You Can’t Bring A Deer Carcass Into Texas

Did you know you can’t bring a deer carcass into Texas?

Yes, even if you shot the deer in Arkansas or Louisiana just across the line, you can’t bring the body back into the state.

This is directly from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

No CWD-susceptible species carcasses or parts of carcasses can enter Texas from a state or country known to have CWD, and no CWD-susceptible species carcasses or parts of carcasses can be transported out of a CWD Zone EXCEPT:

• Cut quarters with all brain and spinal cord tissue removed
• Boned meat/cut and wrapped — Texas regulations do not allow processing beyond quarters until reaching your final destination (possessor’s personal residence or commercial facility/private cold storage).
• Caped hides with skull not attached
• Skull plate with antlers attached and cleaned of all soft tissue
• Finished taxidermy products
• The skinned or unskinned head of a susceptible species may be transported to a taxidermist (with a Deer Head Waiver), provided all brain material, soft tissue, spinal column and any unused portions of the head are disposed of in a landfill in Texas permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The waiver should be kept on your person or with the deer head until it reaches the taxidermist. Download the Deer Head Waiver form (PWD 1410) to transport the intact head or obtain from a TPWD CWD check station.
• Hunters bringing intact deer heads into Texas from a state or country with CWD should also have this waiver.