I just carry a utility knife, extra blades are always sharp, and you can get the shingle cutting hook blades for a gut hook...seemed to work on bambi the last couple of years.
I use surgical scalpels on humans almost daily and my experience would say that they become dull rather quickly if trying to remove large amounts of material. I would think something "surgically sharp" or with "surgical blades" would be ok for caping or small intricate jobs, but not for working on a whole animal.