As was said up the page, it depends. I've done it all ways. But I usually just throw 'em in the truck and bring 'em back to camp. Then I string 'em up head up (Found that the hide comes off easier) start skinning down to the front legs, then put a smooth rock or a golf ball in the hide and tie around it with a rope long enough to reach my vehicle. Then pull the hide off with the vehicle. Then quarter it throwing the meat into my 150 quart cooler with ice. The last place I hunted for 8 years was only 30 minutes from the house so I usually brought it home to do that because we didn't have a camp.
I do all this out of laziness, but I've never been able to detect any difference in taste in the meat from one I gutted when they hit the ground. Also, I like clean running water available when I gut it. washing the body cavity out immediately does more good once the body cavity is open to the air. Now if it's going to be 2-3 hours before I get to where I'm going to gut it, then I'll field dress it.
I saw a couple of you mention you did this to keep debris out of the body cavity. But more importantly it keeps a lot of hair out of the meat if you skin it first before gutting. Hair is a biotch to get off the meat.
Last edited by Filaman; 07/27/20.
