Transporting deer question

On the TPWD it says about transporting a quartered deer that


That's put kind of oddly. Is the tag to be placed in the ice chest with the meat, or left on the head?

Also, is it legal to strip your tags (all of them) off the license or must the number of tags removed equal the number of entries on your log?

I can tell you from SECONDHAND experience the GW will write a ticket for every missing tag that isn't accounted for in the game log. Don't know if the GW was right, but my buddy had 2 missing tags and hadn't filled out his log and got a ticket for each one.

A little more back story on that - Two of my buddies were on a lease in Llano. Deer are usually pretty thick in the hill country, but they hunted all season and saw 2 deer. They felt like something wasn't right and then one morning on the way to the blinds they drove past a gut pile in a creek bottom. Wasn't from them, and no one else should have been on the lease. After the morning hunt they were sitting in the cabin eating breakfast and the Game Wardens literally busted in, guns drawn. They immediately grabbed one and took him 2-300 yards out into the adjacent pasture, and kept the other there at the house. They started 'questioning' both of them.. but they weren't asking them questions, they were accusing them of POACHING!! They had gotten reports of people out on the lease spotlighting a few nights before that. They interrogated the dog out of both of them, all the while my buddies don't even know what was going on. They had already seen the gut pile so the evidence was against them.

Long story short, they couldn't prove anything, and wrote a ticket because my buddy had 2 missing tags and nothing in his game log.

We know the land owner's son had been out there with friends mudding in several pastures, best we could figure they went out spotlighting while they were at it. Would explain why they never saw any deer and the gut piles.

To answer your question, you have to keep proof of sex with the meat until you get it to its final destination (permanent residence, processing place, etc..). I'll keep the head with the tag attached to the horns, or stapled to a doe's ear.

Yes, but.

Does that mean the head has to be in the ice chest with the meat or is in the vehicle good enough?

And how did those guys prove they were leasing the place? (Note to self - carry some sort of proof that you are leasing.)

i keep it in the back of the truck with the cooler, but not inside the cooler

The GW knew the LO, and I'm sure the LO gave him their names. We think the LO is the one who called the GW on them. It was a really sketchy deal. The last guys on the place left in an uproar.. probably for similar reasons.

Also, they had to give the LO a week's notice before they went out there to hunt. If that's not sketchy...

Once I get a deer in the cooler, I keep the tag in my pocket. That way, it doesn't get lost on the way home. I lost one years ago after I taped the tag to the antlers. I also been stopped one time by a GW with a deer in the cooler. When he looked at the deer head, he asked if I killed it. I said yep and pulled the tag out from my pocket. After he looked at it, the only thing he said was, "Nice deer"!!!

As long as you can present the tag to an officer when he asks for it seems logical.

As for the number missing from your license equalling the number of entries on the back, that too seems logical when you consider you can be fined for either not tagging a deer, and for not recording the harvest. In fact, I once kept a tag that I removed incorrectly from my license for that very reason. I never used the tag but wanted to have in case an officer asked why the harvest wasn't recorded on my license. Otherwise, how would an officer be able to verify that you haven't exceeded your county bag limits, or that you have already taken a 13-inch Buck in a given county?

Dan, the issue is that GWs seem to like to give tickets for things. They seem to follow every letter of the law, even when it is vague, rather than letting people walk who are obviously following the spirit of the law.

Maybe the best way would be to put the tags in a plastic bag and throw that in the cooler on top of the ice along with the meat. That way you are very unlikely to lose the tags, too. Less likely than if you put them in a pocket, even.

I know it is my OCD at work, but when I get my license I like to strip off all the tags and throw away the ones I know I won't be using that year, like turkey and mule deer, or whatever, and stack the remaining ones on top of my license when I put it into the holder.

And as for how would the officer know you haven't exceeded the limit for that county -- that's indicated on the log. It's easy to remember to tag a deer and forget to log it, but the opposite isn't true. If you log, then you remember to tag because tagging is the first thing you have to do. If you were going to break the law purposefully you wouldn't tag and then not log -- you'd not tag and not log.

