I have a question:

I recently moved to TX after retiring from the Navy. Prior to this I was a lifelong CO resident but just switched my residency permanently to TX. So next year I'll be doing my hunting here instead of CO and I've been familiarizing myself with the regs. But I do have a question:

Can anyone explain the rationale that prevents a hunter from fully boning a deer in the field and why is a hunter required to bring the entire head home? In my native CO ( and other states in the Rockies) it is legal to bone a deer or elk and leave the bones for the scavengers. To prove evidence of sex you could leave either a nut or a tit attached to a piece of the carcass and if there were antler restrictions you had to bring the rack out but not the whole head. Even if you plan on mounting a head, you don't need the whole thing, just the cape and the antlers on a small piece of skull.

Bringing the bones and the head out means that a hunter has to find a way to properly dispose of them later. Not a big deal if you live in the country but it is a concern if you live in a major city. Since coyotes etc... also have to eat, why not leave the bones for them? I understand different states have different rules and I respect that but I really don't understand the mindset of this law and hopefully one of you can explain it to me.

I don't have an answer for you, but have pondered the same question.

Having hunted out west, hauling elk quarters with bones in means you are just packing a bunch of unnecessary weight.

And welcome to the Lone Star State!

You must take all 4 quarters and cannot bone out the meat prior to getting it home or to the processor other than cutting out the back straps, loins, and cutting the quarters off the carcass. This is a way for a game warden to count how many deer were taken and insures that less meat goes to waste. It's supposed to keep people from shooting a ton of extra deer and only taking back straps.

And I believe that's just the way Texas does proof of sex.

From what I have been told, too many people try to turn 2 deer into 1 of it is boned out.

My dog likes the bones. If you do it all at home just freeze the stuff that is gonna be thrown away then put it out on trash day. Not sure where you are hunting but most places here you aren't gonna have to pack it out very far. I could be wrong in that one though.

Licenses have some many doe/buck tags and that's the reason...Keeps people from field processing however many deer they'd like without following the license tag limits.