I don't get it. If it was legal and ethical in your mind, why the cryptic thread title and 20 questions routine?
The subject line was pretty straightforward, nothing 'cryptic' about it.
It would have been 'legal and ethical' for me either way, whether I took the shot or not.
Had my SIL not taken a shot and possibly (we thought probably) wounded it, I would have let it go.
You may want to check on the legality. I'm personally familiar with a case where a hunter with a doe/fawn permit in Wyoming shot a young buck by mistake that looked just like yours, i.e., no black patch but a black slash.
He self-reported but the local game warden was not available and asked for a cell phone photo of the head, which he provided The game warden thanked him for self-reporting, but then said he had to issue paperwork that was described by the game warden as "allowing the hunter to legally possess the meat."
In other words, it was not a legal kill, according to the game warden.