In most cases, wouldn't the tag would be attached to the antlers or ear on the head being carried as proof of sex which is also a requirement?

Sure, but the issue is the regs say the tags have to be carried "with the meat". So, you have to throw the heads into the cooler, or remove the tags from the heads and throw the tags in the cooler, or (and that was the question) perhaps having the tagged heads anywhere in the vehicle is okay.

This is true.

Whatever the case, the point never to be missed is that no one is guilty just because an officer hands them a ticket. In the end, the final decision rests with a judge and his decision if a law was truly broken.

Sometimes, your best move is to take the ticket with a smile while knowing you will have your day in court.

Meat in the ice chest and head with tag in ear in old corn sack until you arrive at destination.

Yep. Off topic but has to do with tags. I have 35 plus years of deer hunting under my belt and made a rookie mistake about ten years ago. Shot a doe at last light. Go get my truck and pull up and field dress and tag with the truck headlights. Go back to camp and have a few cold ones. Next morning after the hunt I decide to load up and just drop her off at the processor instead of quartering out. Get to the processor and unload the doe. The dude looks at me and says I can't take this deer bud. I say why not. He says you didn't tag her. I said it's right there in her ear. He says this ain't a mule deer. Oops I tagged her with the freakin mule deer tag. Pretty embarrassing. I tagged her real quick with the proper tag and he laughs and says man it happens all the time. Use a flashlight next time. HaHa. Sorry back to topic

I've done that too, landsurveyor.

GAME LOG????

Been hunting my whole life, been on a couple leases and have never heard of a game log? Is this for lands under MLD, regular lease or does everyone have to have a game log?

Check the back of your license. Might want to read up on it, otherwise I guarantee you will be receiving a ticket from the GW. Actually MLD is an instance where you don't have to use your tag or log.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/licenses/tagging-instructions/tagging-deer

Fine of up to $500 for not completing the log! Another hunter on our lease got fined several years ago.

I have been checked by the game warden while transporting deer twice. Both times I had the meat in the cooler in the back of the truck and the heads, with tags attached to ears or antlers, bagged in the bed of the truck. There was no problem. The regs above say the tag can be attached anywhere and the tag and proof of sex have to "accompany" the meat to the processor. The truck bed seems to be close enough to the cooler to qualify.

Also important to use the WMD if transporting someone else's deer. That is something for which you could also be cited.

While we're on the topic of transporting deer:

We invited one of our neighbor's and his 14 year old son out to hunt on our place this weekend. His son bagged his first deer (an little 4 pt buck). He tagged the deer, filled out his log, and we taught the kid how to clean and quarter his first deer.

I transported the deer back to our home in the back of my truck in an ice chest + the tagged head in a garbage bag in the bed. I had our neighbor's kid ride in the truck with me (their car would not have been appropriate for carrying the cooler and/or head).

My question is this: can I transport the deer to the processor without the kid being with me? Can he "donate" it to me and have me transport it for him to the processeor? If so, what do I need in addition to the tag? Do I need a copy of his license? Do I simply need him to fill out a WMD?

'

There is a special, one-page document that you should fill out and give to anyone that you give meat. I cannot remember the exact name of it but it's easy to fill out and can be downloaded from the TPWD website. It's purpose is to transfer ownership of the meat from the person who shot and tagged the deer, to someone else so they can legally transport it to a final destination.

Not sure if it would be required for the deer you transported for the youngster since it was tagged. Still, I can sense a problem arising if a officer believes you shot the deer and had the youngster use his tag on it. The form might serve as evidence the deer was truly given to you.

The TPW annual has info for transporting the deer if it was killed by someone other than the one in possession. Having a document with a place for all needed info would be helpful but you can put the same info on any paper as long as it is complete.

