In South Dakota, the law says you either tag it or turn the head over to authorities. Pretty simple and effective.
If you shot it you should tag it! If you happen to stumble across it in the woods than it is your call whether you would want to use your tag on it but here in Jersey if you are in possession of any part of a deer without a tag they are writing you a ticket!!
Always best to tag it . Here in Missouri if the deer is not edible , an agent can replace your tag . Might want to check with your conservation department to see how it's handled there .
In Texas, as I am sure in most states, if you take the horns, you must tag it. If you let if lay, it is a non recovered deer. Are you guys going to tag a doe eaten by coyotes? Think poorly of me if you wish, but being honest, I am not going to, even though I have for all intents and purposes, unlimited doe tags.
I once shot a small doe and when I found her the next morning she had been eaten up by fox. I left her there, tore up the tag, but turned in a deer kill card. Tags are unlimited in my WMU. I also counted her as a bow kill.
Well tag this one than shoot a doe for meat, that's what I would do. You shoot it and find it you tag it no matter what
Follow the law. In VT if the deer is not recovered due to coyotes consuming the deer then you do not have to tag it. If you want the rack on a nice buck , though then you must tag it and just won't have any meat. This said, I believe the moral thing would be to tag any deer you shoot and recover, eaten or not. We as hunters will skew deer data if we don't report these lost animals.
Tag it. I shot a doe a couple years back that I left lay overnight. The next morning all we found was the head, neck and ribcage. I didn't take anything but did use my tag on her. IMO it's simply the right thing to do.
