Important items include a sharp knife for dressing, a light rope or nylon cord for dragging, a signed hide tag with attaching cord, a cloth to clean your hands, and a plastic bag for the liver and heart. To insure satisfaction with the hunt, take the usual precautions to have a gun of adequate caliber, which is sighted in with proper ammunition. Conspicuous clothing appropriate for the weather, a compass, and map add to the safety of the hunt. If your shot did not hit a vital region or if the animal is still struggling, kill it with a shot in the neck just under the ear. Assuming a well-placed shot with modern ammunition, enough blood vessels will often be severed to bleed the deer or antelope without additional sticking in the neck.
Many careful hunters do bleed their kill by sticking just above the breastbone.
The signed and properly punched tag must be torn from the permit and attached to the carcass as soon as the animal has been killed. The head must remain unskinned and attached to the carcass until it has been checked through an official check station and a seal affixed to the carcass. The carcass may be skinned except for the head prior to checking. Admittedly, the field dressing chore is not the most enjoyable part of the hunt, but the extra time spent taking care of the meat will pay dividends at the table. Field dressing takes effort, so your heavy hunting coat should be removed and your sleeves rolled up so they wont be soiled.