Skull with antlers still attached...can you take it?

[wrangler]

iv found a few and iv taken 2, one nice 4pt muley and a little brush rack 5pt elk. both all bleached out with moss growing on them. i havent lost one ounce of sleep over it and they both cleaned up great!

[Buckmark]

I have a question, what about Doe or Cow skulls, or bear, cougar etc?
I am at work and do not have the law in front of me so any insite??

[littlebuf]

no skulls period. that's how it reads. I'm curious to you guys that roll your eyes and say well i took it any way, how do you decide what game laws you will follow and what ones you will break? i may not agree with it but its a regulation that is in  place.

[Buckmark]

Thanks, littlebuf..
I did find a domestic cat skull out pheasant hunting once, and yes i kept it.

[littlebuf]

hhmmm.. i wonder if anyone will answer my question?

[huntnphool]

I found this skull a couple years ago while elk hunting in Montana. I showed it to one of the local gamies and he said it was illegal to pick them up but since it was so weathered and had no trophy value he said I could keep it. I brought it home so that when I ever get that cougar, I can have a full mount of the cat and the skull on the rocks laying next to it.

I have found several deer, some with pretty nice racks like in post #21 and this one below, all of which had to be left. The bummer is I am sure someone else picked them up.

[littlebuf]

yeah it sucks leaving a nice skull behind knowing the next guy is going to take it. but as the saying goes integrity is measured by what you do when no one is looking

[littlebuf]

boy this one shut down fast after i asked that question. you guys must have a way to decide what game laws you will follow, i just want to hear them thats all

[wrangler]

no skulls period. that's how it reads. I'm curious to you guys that roll your eyes and say well i took it any way, how do you decide what game laws you will follow and what ones you will break? i may not agree with it but its a regulation that is in  place.

i don't sit around and think about breaking game laws or how i can get around certain laws or whatever, in fact i can't think of another instance where iv ever broken a game law? even so, im sure you've rolled through a stop sign a few times, or maybe won some money at a casino and not reported it on your tax forms. ever got a speeding ticket? i bet you still speed... get what im sayin? its not like poaching or even cutting the horns of road kill (which i doubt i would do) or off a a fresh cougar kill. IM talking about a year or 2 old broken up skull with bleached out moss covered antlers. is it against the 'law'? sure. am i a criminal? hell no. no more than anyone who's not come to a complete stop at a stop sign. thats how i feel anyways. now if it were a big horn sheep... maaaaaaaaaybe a different story.  

[littlebuf]

sorry i don't equate 4 way stops to wildlife management or associated game regulations. i drive because i have to to get around, i hunt because i couldn't live with out it. ones a passion ones a necessity. no matter how many people do the "California stop" we will still be able to drive. our hunting privileges are under attack constantly. if you don't like a game reg get active in changing it somehow, if your that passionate about those skulls you find leave them there and get going on changing the reg. oops theres that integrity again  

[bankwalker]

Well at least you can sleep well at night knowing you did the right thing and didn't break the law, I bet the guy that grabbed it can't sleep at all.

 

[wrangler]

sorry i don't equate 4 way stops to wildlife management or associated game regulations. i drive because i have to to get around, i hunt because i couldn't live with out it. ones a passion ones a necessity. no matter how many people do the "California stop" we will still be able to drive. our hunting privileges are under attack constantly. if you don't like a game reg get active in changing it somehow, if your that passionate about those skulls you find leave them there and get going on changing the reg. oops theres that integrity again  

im not passionate enough about em to give a damn one way or another, they're just some old skulls with horns and i just chose to take the 2 nice ones i found, so be it. taking a 2 year old skull outa the woods off public land whether its a law not has nothing to do with integrity. i pick up my fair share of garbage and old shotgun hulls, i pack out what i pack in, i take the time to make ethical one shot kills and i take every last scrap of meat. i got plenty of integrity to go around. get off your high horse. or don't, whatever. 

[Special T]

I've never taken any skulls home. That said Just cause its against the law doesn't make it wrong. And just because it's legal doesn't mean you should screw some one over.  The state enforces the "Spirit" of the law, or at least it used to. I think that discretion from cops, gamies, & others has turned into an A$$ covering  session to protect themselves. Not that i can blame them when they get little cover from their superiors. 

[littlebuf]

i never stated taking a skill was "wrong" just a violation of game regs. i was just pinting out the hypocrisy of violating one and them condemning others for the onesthey violate that's all. kinda like bitching about whose in office even tho you didint vote. you cant really have a viable voice against say shooting from the truck which is also a reg violation if you yourself have violated regs from the same book. i don't like the skull rule but i follow it, no high horse just facts sorry

[ICEMAN]

Ok, so you've "pointed it out" many many times here. Apparently this is an area of the law that some guys are not too concerned with. I believe that this law designed to stop poachers is fine, but possibly could be revised in a way to allow the taking of the skulls found. Not sure exactly how, but it would be nice to be able to contact a gamie and request permission to retrieve said skull. I seriously doubt a lot of poachers are willing to contact wildlife and put themselves on record as being in a certain area...

I am not going to question some guys ethic's if they find some decaying skull in the woods and take it home and hang it on the wall. I couldn't think of a better owner of the skull...

When I was driving the other day I had to speed to pass a slow car.