you know i've always wondered about the way that law was was written. but it says that you have to check your deer in by 8pm if you get it on the "last day" of any of the seasons, or 8pm of the following day if the season's still going. i never had an the unfortunate opportunity to be in the position to find a deer on the last day of the season after 8pm to see what would happen. you should be fine because your deer isn't considered "killed" or "harvested" until you find it. you're not required to check it in the same day you harvest unless its the last day of the season, and there's still a month left, so you're ok there. so if you find it and have till 8pm the following day to check it in and the check-in station is closed im sure they have that covered. we don't get all the laws in that little booklet that they hand out when we get our lisence. i would call the ODNR before i took it to the check station and explain what happened. i've always wondered when you would be required to check a deer in that you shot during legal shooting hours but didn't find till after midnight. they need to change our tags to say "time shot" and "time found".

Edited by - nodose on 12/26/2002 23:04:36