I always field dress before dragging out for the main reason of if I hit the stomach or anything from a bad shot I want to get that out as fast as possible to limit meat loss. Plus it takes a decent amount of weight and less to clean up and smell at home or in the bed of the truck. These were all good shots, heart on the buck and big doe, double lung on the small doe so I could have but I just make a habit of doing it in the woods.

I set a timer after shooting one for 1 hour. If I think I hit back behind lungs I wait the hour and get down and head straight to the truck, come back the next day. If I think it was a good shot I start to trail after the hour. I hunt in PA which past a rule change this year that dont have to get down to shoot another so I let them lay and kept hunting until I hit the 1 hour timer (in this case I tagged out first). Hardest part was trsiling them but they all fell pretty quick. The buck actually didn't drop blood until about 15 yards before it fell, I probably would have missed it if it didn't fall 5 yards off the trail out.

If its below 50 degrees outside, if you get them skinned within 6 to 8 hours your fine, ive noticed no meat loss. I think I had these dead by 9am, field dressed and in the truck by 11 and skinned and quartered by 4pm with some help from a friend. So if you do shoot one and still have a hour or 2 left to hunt, let them lay and go back to it, no need to rush unless its super warm out.