If nothing else it keeps the dirt off the meat! hanging them up that is.

I gut on the ground, but it is easier to gut while hanging in my opinion and quartering is easiest while hanging. You should let your deer hang for about 24-48hrs before processing it makes the meat tender.....and i dont reccommend that you wash your deer out unless u absolutley have too, i.e gut shot. Water creates bacteria and u could find yourself with some spoiled meat and a trip to the hospital, i dont even put ice bags in my deer unless its double wrapped in plastic so the water and prespiration dont get in the carcass.

instead of ice bags try freezing 1 gallon milk jugs they work well as long as you still have the caps for the jugs. LOL Once they are solid ice just put 1 or 2 in the chest cavity they last a long time

All animals when dead start decomposing at the moment of death. And gutting the animal, and washing it out does Not cause bacteria to grow. Bacteria starts to grow as the temperture starts rising, At 40 degrees or below the bacteria will be stalled, or slowed down from growing. Even a slaughter house will wash out an animal then hang it to age the meat. We've been hanging and washing out our deer for the 42 years I've been hunting, and longer than that with my Dad, Uncles, and Grandfather. Here in Michigan come November when the deer season is on, it normally doesn't go above 45 to 50 degrees, And if it does then the deer should be put into a cooler. If you're worried about food poisoning, that is caused by improper handling of the meat, and temperature. With proper handling and cooking, all bacteria will be killed off, and the meat will be fit to eat.

thanks for all the input guys. the reason i asked this question is because i live in the city and will be hunting on other people's property that dont have any kind of setup to hang deer with and i dont have a truck so tying it isnt an option. i was wondering if it was possible to do so. im not afraid of some hard work so i think ill try to give it a shot. i just didnt want to go and intrude with making a tripod with rope and chains to hang deer from. thanks for the help.
raim

Gutting a deer on the ground, if your by yourself, is probably the easiest way to do it. If you have 2 or more guys, hanging it in a tree is the easiest because you have someone to hold the legs apart. They tend to get in the way when hanging. Good luck.

Actually it is fairly easy to clean them on the ground, just lift their tail and give a good hard swipe. I have found that many prefer charmin over the cheap stuff![:-][8D]

I have gutted many deer and hogs on the ground.when I was younger we hunmted on foot a long ways from the camp.we had to carry the animals back to camp.I still always hung them to finish the job.
I hang by the head always.it is much easier for me that way.
if I had to dress one in the field,I would gut on the ground,then hang in a tree to finish.
just my way.

We always field dress deer and moose on the ground. Deer we take out whole with a 4 wheeler and hang on the pole in camp. Moose we quarter because we usually have to get them back to camp by boat. Ever try to get an 1100 lb moose into a boat? [:@] Here in Ontario it is usually cold enough so we don't have a problem with spoiling. They hang for the whole week sometimes. We also hang by the legs but there are pro and con for either way. You will discover which is the best way for you depending on your hunting situation. GOOD LUCK!

As stated earlier, bacteria from the gut will start leaving the intestines and invade other tissues very quickly after an animal is dead. My philosophy is to get them gutted ASAP. Therefore, I gut them where they lay. It is rare that a deer is not gutted within 10 minutes of hitting the ground. Then, there is no big hurry to skin/quarter them. That also means I don't have to haul the gutpile off from camp, cause I leave it where I gut them. Don't need a special set up for hanging one either. Throw a rope over a stout treelimb, and hang the deer. I can usually hang one by myself, but that is with our somewhat smaller deer. Where we hunt, they usually dress out between 90-110 lbs. You can either hang by the head, which lots of people do, or by the rear legs. If by the rear legs, just find a stout limb that you can put between the hock joints of the rear legs to spread the legs for easier skinning/quartering.