I hunt WV every year. You must check either the whole deer or the head and hide. I have not hunted Maryland for a while, but that used to be check the whole field dressed deer. Not worth cutting up a large deer if you have to pack out the head and hide too. Nothing like standing in freezing rain cutting up a deer either. I made a half scale sized come-a-long, just in case. Good enough to get a deer up a drop off or haul one up in a tree. Try pulling a 150# deer up in a tree by yourself with just a rope. Cut it up on the ground? Yeah, standing on an ice covered 15* slope wrestling with a deer on the ground. You waste enough grinder meat cutting up on the spot, let alone covering it with dirt. I would do it if I was desperate, but for some reason when you absolutely have to do something, it is always the worst case conditions.