Laws and locations vary, but ...

Reduction to possession

Edited to add:

Which is to say, know your laws, because if you come upon “your” game animal, and someone else has reduced it to possession already, there is a better than average chance that the other party has LEGAL rights to that downed animal ... hunter’s ethics aside.

Last edited by RickBin; 12/11/22.
"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." Thomas Paine