I gut it right away. I would never drag an ungutted deer out. They are too heavy as it is. Also, depending on where you live some deer aren't that big. I come across bear hunters not gutting their bear so they can live weigh it. Big mistake.

Also, what do you do with the guts when you get home? Throw them in the waste basket in your house?

Wont see me dragging any stinking guts home,its a 5 minute job out in the woods and well worth it down the road when it comes time to dispose of all the bones and carcass,I gut the deer in the woods and depending on the temp I will sometimes let hang for a day or 2 then I will pull the hide off and quarter the deer down and stuff into coolers and take to butcher the only thing I have to dispose of is the spine the feet the head and hide.

In my part of the south, I have across run across anyone hunting who did not gut their deer. Even with it being cold in the mornings the warmth of the afternoons lately (55-60) could get that deer moving toward spoilage. I bust my arse too darn much hunting, and rearranging my schedule so that I can hunt to let my kill rot on th forest floor.

But that's the dilema of bowhunting; "There's a blood trail, but we'll give him overnight and follow in the morning". I don't think I could ever wait till the morning. If he's expired, he'll rot out and I'd blame myself for not being diligent. It happened once with my son's deer. We followed it to soon, moved it around, got dark, I had to head back home, he was suppose to head back to school, but stuck around till the morning to find him. He found him not 10 yards from where we last looked, the whole butt chewed out by coyotes or something, everything spoiled. Kid felt like crapola for the rest of the season, lamenting over what he should have done.