To me it depends on the amount of time that has passed. You don't know how long that deer lived. I may be against the grain here but I don't think he should have to tag it. It's hard to say that knowing that he didn't bust his butt looking for it, but what if the deer lived for a month and then died???? I don't think you can just make blanket statements like 'if you arrowed it you should tag it'. Where do you draw the line?

Besides, what if it happened to you. Say you shot a deer. Busted your butt for 2 solid days looking for it. You never found it and then 3 weeks later you find a dead deer that is probably the one you shot. It's decaying and coyotes have feasted on it heavily. Would any of you really put a tag on it, drag it out of the woods, and go register it?

I don't buy that at all.