ORIGINAL: GMMAT
Jeff....you're looking at this from the eyes of a hunter. The farmers here don't give a rat's ass about hunting. They see deer as rabbits in their garden.....and as pests taking money out of their pockets.
It's not by choice they leave them lay. Depradation permits, here, require it.
I see what you're saying. I just think it's a damned shame and a real waste, that's all. It reminds me of a yearling that I shot a few years ago and didn't recover until the next morning. It had been mostly eaten by fox/yotes and I was bummed, but I remember thinking at least it fed some of the other woodland creatures. So it wasn't a total waste of a deer.