Ummm no actually... I mean there's some stuff I could say about common outdoor practices in different communities but, I'd rather not start down that road

Same here,rabbits especially,since they are already frozen in the snares.
No point in thawing out to process then re freeze after.Just process when ready to prepare.

If your freezer is capable of freezing whole fish solid in a hurry like a perch thrown on the ice while ice fishing on a January day up north, it stands to reason that freezing them in a good freezer and cleaning them later would be no different.

Being a retired taxidermist, i admit I have eaten literally hundreds and hundreds of fish that were frozen whole......usually after being frozen several months. If a customer didn't want the meat saved for them, I would very often save it for myself and many times those fish were not skinned to mount until months after they were brought to me. The meat was always fine.

Interesting. Do you eat a lot of deer neck roast as well?

So none of you guys that shoot deer in freezing temps field dress your deer? Y’all just hang them with guys and all until the next day when you have time to process the meat?
Now we’ve caught fish and kept them in a cooler on ice and cleaned them the next day, but we don’t purposely freeze anything whole and wait until time to eat it to clean it.

Sorry but I really feel the a 200lbs furry deer and a 1lbs bluegill aren't really a fair comparison

Same poop different pile.

I remember when my Dad would shoot ducks they would hang or lay on cool basement floor for a couple of days before they would be cleaned. I think that was pretty common for game birds in some areas.

Keeping whole fish in a cooler of ice for 24 hours is a worse idea that freezing them whole right after catching them.
Fish on ice will not reach below 32 degrees, if that, and if half of the ice melts, they will only cool down to exactly 32 degrees. The texture of the meat will suffer.
Physics.
Its not just a suggestion.
Its the law.