My point exactly!!, 4 days later!!! I sure as heck wouldn't tag it!!! Did he find the deer he shot at??? or did he find a dead deer??? he is new to hunting, All we really know is that he shot at a deer, (he said so) we don't really even know if he "hit it." "cut the guy some slack" Doc

true enough but is that the case here?being ethical will be key in keeping true hunting alive.

It sure seemed to me that, in the context of a thread entitled "really botched my buck search," he was acknowledging that he knew this was his buck and that he simply didn't look enough.

im more to believe it was his deer,30 yards with buck shot?big chance its his deer.u can ask well how come he didnt find it since it was only 100 yards away but ppl tend to walk right over their deer at times.specialy with a very little blood trail.seems to me he thinks its buck also.

my thoughts exactly

I totally agree, from his posting it would appear it was the one he shot. I was just trying to point out that in a court of law he probably would not face any charges (as long as he didn't know), with all the talk of "poaching" this kid might be hiding in the basement, afterall we haven't really heard from him. Maybe he thinks "Big Brother" is watching. I kind of feel sorry for him. jmop Doc

one thing ill say about the law is this,most ppl tend to hang themselves with what they say.theres a time to talk and a time to shut up.

You should have looked harder for the deer. That was your only real mistake. You should use the search mode on this forum and you will find a lot of threads about how to find a downed animal.

I think some of the "ethical" stuff here is really over the top. Not all states have the same game laws and if you got a ticket it would be up to the courts to decide who was in the right. A recent article in the Pennsylvania Game News magazine is a good example. A bear was reported dragging itself along a road and it was assumed it was hit by a car. It turned out it was shot in the spine (during deer season). Long story short, the Wardens trailed the bear and found the woman that shot it. The woman said she saw something moving in the bushes and thought it was a deer. She got no ticket because there is no law covering killing a bear by mistake.
Anyway, I really don't pay attention to "super law abiding hunters" since I caught a rather well known outdoor writer intentionally breaking the game law when I was checking my fox traps one day.

if that woman was here she would be fined for shooting something she never had a tag for unless she did have a tag,then she would have been on the trail of a wounded animal,theres no crime in that,this is a far cry from not taging a harvested animal,btw i hope shes not stillout there considering she shooting at things she hasnt totaly identified.isnt that the very first hunter safty commandment,be sure of your target and beyond?