from the chute is the last factor in the handling process that needs careful consideration, whether their next steps will be from a loading zone into a trailer or back into an outdoor area. “Make sure you have thought the entire process through from beginning to end,” Jubinville said. “Believe me, I’ve made enough mistakes for everybody,” he added. “I’ve learned that things can be safer and more effective for you and your deer. It’s been proven people can handle deer on their own if they have the right setup.”
