Bone retouchers are one of the first bone tools used during the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic. Their presence highlights a complex human behaviour showing the reuse of bone waste or a predetermination of the support. In this study, we focus on bone retouchers identified in the Mousterian levels 40–42 of Riparo Tagliente, a rock shelter in the Northeast of Italy (MIS 4-3). According to the relative abundance of these bone tools in the assemblages (2%), our work aimed at understanding if the supports of these retouchers had been selected in a particular way according to the species available and the element transported into the site. After both anatomical and taxonomical determination of each support, we characterized each modified area recording the features of marks. Our results show that bone retouchers are mainly long bones diaphysis fragments (85%) manufactured with Cervus elaphus and Capreolus capreolus bones. Regarding the unidentified remains, the middle and small sized ungulates were preferred. These species dominate the faunal spectrum of the levels studied. This similarity could show an opportunistic reuse of the butchery waste remains to manufacture retouchers. We identified a selection of tibias (6%) and metapodials (9%) due to the morphological features of these bones, with straighter plane surfaces. Our results show both a use of the butchery waste regarding the taxa and the selection of specific long bones, to obtain specific raw material useful for the production of retouching tool. The comparison of our results, with the analyses of the other Mousterian levels of Riparo Tagliente highlights a wide range hunting, technical and economical behaviours of Neandertal groups throughout the Mousterian stratigraphic sequence