I dont even know if it is just a southern thing.
Have hunted deer in WA, WY, AZ, KS, TX, KY, TN, AL and FL.
SE corner of AL, around the Ft Rucker area, is the only place I have ever seen it. Other Army friends said the same thing.
I asked alot of folks around there about it. My neighbor was a big-time archery guy, had his own TV show, he said that almost no one around there guts them before hauling them out. Right after I moved there, he went bowhunting in KS and shortly thereafter, he went to WY to bowhunt antelope. He said it was odd to see the guides dress the animals where they fell.
I wrote it up to just a local thing. Who knows.
