It seems the bounty hunting system is broken. There seems to be no way to "Open the quest". The Watcher PC by the Bounty Boards gives no options to accept a quest and when a "bounty" NPC is defeated it doesn't drop the head item to collect the bounty.
Probably one thing to ask for clarity:
1. Before hunting a bounty, did you stand directly in front of the board to initiate the bounty trigger by looking at the descriptions?
2. Did you kill the bounty alongside someone else who may have dealt the finishing blow, but did not visit the board itself?
3. Did you talk to the mark to make sure the alternative options were available? (Not judging your desire to decapitate people without a word, but being able to converse is the final confirmation you can acquire the bounty item(s) )
Thank you for the clarifications. This version of Bounty Hunting seems different and less intuitive than its previous iterations in EFU. I will try all the above suggestions above and report back. It is possible the other PC I was with did not properly do #1 and that PC also was the one to initiate the conversation with the Criminal Bounty, while my PC killed him. Also, thank you for not judging my undying love for wordlessly decapitating people, most just don't understand. ;)