Sec. 42.018.  TAG TO BE ATTACHED TO DEER.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (d) or commission rule, no person may possess the carcass of a deer before the carcass has been finally processed at a final destination unless there is attached to the carcass a properly executed deer tag from a hunting license provided by the department and issued to the person who killed the deer.
(b)  A tag is properly executed only when the month and the date of the kill are cut out and the tag is filled out to show the place the deer to which the tag is attached was killed and to show other information required on the tag by the commission.
(c)  If the deer's head is severed from the carcass, the properly executed tag must remain with the carcass.
(d)  A wildlife resource document completed by the person who killed the deer must accompany the head or other part of the deer not accompanied by a tag if at any time before the carcass is finally processed the head or other part of the deer no longer accompanies the carcass.  If a portion of the carcass is divided among persons and separated and the person who killed the deer retains a portion of the carcass, that person shall retain the tag with the portion of the carcass retained by that person.  A wildlife resource document shall be retained with the head of a deer that is not kept with the carcass until the head is delivered to the owner after taxidermy or, if not treated by a taxidermist, until delivered to a final destination.
(e)  Final processing for a deer carcass may occur only at a final destination.
(f)  This section does not prohibit a person before delivering a deer carcass to a final destination from removing and preparing a part of the deer if the removal and preparation occur immediately before the part is cooked or consumed.
(g)  A landowner or the landowner's agent operating under a wildlife management plan approved by the department is, if authorized by the commission, exempt from the tag requirements of this section.
Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 1405, ch. 545, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1975.  Amended by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 267, art. 2, Sec. 17, eff. Sept. 1, 1985;  Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 38, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993;  Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 635, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1993;  Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1256, Sec. 29, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.