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What do you do with your carcass tag?

In Colorado specifically. It’s says to sign, date, detach carcass tag immediately upon harvest. It also says the tag must be attached during transportation in a vehicle or while at camp. The way I read the regulations I can sign, date and detach it and put it in my wallet until I get some of the carcass back to camp at which point I put the tag on a quarter.

For those of you that “tag” the animal before moving it, do you attach tag to the first load of meat, last load of meat, one of the rear quarters with evidence of sex? Anyone know what the proper way is? The regs seam vague.

Another question is about taking the meat to a cooler or processor. I doubt I will but I understand the tag must stay with the carcass. Do you have to leave the horns with the carcass or can they return to camp and stay in the truck without a carcass tag?

Like the Regs state, The carcass tag doesnt have to be attached until the animal is in a motor vehicle, or in camp.

I dont attach it until one of those 2 above apply

NOTE: The antlers are NOT considered a legal place to attach the tag - if the animal is it quarters.

Game warden told me to fill it out and keep it in my pocket while transporting meat. That way if you get checked you’re not digging through 4 bags of bloody meat looking for it.

Sometimes my tag is served in a nice soup with sourdough bread and a cold beer.

Nicely done LA!

I would think several beers would help it go down a little easier LA ;-)

Lost Arra that is the most likely scenario. Just trying to be prepared. ;)

What about my last question. For those of you that take your meat to a processor, do you leave the horns with the meat? Haul the horns around without a tag?

They don’t care about those stinking horns. No tag at no time.

Shoot cows

Cnelk I won’t pass one unless she has a bull hot on her tail.

NYS has almost identical tagging requirements. Things to consider (my old man taught me). Keep a pen in your inside breast pocket so that it's warm enough to write with. We also have to cut out the date and month that is printed on the edge of our tags, so we need a knife. Fill it out once you find the animal and are sure it's dead. Don't attach it to the animal while transporting in the field because if you did, (dragging/packing) it could get torn off accidentally - then you're in trouble (or on a one-item scavenger hunt). So once you fill it out, keep it in your pocket, with your wallet (with your ID). As soon as you get back to camp/vehicle, attach it to the game. We do that through normal means like leg tendon and string but we go one step further. We also put a clear plastic bag around it and then use electrical tape wrapped around the bottom of the bag to ensure it doesn't slip off. That plastic bag prevents water, blood, etc. from messing up the completed tag.

I'm not sure why we go through all that hassle. I wonder if my dad ever got in trouble at one point in time for not having done it properly. I do know another old guy who got fined while filling the tag out at camp (pen in hand and was told "stop writing").

Each tag is thrown in the freezer with the processed meat until consumed. I like to be on the safe side.

I killed an antelope here in NM once on a big ranch. We hung the goat up and quartered and took the hide and head off then left the carcass hanging in a barn. Tags were all cut and wrapped around the horn . I took the head to a taxidermist who had a big tent set up on another ranch for capping the heads and cutting off the horns. When the hunts were over he headed back to his shop to start the taxi work. While I was at the taxi’s tent a game warden showed up, we talked for a while then he saw the head with the tag on it and wanted to know where the meat was. Told him it was back at the other ranch, he told me to get back to the ranch and put the tag with the meat. When we got back there was another warden there and he was fixin to confiscate the antelope because the tag was with the head . I told him the other warden gave me a break on the tag not being with the meat because he said after talking to me for so long at the taxi he knew I was telling the truth . The wardens talked on the phone and agreed not to give me a ticket but the one at the ranch was sure wanting to. Tag stays with the meat !!

put it in the soup with some beef stock and bayleaves.

I sign, date and put it in my pocket secured, so it's with me while packing. Once in transport, its attachment to the quarter with evidence of sex.

So I pack out the first load 2 miles to my truck. Per regs I attach tag on the first load before I put it in the back of the truck and drive a couple miles back to camp to hang first load in shade, grab some water, a quick lunch, packer frame and hopefully some help from my buddy who probably slept in.

Hop back in truck, head back to get next load. Get next load back to truck. But now I can't follow the regs because I only have 1 tag which is back at camp as required by regs.

What do I do now?

I am still confused. In the past, you were able to keep the tag in your pocket until you got it back to the trailhead and began transport. But I had heard that had been changed and you needed to attach it before backpacking meat to your vehicle. The above says follow the instructions on the tag and on the tag is says: "Attach the tag to the carcass before transport or storage"

Doesn't say transport in a vehicle.

Aspen that’s a good question. I’d have to guess you need to leave the meat in the truck or hang it by the truck until all the meat is ready for transport. That way you are not transporting untagged meat.

My concern is I often park in open sagebrush areas and hike up to the trees to hunt. Sometimes it's a mile on foot to the first shady spot. That's why I'd rather take each load back to my camp which is typically in a spot with shade. I'd also rather have the meat hanging in camp rather than unattended by the road or in a hot truck.

I tag the first load for transport and leave it tagged at camp. I just carry my permit for each subsequent load. It's technically against the regs when I'm driving the next loads to camp but the carcass tag can't be in two places at once.

Yeah sounds like an issue to me. If you could keep ice in cooler long enough do that you could store the first load in a cooler in a truck. The otc unit I hunt barely has any meadows so finding a shady tree is never a problem.

All the meat processors I’ve dropped meat with won’t accept it unless it’s got a tag with it.

Leave the tag on the meat you take to camp, take a picture of the tag on that quarter with your phone and carry your phone with you on the remaining loads.

Here in Maryland we have to tag a deer before it is moved from the woods. I fill out the tags ahead of time and only leave out the date and sex. I keep the tags in my fanny pack, in plastic bags along with zip ties. When I make a kill, I fill in the date and sex and apply the tag. The tag will go inside an ear to protect from losing it. Then I can register the kill via phone and fill in a second tag which is for the butcher and it has the registration number that I just got via phone. The butcher won't take a deer without the registration number. I carry that tag in my wallet and give it to the butcher. I always carry plenty of zip ties and extra tags in my fanny pack along with a pen. I know the local wardens and they told me I don't have to apply the first tag until I get the deer to my truck to avoid losing the tag in the woods. The law actually says you have to apply the tag before moving the deer.

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