Am I in violation?

[mrfixit]

I was reading another thread which ultimately got locked but it made me think about a few things. With this new rule of having to tag a deer before moving it does one have to immediately after climbing down from the tree run to the deer and place a tag? If I am enroute to or sitting in my stand am I in violation of the law if I don't possess a pen and paper?

I never carry a pen and paper with me. After shooting a deer with whatever weapon I never go to the deer immediately, even if I drop it in it's tracks. I always take my gear and gun/bow or whatever weapon I'm using back to the truck, have a drink of coffee or whatever and get my knife, pen/paper etc., and gutting accessories then go back and begin tracking the deer. I have always waited at least 30 minutes when it's fairly warm and sometimes up to an hour when it's cold, as much time as possible, to give the deer time to do it's thing in some sort of relative peace and dignity. Even if it's within sight of my stand I never go immediately to the deer.

Is this practice a violation of sorts? If so it was totally inadvertant and I reckon I'll have to change my habits.

[buster]

That was some thread, ?
If you really want to be on the up and up, you should carry a pen and paper tag with you while hunting. The law merely states that immediately upon the kill, a paper tag must completed that states the hunters name, address, sex of kill and the date of kill. You cannot verify that the deer is dead until you locate it, so a tag is not yet needed. So, in my opinion, once you track the deer and verify that it is dead, you should complete your paper tag with the appropriate information. If you dump the deer where it stood, then once you climb down or walk over to the deer, you would then need complete your tag. Once you leave the deer in the woods unattended, the paper tag has to be left with the deer. Hope this clears things up for you.