dead deer

[JVang93]

If you found a dead deer can you just take the skull or is there steps you gotta take to before removing the skull..?

 

[godogs57]

Good question. In Georgia I don't know of anything prohibiting it. However, out West where I elk hunt it's an entirely different case. Sheds, no problem. Skulls with antlers intact? Big deal! You are required to contact the local Game Warden and obtain a permit to possess and transport home. If I get stopped in another state without that permit in hand.....lets just say you don't want to be that guy! If I want to sell it to you, I better have that permit and sign it over to you as well.

Dont even ask what happens if you pick up a bighorn sheep skull and get caught.

 

[antharper]

I’ve got a few I’ve found over the years , never asked and never thought twice about it !

 

[Idahojo]

I called a local DNR office about a roadkill buck once, asking if I could keep the antlers legally. After being put on hold for a while they finally got back to me and said I could take them.

 

[oldguy]

Don't ask.
Don't tell

 

[Ruger15]

No laws in GA. But out west it’s more of a disease issue. Transporting possible brain matter is a nooooo go. Definitely check the regs before crossing state lines.

 

[NCMTNHunter]

I would think if it has obviously been dead for a while (full decay, bleached out, squirrel bites, and so on) it wouldn't be a big deal. If the deer has only been dead a short time you may want to be careful. A friend of mine went on a hunt in Kansas a few years ago. He shot a buck on the first day of the hunt and couldn't find it. On the last day of the hunt he found what he thought was the buck he had shot. It was on the other side of the property and half eaten. He cut the skull plate off and through it in the back of the truck. On his way home he was pulled over and checked he was honest with the game warden and told him he thought it was the same buck he had shot on the first day. The game warden wrote him a ticket for not tagging his kill.

The shame of it is that his hunt was over and he wouldn't be going back to Kansas that year. He had no reason to try to keep his tag he just did think about needing to tag it.