The Regs say:the....tag must be validated and securely attached to the animal IMMEDIATELY after the kill. The validated tag must remain attached to the carcass until the meat is processed AND reaches the place of final storage or personal consumption......Attach to the largest portion of the carcass.
There a few things that are unclear regarding these rules.
Define "immediately". If I were to literally immediately attach it to the animal it would be on the hide since I have not cut the animal open. (on that same note, what is the best method of actually "attaching" the tag? do you cut a notch in the hide or what?). It would make sense if I were transporting the entire animal AS IS, but if I am needing to cut the animal up in quarters, then this means that I will end up removing the hide, thereby removing the tag from the "largest portion of the carcass". So, do I then just take the tag off the hid and re-attach it to the largest portion of the carcass since now that the hide is off, it is no longer the "carcass" or can "immediately" attaching it mean once I am able to attach it to the carcass with the hide off? It appears that in this situation it is impossible to actually follow the law to allow the tag to "remain attached to the carcass" since you would have to remove it from the hide and re-attach it to the actual carcass.
Again, some examples of how to properly tag the animal would be helpful, and this law should be updated with more clarity.
Answer:
Once you have killed any species of willdife that requires a tag to hunt (all big game species and turkey) the hunter must immediatley validate their tag and attach it either to the carcass for most big game species or to the animal's hide for bear, lion and wolf. The term immediatley is defined as either being "without delay" or "with nothing in between". So once you have killed your animal the rules require that the next thing to be done, without delay, is to validate your game tag and attach it to either the carcass or the hide. Be sure to cleanly and completely remove the corresponding triangles for the day and month to designate the date of harvest. The game tag has a pair of perforated holes that can be used to secure the tag to the carcass with wire or twine. When field dressing the animal, you may reposition the validated tag to ensure that it remains attached to the the largest portion of the carcass. The tag must remain attached during transit to a place of processing and must remain attached until the meat is processed. The validated tag must accompany the processed meat to the place of final storage or final consumption.
The rules regarding the tagging of big game animals are addressed in Idaho Code 36-409(d) and Idaho Administrative Code 13.01.08.320.
Idaho code 36-409(d) Game Tag to Be Validated and Attached to Carcass. As soon as any person kills any wildlife for which a tag is required, said tag, belonging to him, must be validated and attached to said wildlife in a manner provided by commission rule.
IDAPA 13.01.08.320.TAG VALIDATION AND ATTACHMENT AND PROXY STATEMENT.
01. Tag. Immediately after any deer, elk, pronghorn, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, mountain lion, black bear, or gray wolf is killed, the appropriate big game animal tag must be validated and securely attached to the animal. (4-7-11)
a. Validation. Cut out and completely remove only the two (2) triangles indicating the date and month of kill. (7-1-93)
b. Attachment of Tag. (7-1-93)
i. Deer, elk, pronghorn, moose, mountain goat, black bear, and bighorn sheep: to the largest portion of the edible meat to be retained by the hunter or any person transporting for the hunter. The tag must remain attached during transit to a place of processing and must remain attached until the meat is processed. The validated tag must accompany the processed meat to the place of final storage or final consumption.
ii. Mountain lion, black bear, and gray wolf: To the hide.
02. Proxy Statement. Any person transporting or possessing any portion of a carcass of a big game animal or processed big game animal meat taken by another must have in possession a written statement signed by the taker showing the number and kinds of animals, the date taken, the taker's name and address, the taker's hunting license number, and the taker's tag number.
Answered on:
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - 2:17 PM MST