Indian Summer
WKR
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2013
- Messages
- 2,339
Jesus! Those guys probably voted to bring wolves to Colorado. Completely unjustified. Testosterone, overloaded, power trippers. I would not have stood by in silence.Several years ago, I was returning from an instate guided hunt in Colorado. I had the bull professionally processed, and the rack was in the bed. I was stopped outside the Eisenhower tunnel. There were two CPW chase vehicles. They used lights and siren. Game Warden went through everything meticulously. I'm not one to save receipts, but this time I did, and it saved me. It was every bit of a 15-minute stop. I would imagine the Game Warden's probable cause was seeing my rack in the pickup bed. After that, it was all show your papers...It wasn't really aggressive, it was more of a fishing expedition. Had I not had everything from the processor things would have been different.
In my opinion, your biggest fear is theft. I recall a story a while, back of a guy stopping halfway home and getting a hotel room and waking up to find out his elk head was gone. The role of thumb when transporting antlers is out of sight out of mind.
One thing I will say is this & I’ve had a Wyoming biologist me he agrees. If you get pulled over the outcome depends greatly on who the guy is that pulled you over. And maybe whether or not he’s having a good or bad day. Just like a traffic stop. But there’s a lot to be said for at least showing that you made an effort. I completely remove the hide and all meat from the exterior of my elk skulls. Eyeballs come out lower jaw and tongue removed. Even the skin on the roof of the mouth. After that, I take a coat hanger and go up into the skull from the orbital joint and get all of the brains out. If you make an L in the coat hanger and then spin it around in there, it will turn the brains to mush. Most of it will come out by digging. After that, grab the skull by the antlers and swing it forward and down between your legs to get the rest to fall out. Bottom line do your best to clean it up. If a law enforcement officer sees that you at least got a A for effort he’ll view that is being respectful of the laws, less likely to do anything. If you had a head sitting in the back of your truck with the hide, and everything still on it, I would give you a citation for not giving a shit.