Logistics of harvesting in New Mexico CWD Units

[blueridge]

Does anyone here have experience harvesting elk in any of New Mexico's CWD units? This year it is gmu's 19, 28, and 34. I've read the regulations/restrictions (pasted below), but am wondering about common practices. What are people doing?

It sounds like if you want to do your own Euro mount that you'd have to bring the equipment to boil and clean it before leaving the unit. Is that correct?

Has anyone submitted tissue samples for testing? If so, what is the turnaround time? Is this something you can wait a couple days for or do you find out weeks later?

Have there been any restrictions made by neighboring states pertaining to the crossing state lines with heads/spinal cords from animals harvested in non-CWD units?

Thanks!

Department rules allows hunters who take a deer or elk within a control area to transport only certain portions of the carcass outside the boundaries of the Game Management Unit from which it was taken. Those portions include:

Meat that is cut and wrapped, either commercially or privately.
Quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached.
Meat that has been boned out.
Hides with no heads attached.
Clean skull plates with antlers attached. Clean is defined as having been immersed in a bath of at least one part chlorine bleach and two parts water, with no meat or tissue attached.
Antlers, with or without velvet, attached to skull plate with no meat or tissue attached.
Upper canine teeth, also known as “buglers,” whistlers,” or “ivories.”
Finished taxidermied heads.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Those NM requirements are very similar to just about every state that has rules on CWD, other than the 1 part bleach to 2 parts water immersion line. That is rather strange IMHO because they don't even mention a minimum immersion time length. Most people clean the skull out at camp and many take a large pot to submerge the skull in hot water with various cleaning solutions to help the process along. Many also do a follow up spray wash in a car wash. There is nothing in NM requiring lab testing and I doubt that it could be done in a short enough time length where anyone would want to wait on results.

 

[blueridge]

Can you cross state lines with bone in neck cuts and non-clean skulls harvested in non-CWD areas?
I appreciate your answers.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Can you cross state lines with bone in neck cuts and non-clean skulls harvested in non-CWD areas?
I appreciate your answers.

No! Normally most states will not allow the intact neck or uncleaned skull the way their rules are written and it doesn't matter where in the state it was taken since they just have the rule with a list of the states it applies to and not specific units. Just bone the entire critter out and either put the meat on ice or freeze it for transport home. Clean the skull completely, as mentioned earlier, and you shouldn't have any problems going home.

 

[NMGuy]

I've had deer tested for CWD before. Basically, if the test comes back negative they don't contact you. You'd only get a call from NMGF if the animal was positive for CWD, which kind of sucks.

 

[ImBillT]

Last year TX banned importation of anything other than boned meat and finished taxidermy from any state with a CWD positive. They don’t care what part of NM the cervid came from.

Very few places test for CWD. All of the various collection centers are just that. They collect a sample and send it elsewhere. NM probably uses the same lab/labs that TX does. I had an animal from TX tested and results took close to twelve weeks. In TX they give you a number on a card and web address where you enter the number. At least that way you get to see if it was negative or positive.

 

[TLowell02]

Twelve weeks? Sounds like the testing center was overwhelmed. I have had four TX deer tested with results published in 2-4 weeks. I have been told Texas will sample animals from out of state too, though I'm not sure how that works legally since importation of any parts that may contain the prion is prohibited.

 

[kylemcintyre67]

Does anyone here have experience harvesting elk in any of New Mexico's CWD units? This year it is gmu's 19, 28, and 34. I've read the regulations/restrictions (pasted below), but am wondering about common practices. What are people doing?

It sounds like if you want to do your own Euro mount that you'd have to bring the equipment to boil and clean it before leaving the unit. Is that correct?

Has anyone submitted tissue samples for testing? If so, what is the turnaround time? Is this something you can wait a couple days for or do you find out weeks later?

Have there been any restrictions made by neighboring states pertaining to the crossing state lines with heads/spinal cords from animals harvested in non-CWD units?

Thanks!

Thanks for asking this, I've been wondering this myself.

 

[madtom]

It sounds like if you want to do your own Euro mount that you'd have to bring the equipment to boil and clean it before leaving the unit. Is that correct?

Looks like the only way you could move the whole skull would be to boil it in the hunt area and clean it to the point of being a "finished taxidermied head."

Curious about the bleach requirement. Clorox doesn't do anything to kill prions.

 

[88man]

first you gotta draw the tag. thats gonna be your real problem

 

[Tiredofthebickering]

Randy's team has a video on YouTube about buying all necessary equipment and doing a decent euro mount for something like $40. Might be an option of you're successful.

 

[3855WIN]

Saw the horns off and drop the brains out. Put some borax on it and go home.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

@blueridge Was mulling over this topic last night while doing a bear head.

Here's my though what if you bring a couple oven turkey bags (http://www.reynoldskitchens.com/tips/oven-bag-cooking-guide ), a baggie of oxiclean, and some aluminum foil. I think if you put the skull + oxiclean in the turkey bags filled them with water and then wrapped that in foil you could probably simmer it with a camp stove/ coals from a fire/ maybe even a whisperlite. I'm ball parking 1-4hrs before all the brains and tissue are off the skull?

 

[blueridge]

That's a great thought, especially the turkey bag to make sure it covers everything (they definitely don't fit well in a round pot).

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

That's a great thought, especially the turkey bag to make sure it covers everything (they definitely don't fit well in a round pot).

Lol the worst part of doing an elk skull... container. Sounds like I need to donate a deer skull to the cause and do a "backcountry euro thread" and then write it up.

 

[ImBillT]

I have a galvanized oval feed tub from TSC that fits an elk skull and put it over a two burner Colman.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I have a galvanized oval feed tub from TSC that fits an elk skull and put it over a two burner Colman.

I think that is a great way to be legal, especially if you are car camping. I also wonder what the goal zero battery packs capacity is like, I wonder if you could run a sous vide machine for 18-24 hours... that would be the best route.

 

[ImBillT]

I think that is a great way to be legal, especially if you are car camping. I also wonder what the goal zero battery packs capacity is like, I wonder if you could run a sous vide machine for 18-24 hours... that would be the best route.

I plan to keep camp on my back every day in the wilderness this year, probably stoveless, but I don’t have to euro it till I leave the state(or unit if you’re in a CWD unit in NM). If the Lord wills it, I’ll have an elk head when I return to the truck, and that’s when the car camping and skull boiling will take place. There’s no BLM in mule deer unit, so I’ll drive it to some state land with no deer on it and boil it on the tail gate.

Sous vide might be an option if you’re stuck a hotel room.

 

[bushman13]

How long does it take? I've spent the better part of a day just boiling whitetail heads for euro mounts. Nasty process at that.

I have a galvanized oval feed tub from TSC that fits an elk skull and put it over a two burner Colman.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

How long does it take? I've spent the better part of a day just boiling whitetail heads for euro mounts. Nasty process at that.

I've kinda been pioneering the sous vide method, basically I've been living in a 1bedroom apt with no outside space for the last 7 years and have had to get creative in order to not piss off the misses. I'm doing a bear head right now, and am going to post the full process when I'm done, I've made a few modifications to the process, some necessary because bear skulls are just different. I'm still pretty much doing the same process as outlined here.

https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/crossing-state-lines-dealing-with-cwd-possible-solution.284992/