Originally Posted by quiksilver

Because I'm a good guy, I'd ask first. . . that's just how I roll.BUT if I asked politely and was stilldenied, I'd boldly stroll rightpast thePOSTED signsand retrieve what is mine, as I am legally entitled to do.

Let me explain:

Hurdle #1: Isadeer carcassreally "yours" if you haven't recovered it yet? I say it is. Read Pierson v. Post. Personally, I believe that the Pierson case (and its progeny) unequivocally establishesa hunter's property right in the animal as soon as it has been mortally wounded.So, yourrights vest at the precise instant thatthe arrow piercesthe vitals - long before you ever unsheath your knife or harness up the drag rope.




[blockquote]quote:

GAME "‘- ANIMALS "‘- HUNTING "‘- LEGAL RIGHT OF HUNTERS TO TAG ANIMALS SHOT BY OTHER HUNTERS "‘-CRIMES "‘- LARCENY "‘- TAGGING OF AN ANIMAL BAGGED BY ANOTHER.

1. A hunter who lawfully shoots a game animal acquires a vested legal right in such animal provided he continues to manifest an immediate intention to possess it by exercising actual physical possession and by tagging.

2. Where a second hunter shoots and tags a dying animal bagged by another while the first hunter is attempting to reduce it to possession, the second hunter is guilty of larceny if all other elements of the crime are present.
[/blockquote]


This interpretation (authored by the Attorney General's office) states that a hunter has a vested property right (for larceny purposes)in an animal as soon as he SHOOTS it.Note: you don't have to retrieve it, or tag it. As long as you manifest the immediate intent to do so, the property rights attach once the lethal wound is present. If you go back and read the Pierson case, you'll see where the AG is coming from. It's all in there.

So for those keeping score at home, we now have A, who shoots a deer on his property, mortally wounding it, and it staggers into B's lot and expires. A has a vested property right in that deer - tagged or not. He is "entitled" to it. It is his personal property. But, can he trespass to get it?
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Hurdle #2: Now, let's talk about "Waste." Legal Waste.


In most jurisdictions, an unauthorized entry (you guys would probably call it a "trespass")by A onto B's land to prevent the waste of A's personal propertyis a permissible entry by necessity.A's meat rotting away on B's landwould constitute such a "waste." This doctrine has been in use since the dark ages.

Why? It's a private necessity, facilitated bythe exigent circumstances surroundingmy need to recover the animal (my personal property) quickly so as to prevent waste and spoilage of my meat. "Waste" is a legal term, and the courts actively protect a property owners' right to prevent his own assets from going to waste. Necessity is a complete defense to "tresspassing."