who gets it

test

Legal or moral, will give you 2 different answers.

Cayuga,here in Michigan,it is illegal to put your tag on a deer you did not shoot/kill.Also it is illegal to trespass on private property to track/recover a deer you have shot.Unless the land owner gives you permission to recover the deer,you are out of luck.However if you know the deer is dead,the land owner cannot claim the deer as his since he is not allowed to put his tag on a deer he did not kill.Calling the DNR and proving you killed the deer would be hard.Best case scenario would be the DNR would claim the deer and donate it to the food bank.

I'm not sure how it works here in NY. I know you have to have permission to enter private land to recover an animal, and they tell us that it we are denied that permission to call the DEC and an officer will assist you. However if in the time it takes you to call the officer and the time it takes the officer to respond the land owner goes out and recovers and tags the animal. I do not know what would happen then. My dad did shoot a wounded deer many years ago and as he was dressing it out a hunter came along and claimed it was his deer and that he had been tracking it. My dads reply was the animal was on his feet when I shot it and you are on my land so it is my deer. The other hunter thank him for finishing it off and returned to his area.

That story is interesting and they came to a fair agreement in my mind.