[quote=wilhunt]The TPW annual has info for transporting the deer if it was killed by someone other than the one in possession. Having a document with a place for all needed info would be helpful but you can put the same info on any paper as long as it is complete.[/quote

How about this? As a landowner can I write my own receipts?
Exception

Instead of proof of sex, the hunter may obtain a receipt from a taxidermist or a signed statement from the landowner or the landowner's agent containing the following information:

Name of person who killed the wildlife resource;
Date the wildlife resource was killed; and
One of the following, as applicable: whether the deer was antlered or antlerless; the sex of the antelope; the sex of the turkey and whether a beard was attached; or the sex of the pheasant.

If meat and head are delivered with tag, no wildlife resource document is necessary. The shooter is covered and you are covered.

I think it is WRD not WMD.

The WRD is needed when you are transporting some partial part of covered wildlife that doesn't include the tagged head, not when you are transporting the entire, tagged animal, so in the case of the neighbor's son's deer, he didn't even have to ride with you when you took the deer back to your house and you won't need a WRD to take it to the processor. You would only need the WRD if the son had kept the heads and tags and you were just taking the meat to the processor.

We were told by gw to have the WRD if the deer was not in possession of the person that tagged it. We often have several different vehicles at camp but only one group has a trailer, ansdd often carries several coolers back, so we asked.

Sig - that gw was certainly not saying what the TPWD site specifically says:

That's the thing with GW's. You can ask 10 GW the same question and get 10 different answers!!

I had our neighbor's kid fill out a WRD, and I'll transport the quartered deer along with the tagged head, to the processor. I believe that we'll be covered, correct?

You filled out a WRD when you didn't need to! No doubt there's a big fine for that! /s

I'll be the first to admit that I don't usually take the doe heads with me to the processor.

Based on all the comments shared, you should covered twice.

Note, that quote indicates "entire carcass" not quartered deer on ice.

redchevy -- here we go again with vaguely stated rules that are open to interpretation. What is an "entire" carcass? I think it is pretty obvious that they meant to include field-dressed deer -- but they aren't "entire". What is a "carcass"? Perhaps a whole deer isn't a carcass; perhaps it has to be field-dressed to become a carcass. And with regard to your comment, I don't think that anything in that rule indicates that an "entire carcass" couldn't be referring to a quartered deer. But I could be wrong.

Just do a half assed job of gutting and throw him in the back of the truck with his head hanging over the tailgate. That way, everyone can see what a bad [censored] hunter you are and the G.W. will wave you thru any checkpoint they have set up.

To answer the OP's original question.

We just had a game Warden last week do a Q&A with a group of youth hunters. This exact question came up. The Warden said to put the tag in a plastic bag, take a knife and slit one of the quarters of meat and push the plastic bag with the tag into the slit in the meat. The tag is now attached to the carcass. Most game wardens are not going to ticket you if the tag is in the cooler, attached to the cooler, attached to a deer head or sex part but if you have an attitude or he has a bad day he can legally ticket you if you have a quartered deer and the tag is not attached to the meat somewhere.

Top of page 65 of the 2013-2014 Outdoor Annual

"Where to Attach Tag to Deer or Turkey"

"The hunting license tag may be attached anywhere on a deer or turkey so that it is not damaged, defaced, or
lost in transporting or handling. For deer, the appropriate tag or applicable permit must remain attached to
the deer until the deer reaches its final destination and is quartered. If the animal is a deer and the head is
severed from the carcass (body), then the appropriate tag or applicable permit must remain attached to the
carcass."

well butter my butt and call me a biscuit

Good question.....

I emailed TP&W this question and they said use the WRD:
You will need to use the attached form: https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdforms/media/pwd_980_l2000_wildlife_resource_document.pdf

If the person who killed the deer is not with you then you will still need a resource document. The hunter gave you the meat and head to transport. You need proof he did that in writing with a WRD. If the GW stops to check you he will assume you killed that deer if you do not have proof otherwise. The hunters license tag is not proof. A MLD permit will work in this instance though as the WRD.

This is the exact same answer the Game Warden also told the youth when he visited our group a couple weeks ago.

“If meat and head are delivered with tag, no wildlife resource document is necessary. The shooter is covered and you are covered.”

Honestly, the WRD is so simple to do just fill it out if you are confused on what to do.