RE: To tag or not to tag?
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The law requires that hunters tag a deer after killing it. If it is unfit for human consumption, at the time it is killed, then you can report that to the Game Commission and every effort will be made to examine it and issue a permit for a second deer. Pretty much every WCO deals with several like situations every year and yes we do have the new tags with us and can issue it at the time we examine the deer. We try to handle unfit deer cases as quickly as possible and most are handled the same day they call us.
The problem some people have is that after they call they aren’t available to meet us with the deer because they are headed to work, back out hunting or who knows what. Many times they didn’t provide sufficient information for us to find the camp they are staying at and assumed that as long as they gave the dispatcher, that answered the phone, the name on one of the thousands of camps in our district we would just automatically know where to find them, but we don’t know where to find their camp just from a name. They generally provided a phone number for us to call them but then when we try we can’t get anyone to answer their phone. Then a few days later they call back angry and wanting to know why no one called them back, even though we tried repeatedly. Sometimes, especially for people in camps, they give us a cell phone number but they don’t have any coverage at camp so we just leave a message and try again the next day and the next day and so on, but with the same results. Usually when we don’t get an unfit deer taken care of the same day, or at least the next day, it was because we couldn’t locate the person or get in touch with them, after they called, even though we tried repeatedly.
If you shot a deer, don’t tag it and just leave it in the woods you are in violation of the law. In which case you had better hope a WCO doesn’t catch up with you or you are going to lose more then a day or two of hunting time. If we catch up with a person killing deer, not tagging them and leaving them in the woods we are most likely going to be revoking their hunting and trapping privileges, so they can sit out entire hunting season or two instead of just the few days are you worrying about. We are also going to issue some citations and most likely separate them from some of their money to cover their fines too.
R.S.Bodenhorn