We used to regularly leave deer overnight if we shot them late in the evening. Gut them, prop the carcass up off of the ground and prop the body cavity open with some sticks. You have to understand the overnite temperature there was probably in the teens if not single digits. When elk hunting it was nothing for us to get our elk the first day, quarter them and hang them away from camp (bear) and higher than the bears could reach and then stay in the mountains for another five or six days. Take the elk down, haul it to the processing plant to be cut a frozen. It was very well aged and extremely tender.
I think that’s the question. Did he dress it and leave to haul it out later, or did he just leave it where it fell?
You are right about cleaning it. My dad would always clean the deer in the field right after the kill. He said this prevented the blood from the organs seeping to the muscle. It used to infuriate him to see dudes driving around with a buck tied on the truck to ‘show off’ their kill. He said they might as well take it to the dump.