Congrats to the young fella, but I'm sure glad my Dad didn't smear deer blood all over my face when I killed my first deer. The tradition in my family was, if you missed a deer or lost one by wounding it, you would get your shirt-tail cut off. I still feel bad about the one deer I hit and knocked down, but lost while trailing it due to wind driven snow quickly covering the tracks and blood trail. I was hunting alone, so kept my hunting shirt tail intact.

Originally Posted by skeettx
Well done, well done, and great tradition smile

Unfortunately, not so great a tradition these days due to Lyme disease and other blood-borne pathogens that can be in deer blood. For many years, I hog-dressed my deer bare-handed, and just washed my hands with snow or in a nearby creek, before rolling my sleeves down and putting my hunting coat back on. Now I carry a couple pair of disposable nitrile gloves to do the chore, and try not to puncture them with a bone fragment. Lot's of sources agree:

https://www.letsgohunting.org/resou...hy-wear-gloves-when-field-dressing-game/

A true sign of mental illness is any gun owner who would vote for an Anti-Gunner like Joe Biden.