Hunters have an ethical responsibility to retrieve a downed deer. Hunters have an ethical responsibility to obey the law which of course includes tresspassing laws. So the questions is, given a situation where the responsibilities are in conflict and it's not possible to honor both, is the hunter acting ethically to basically say that the ethical responsibility to retrieve the deer trumps the ethical responsibility to obey the law and respect the rights and wishes of the landowner?

IMO the answer is no. It is not the ethical thing to do. First of all I believe the ethical responsibility to retrieve ends at the point when the hunter has exhausted all "legal" means to retrieve the deer. Once you open the door to illegal means ethics are gone and all we are doing is rationalizing our actions in order to get what we want (the deer). Once the deer enters property clearly posted no tresspassing by the landowner the ethical responsibility to save the meat from spoiling has now shifted to the landonwer. Your ethical obligation is to urge the landowner to do the right thing but it is his decision not yours.

IMO, the ethical obligation to prevent a deer from rotting awayin the woods does not trump a hunters ethical obligation to obey the law and respect land owners rights. Preventing a few pounds of meat from becoming coyote food (something that happens all the time when hunters shoot and loose deer) is simply not even close to a justification in my book. Again, it's simply a ratioinalization for a hunter to satisfy his own selfish interests.

So clearly imo a hunter does not act ethically when he tresspasses in order to retrieve a deer. Would I cross a few yards on to posted property to retrieve one? Yes I would, but I would admit that I was wrong and that I was actingfor my own selfish interests and would accept any consequence that resulted because of it.