I agree that in the south they let the butcher gut it. First time I hunted NC, my buddies looked at me strangly when they picked me up, covered in blood with two gutted deer there. They had never gutte deer in the field, always did it while butchering them.

And one of my leasemates now (he's 37) is from Texas and said he gutted a deer once when he was 13 on a lark. Everything else goes to the butcher.

For me, it largely depends on where I'm hunting. On my Eastern shore lease, I gut on the spot. I hunt a friends farm in North Central VA and will usually drag the deer out of sight into the woods (and away from trails) when I gut them just because I know his wife likes to hike the property (he has established hiking trails that make great shooting lanes in the woods) and I don't want her to have to see them.

The last deer I shot, I learned my mother in law fell and was in the hospital 10 minutes after shooting it and so I let the butcher handle ye gutting just so I wasn't a mess when I got to the hospital.