After investing your time and effort to harvest your trophy, how can you later identify the animal as yours if you have to leave it in the woods until you get help? With today's increasing hunter pressure, it isn't uncommon to have an unethical hunter take your tag off of an animal and claim it as his own... it happens more than you know.

One sure-fire way to make identification positive, especially in the presence of a conservation officer when a dispute occurs is this: place your business card in the mouth of your game animal immediately after harvest. Write the time and date of kill on the back of the card prior to inserting it into its mouth. Once the animal begins to cool out, rigormortus will set in; the animal's jaw will tightly clamp down, and your card is firmly secured there. Although a tag can be removed from a carcass, no one ever thinks to look in the mouth. Later, if there is a dispute, you can have witnesses present, pry open the critter's mouth, and presto! Proof that it is indeed yours!

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