You’ve hunted hard, found success, and killed an elk, bear or deer–or maybe a moose or caribou. Next, you place the required tag on the animal carcass according to printed directions on the tag, and then you head for home. Your hunting partner on this hunt, with a similar hunting tag still remaining in his or her pocket, heads for home also. Caution, the hunt for both of you may not legally be complete.
In some cases hunters are required to report failure to kill an animal and fill a tag, such as in Idaho, Alaska, and other states. In additional states, hunters are required to also call in and report big game kills within specified times or even appear with the animal at specified locations or check stations. It’s important to also discover when tags should be applied (some before moving, others before field dressing, etc.), which parts of tags, and what information should be on the tag.
Read the fine print in your state’s hunting regulations, or in the state where you are hunting. Sometimes these tagging and reporting regulations can only be found on the pages of the game department’s hunting regulations booklet.
Read up and stay within the laws.
Additional details for Idaho are at: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/media/viewNewsRelease.cfm?newsID=6459