Shiras Report post Posted August 4, 2004 The way I read the regs is that any skull found is state property (in NM). Is this true? It would be awfully hard to resist picking up a nice rack and letting mr. mouse and mr. squirrel have their way with it. -Shiras Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Benbrown Report post Posted August 4, 2004 You are correct. According to the laws and regulations, all parts of game animals that die in the field (except for those harvested with the appropriate license in the appropriate season) are the property of the state of New Mexico and it is illegal to possess them. That said, I have visited ranches managed by retired employees of NM Game and Fish that sported pick-up heads and sheds as wall decorations or barn ornaments. Most rural residents have heads of bucks that were picked up in the field either lying around or stuck up somewhere. I am sure that someone somewhere has been filed on, and perhaps even prosecuted, but I have never heard of it. I live adjacent to a cienega that is frequented by both mule deer and white-tails most of the year. The lions know that the deer are there and kill one with a fair degree of regularity. My bird dogs bring in legs, heads, antlers, you name it...I just take them away from the dogs and (in the case of antlers or heads) put them up in a tree where the dogs can't get at them. Since I don't trade in them, no one has ever bothered me about it. Conservation officers usually drop by several times a year to tag lion hides, ask directions or respond to complaints. I do make it a point to keep the tags on heads that are legally harvested (but not mounted or otherwise displayed) just in case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
