Obviously you made a bad call. You should have looked for the deer. Hopefully you learned a lesson. You are right though, you shouldn't have posted it here. Too many of the people on this forum havea high and mighty attitude. They take every opportunity they have to let everyone know how ethical they are and how much of a better hunter than you they are. Get over yourselves. Mistakes happen to everyone. Hopefully this one doesn't happen to him again, but it happened. Should he give up hunting for a year, no way. Go out and try again, but make it count.

As for tagging the deer after it is rotten, I wouldn't expect you to do that. Earlier this year I shot a doe. I wasn't sure of my hit, so I let it sit over night. That is the supposed "ethical" thing to do. I found it the next mourning, but the coyotes had already shredded it. If you think I tagged it anyway, your nuts. If you can't use the deer anymore thenwhy tag it. If it makes you feel better about yourself, then you tag it.

I am glad that I don't hunt with most of you. You would take the fun out of hunting. There is a difference between having respect for your quary and just being a buch of anal retentive elitists.