This sounds like one of those grey area`s of the law? It does not specify the time of the kill to the time of recovery.There are bucks lost every yr. That are not recovered untill after the season in which of course you would not tag? But in the hunting season in which you killed it (IMO) I would think that it would be wize to tag it. And then again you might want to call the "Game and Fish" or the "Department of Natural Resource" of your area and ask them just to be legel and not break any laws?[&:]