Hunters, thank you for purchasing or thinking about purchasing a deer or elk
hunting tag. Your license and tags help fund the California Department of Fish
and Wildlife's research and conservation efforts to ensure the future well-being
of these iconic California species. We thank you for being ethical hunters and
true conservationists. I'm Sara Holm, a wildlife biologist with the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife. I'm also a hunter and a hunter ed instructor. Just
as important as the financial resources hunters provide is the information tag
holders supply when they submit their harvest reports which are required of
tag holders each year. We put together this instructional video to help our
deer and elk hunters complete, attach, and report their tags to comply with the law
and to ensure the highest quality information is being collected. The
department estimates population numbers and trends using harvest and hunter
effort data from tag reports in combination with other information and
our field research. Population numbers and trends are used to estimate the
number of animals that can be harvested without significantly impacting the
overall population. Timely reporting is necessary to analyze and incorporate the
previous year's data when setting tag quotas for the next year's season and
preparing our Big Game Hunting Digest and regulations booklets. Harvest
reporting is one of the easiest ways to collect important data the department
uses each year. Please remember that tag reporting is mandatory even if you did
not harvest a deer or did not hunt at all. The information provided by hunters
who did not get an animal or tag holders who did not hunt is helpful to those of
us who manage wildlife by detailing how much effort was put into hunting which
can provide insight into the condition of deer herds. Now let's walk through the
best case scenario: You get a deer.
There are two parts to a deer tag. The harvest report card portion at the top,
and the bottom part of the tag that must be attached to the animal. Immediately
after taking an animal, the hunter needs to fill out the tag completely and then
cut along the dotted line to separate the two parts of the tag. Completely
punch out or cut out notches for the month and date of kill on the lower
portion of the tag. On the upper portion, please be sure to answer all questions.
For example: Did you hunt deer? Number of days hunting deer? -and- Were you
successful? -meaning- Did you successfully kill a deer? Next, fill out the date and
time. For locality, please provide as detailed a location as possible along
with the county of kill, method of take, antler configuration and gender. These
details give us information on when most of the harvest occurs and information
specific to particular areas. We're not interested in learning your secret
hunting spot or revealing your honey hole to others. This information helps us
refine the harvest and tag numbers for upcoming years. The bottom portion of the
tag must be attached to the antlers of the animal or the ear of an antlerless
animal immediately after being killed and just as soon as the information on
the tag is completed. Make sure the tag is securely attached so the tag is not
lost in transit, whether that's dragging the animal through the brush back to camp
or riding in the back of a vehicle. Tags need to be countersigned or validated
before transporting with the exception of taking the animal to the nearest
person authorized to countersign the license tag. For deer and elk tags there
are many options for authorized countersigners, including police and sheriff
officers, owners and managers of game processing facilities, notaries public,
county firemen, Bureau of Land Management employees, California Fish and Wildlife
employees, state and federal forest service employees, and employees of the
US Fish and Wildlife Service among others.
Once the tag is countersigned, hunters can then mail the top portion of the tag to
the California Department of Fish and Wildlife or submit it online. Successful
hunters have 30 days to report their tag and
harvest information. To submit a harvest report online, log in to your California
Department of Fish and Wildlife account at the internet address shown on the
screen. You will receive a confirmation number once you have successfully
submitted your report online. You must record the confirmation number in the
spaces provided on both portions of your deer tag and retain the harvest report
card top portion until March 1.Tags reported online must be surrendered to
the department upon demand. To report your tag by mail,
send the top, harvest report portion to:
If you submit your harvest report card by mail, you will receive a
confirmation number by email, if you have an email address included in your
California Department of Fish and Wildlife online account profile. You'll
record that confirmation number on the lower portion of the tag.
What happens if you're unsuccessful during the season, or if you didn't have
time to go hunting? Anyone issued a deer or elk tag must
still submit a harvest report. Tag holders who fail to turn in a harvest
report will be assessed a non-reporting penalty when purchasing a deer tag
drawing application or a deer tag the following year. Deer hunters who did not
harvest an animal and those who did not hunt at all must submit a completed
harvest report by January 31. You can submit your report online or by mail.
We hope you've learned how to properly complete, affix, validate and submit your
deer or elk tag to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. We
realize we are asking more of California's deer hunters with mandatory
tag reporting, but we hope you have a better understanding of how useful these
data are in managing the state's deer herds and ensuring that California's
hunting tradition will be passed down to future generations.
California's big-game hunters are making vital contributions to conservation
through the money they spend on licenses and tags, through their taxes they pay on
firearms and ammunition, and through the wealth of data they now provide when
reporting their tags. Those of us at the California Department of Fish and
Wildlife are proud to partner with our big-game hunters to ensure the
well-being of California's wildlife. Thank you and good luck with your hunting.