Preparation for deer season starts as early as you want it to. For me, I can never get hunting off the brain, so I am already preparing for the 2012 season and for good reason. In reviewing the regulations regarding deer tags and reading a few publications and forum posts, I have realized that there are many unanswered questions regarding the validation of CA deer tags, especially in Southern California.

In California, after you shoot a deer and fill out the tag, you must have it validated and countersigned by the closest person allowed by law to do so. I just read an interesting article in the California Bowmen Hunters Jan 2012 Newsletter by Wayne Raupe CBH/SAA Legislative Coordinator discussing the subject. He make some great points about who is allowed to sign off and how soon it needs to be done. 

Do you know the regulations regarding who can validate a tag? I’d be willing to wager a bet that you may not, or do not know ALL of who can sign off on a tag. Even I don’t know it by heart! The problem I see more and more every year is that most of the people who are authorized to sign off have NO IDEA either! Sounds odd, right? Shouldn’t they know? Most of the people listed on the California Code of Regulations don’t know what a hunting law states, unless they hunt, and even then they sometimes do not know. 

Here’s a recent example that describes the plight of the SoCal hunter. A local hunter shot his deer and took it to the closest place to his harvest location for validation of the tag – a firehouse. When he approached and explained that he needed the firemen to sign off on his tag, they looked at him funny and told him to hold on. They said they had never heard of that and asked him again to state why he was there. They called the foreman and he also had no idea what to do, so they called someone else. The hunter sat there at the station house for almost two (2) hours before his tag was finally validated by the foreman who had to come from home.

It sounds crazy, but it did happen. What would you have done? Would you have moved on to another location? Did you know that you could be cited for that? So therein lies the catch. What if you are trying to do what regulations say, but the people who MUST sign off won’t do it? What if a Notary Public refuses to sign because he/she doesn’t believe in hunting? This has been digging in under my skin for weeks. No one wants a citation for doing what is asked, but it could happen!

Here are the deer tag reporting regulations copied from the California Code of Regulations:

§708.5. Deer Tagging and Reporting Requirements.

§708.7. Deer Head Retention Requirements and Production Upon Demand.

Added 7/8/11. 

§708.8.  Deer Violations, Tag Forfeiture.

Any person who is convicted of a violation involving deer shall forfeit their current year deer license tags and no new deer license tags may be issued to that person during the then current hunting license year, and that person may not apply for a deer license tag or deer preference points for the following license year (refer to Fish and Game Code, Section 4340).

This all sounds hard to believe, but it’s all true. Every time I read the regulations and the Fish and Game Code it seems like they are trying to back hunters into a corner. It’s true and very frustrating for hunters in Southern California (I don’t know how the NorCal hunters handle it). One suggestion is to have hunter education instructors preach the regulations, but it’s not their burden to solely bear. I also think that CA DFG, hunting clubs and other organizations need to bring awareness to the public servants who can sign off. Wouldn’t you agree?

Something must be done and the wheels in my noggin are spinning. Someway, somehow, we hunters that have a voice need to step it up and inform these organizations of the regulations. I am just stuck in how to approach it and get it done. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!