(VIDEO): How to preserve evidence of sex and species on a big game animal

You got your deer or elk, you're excited to get it processed and out of the woods, and the knives and saws are coming out of your backpack. If you're planning to quarter the animal, which is required in any unit that's part of a CWD Management Zone, take a few minutes to give yourself a refresher on how to leave evidence of sex and species.

Failure to leave evidence of sex and species naturally attached to a big game animal remains one of the most common violations detected at Idaho Fish and Game check stations, so in order to help hunters, Fish and Game staff have created a helpful video (below) that walks you through how to leave evidence of sex and species intact on a big game animal.

Determining if the evidence of sex requirement has been met is one of the first tasks completed by Fish and Game staff when you pull into the check station with your animal.

So, if you are fortunate enough to fill your tag this season, do two things immediately upon downing the animal:

1. First, correctly validate your tag and attach it to your animal.
2. Then, determine how you plan to leave evidence of sex and species attached.

In the video, Clearwater Regional Conservation Officer George Fischer demonstrates how to leave sex organs (nipple or testicle) and evidence of species (skinned tail — to comply with CWD regulations) naturally attached to the hind quarter. Fish and Game regulations require evidence of sex and species to be left naturally attached until the carcass is delivered to a meat processor or until it reaches the final place of storage for consumption.

When you need to preserve evidence of species

In seasons restricted to mule deer only or white-tailed deer only, if the head is removed, the fully-haired tail must be left naturally attached to the whole or quartered carcass (or a portion of edible meat if boned) until it reaches the final place of storage or consumption or a commercial meat processing facility.

Techniques to keep the tail naturally attached when boning the animal include: 

• Sawing through the tail bone while keeping the hide attached to the boned meat
• Or, skinning the tail from the tail bone, leaving it attached to the boned meat

Mountain lions and black bears

In the case of mountain lions and black bears, external sex organs must be left naturally attached to the hide until it has been checked by a Fish and Game Officer or an individual approved by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to check the animal.

If you have any questions regarding what the requirement of preserving evidence of sex and species on harvested big game animals entails, please review the big game rules section of the regulation brochure. For further information, call the Clearwater Regional office at 208-799-5010.