In the Alaska Region of FAA, there is indeed a pretty liberal external load policy, at least for the moment. I haven't heard of anyone trying to change that either.
If you reside in another region, you may want to acquire a copy of the Alaska Regional policy and try to convince your local FSDO to adopt it. Good luck, but it might work.
The procedure is that you fill out an application, a form 337 to take the airplane into the Restricted category, and submit them to the FAA. They then issue a restricted category airworthiness certificate, and a set of operating rules (generic in nature).
Pilots operating under these rules must advise ATC when they are in the restricted category, and must display a restricted sign in the window of the aircraft, visible from outside. That's the main thing.
I have carried a number of interesting loads, and I can tell you that some of them do not fly well at all. Antlers in particular can be very interesting.
One of these days, one of us will do something really stupid with an external load and the FAA will rescind the policy, I suppose.
I sure hope it isn't me,
Mike V