I don't think the law specifies you have to tag it before you gut it. I believe the law is you must tag it before you move it though. Now gutting a deer is not moving it from it's location. I have shot 1 deer that ran into a thicket and died. I drug it out of the thickets about20 yrds. And then gutted it and tagged it. There was no way of doing it in the thicket of thorns. NowI did breakthe lawbut if I was caught,should I of been fined for what I have done? These are 2 simularities thatare in the grey area and not fined or punished for. Does not make sense to be fined for either in my book of rules. And some times we have to bend them on what is what we believe is to be right. If the PGC doesn't want to ackknowledge that some things are ok to do, Then why should we help them with poachers and law violators when they can't understand us for common sense some people might do? Like tag a diseased dear unsuitable for consumption that we have shot.