RE: field dressing
MS87, it really depends on where you live. Here in North Carolina it's too warm to let them hang outside like a lot of hunters do. I usually gut and skin as soon as I'm back to the house and then drive straight to the butcher when I am done. He usually lets them hang around a week or two in a cooler and then its ready. I have a friend who took time to teach me to hunt who butchers his own and does not let it hang at all. As soon as it's cleaned he butchers it.