Do you field dress/gut the bird right after shooting or do you take it home and do it (lets say home is under an hour)?
If home is under an hour away, I'll usually take it home.
But I always try to have gallon bags and a sharp knife in my vest so I can do take the legs and breast meat out on the spot if I have a long walk back to the truck.
I gut it and put it on ice. If it were under and hour, I might forgo the put it on ice part.
Home
I always take the guts out when I get back to the truck. I keep frozen coke or water bottles in my cooler. I shove one up the cavity to cool it down fast.
You have some leeway with game birds. The meat has an entire ribcage between it and the guts. Yeah don't drive around in 90 degrees for 4 hours with it but I've waited 2 hours before cutting them up and it doesn't hurt anything.
Look at upland guys if you need inspiration. They let those birds ride in game bags for hours.
A trick ive always used is to get the pics out of the way, pull the guts out, and stick a frozen 1L bottle of ice into the cavity from where you previously extracted the entrails of the bird. Within and hour that whole bird will be cold to the touch :icon_thumright:
Home or put it in the cab of the truck with the air-cond ... Wild Game doesn't ruin that fast ...