"I have a friend <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>" who came across this very situation last year. It was outside of the 6 day Buck season (shotgun) and my "friend" didn't have the appropriate tag. A wounded and limping 4pt. very slowly approached his stand for aprox. 30-45min. The deer had a badly wounded front left leg and the joint had been seemingly destroyed by an automobile. Additionally, it seemed as if the buck was looking a little thin in the ribs. In an effort to put the animal out of its apparent misery, "my friend" thought long and hard before ultimately deciding to take a clean shot at 40yrds with 000buckshot (from what I've heard <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>)and quickly put the animal out of its misery. However, fearful of the game warden's possible response to this <img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>(NJ can be a B****) my friend opted to not tag the deer becaused he feared that his mercy killing could backfire on him and his license<img src=icon_smile_sad.gif border=0 align=middle>. To this day my "friend" still wonders if he did the right thing (not tagging out/reporting it). If you have an opinion, I'm sure he'd like to hear it...I'll pass along the word.
"Measure twice, shoot once <img src=icon_smile_evil.gif border=0 align=middle> "