i always field dress mine. i think that its important to clean it as soon as possible and let the carcass start to cool. then get it back to camp quickly and skin it, put it in the cooler.
As a kid I field dressed my deer where I killed them, but now I try to get out of the area as quickly and easily as possible. I fireld dress my deer back at camp. If I am going to skin the deer and process it and not transport it I dont field dress it. I just hang it up and skin it out. The guts will stay inside the lining unless it has been gut shot.
Since I hunt within 30 minutes of my house, I wait until I get there before I field dress a deer. It's a lot easier and cleanier to wait until I get home and I almost always leave immediately after the hunt.
Right where it lays - If there's a creek within a few yards I might drag it over beside the creek so I can use the water to clean my hands, knife, etc...
I've always either done it in a designated spot or let the processor do it.
In a new club now and I don't think they have a "gut pit/pile". So, I'm not sure...
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil
I take mine up to the camp house if Im at my Wilkinson co. property. Home is 50 miles away. If Im at the twiggs Co. property I will dress it there and take it to the cooler. Twiggs is only 18 miles from home. I avoid gutting in the woods when ever possible. To much Blood all over me and my equipment. Also dont like to get trash inside my Deer.
Are you kidding? Field dress a deer? No way. I load it on the 4 wheeler and don't take it off till I get to the processor. They only charge 5 dollars. I ain't geting dirty for 5 dollars! And I am lazy too! I ain't field dressed a deer in 20 years. I probably forgot how by now.
we just bring them back to camp. We hang 'em, skin 'em, cut off the front shoulders, remove the backstraps, open just enough of the stomach area to get remove the tenderlions, saw off the carcass just below the hams (guts still in the carcass), split the pelvic bone, put the meat on ice, haul the carcass to our coyote pile, go back to camp, clean up and re-tell the hunt story.
If we are on a managed hunt, I gut them where they lay.
i have actually heard that leaving the entrails in water, creek, pond, etc is very harmful for fish and other tasty creatures. not that i am an environmentalists or anything, just my two cents.
We usually take them to chapmans cooler. Its only about 5 miles from us and he only charges 5 dollars.. Its alot easier since we have no water to clean up with..But when I used to guttem, I would do so where they fell..Never seemed to affect my deer sightings..
depends...if gut shot (never) then on the spot. Early season hot day, on the spot. Long haul to the 4 wheeler, on the spot. Otherwise I like to take it to weigh in with gut to get a "live weight".
In the woods. If I'm in an area that I want to keep relatively undisturbed I will take it a few hundred yards away and "do it in the woods". Nothing more aggravating than buzzards eating a gut pile right near your stand while your trying to hunt.