A paw selector for maintaining poultry paws in an ordered, indexed manner so that each paw can be matched with the carcass from which it was removed is provided. The paw selector has a tray coupled to a rotatable shaft. Rotation of the shaft causes the walls of the tray to rotate, thereby urging paws on the tray over a stationary tray bottom. Upon reaching a void in the tray bottom, the paws drop through the void on a lower tray or into a predetermined receptacle for further processing. At least on sensor can maintain correlation between the paw and the carcass from which it was removed for disposal of any rejected paws.