If a deer or elk comes by me and is obviously hit , I will try to put it down and wait for the original shooter. I have never been in a situation where two hunters are actively shooting at the same animal so can't say there. I'd say whoever puts it down is the owner.

If I shoot and it goes it goes off a short distance and another hunter tires to claim it and has not fired a shot.There will be a discussion.If it ends up being a rather long tracking job and at the end another hunter found it, I would tend to let him/her have it, as I might not have found it and would feel relieved that they did.

Years ago I came up on a kill sight. 3 dead cows gutted and tagged. Over in the brush I found another cow, not tagged,not gutted. I gutted it out , waited awhile then tagged the elk. I explained the situation and he says they didn't know they shot the other one and tanks me for talking care of it.

They could have known about the 4th cow and were going to pack the other three out and come back and tag it with one of their three original tags..

I have come up on lone hunters just finding their elk and have helped them process it and the thought never entered my mind of trying to claim it. I have let a few youth hunters claim elk that I obviously shot and they thought they did.

If God wanted you to walk and carry things on your back, He would not have invented stirrups and pack saddles