RE: got a question
I believe the first hunter who shot the animal is the ethical "owner" as long as he makes a good faith effort at retrieval. Of course, the property owner is probably the "legal" owner of a wounded deer that he finds on his property. A variation of this happened to me in New Zealand this year. I shot a red stag that had been wounded by another hunter 4 weeks previously. The stag's right front leg was broken and still very swollen but the he had survived and was still climbing the mountains. As the previous hunter had paid for the stag it was his and I got to shoot him as a second stag of the week at no cost to me. I thought that was a great outcome for all concerned.