It has happened to me before and hopefully will never happen again. In my case the deer made it across the river and by the time I walked the 3 miles, it was just a gut pile. The guy living south of there denied any knowledge of my deer, but his kids started shuffling their feet and looking down when he said that. I did what I thought was right and notified DNR. Then I found out that he didn't have a license so the meat went to feed the needy and the head and rack were destroyed by DNR.