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Post by Coolkat on May 3, 2024 5:09:56 GMT -8
Ok so I'm guessing that this is nothing new to a lot of you that live out west. Just like yooperlite hunting is a thing here. Which I'm guessing has been a boon for those selling black-light flashlights.
Anyway I know that finding antler sheds when hiking is kind-of a cool thing but I didn't know it was so cool it had be regulated.
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Travis
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Post by Travis on May 3, 2024 6:58:10 GMT -8
Hunting antler sheds in Wyoming is forbidden from January through April on public lands to keep people from disturbing big-game winter range. The reason is that big game such as elk and mule deer struggle to find food during colder times of the year. So it's critical to their survival that they don't waste energy having to escape an influx of people looking for antlers.
The Wyoming legislature passed the law back in 2009 giving Wyoming Game and Fish the responsibility of enforcing seasonal closures. At first, the closures were limited to west of the Continental Divide. That would include Jackson. In recent years other public lands have been included.
The restriction does not apply to private land. Recently a woman from Gillette, Wyoming died from hypothermia while hunting antler sheds on private land south of Gillette. She thought she had lost her cell phone, went hiking to find it, got lost, and didn't survive the first night.
Hunting antler sheds during the closed season is considered poaching. Elk lose their antlers on average sometime in March but can shed them as early as January or as late as April.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on May 3, 2024 7:07:48 GMT -8
From the article each antler is worth about $150. So money is involved. Social Media is probably driving it as well.
Apple picking in the fall around here has become insane compared to years ago.
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balzaccom
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Post by balzaccom on May 3, 2024 7:49:50 GMT -8
I knew a guy who was starting a business twenty years ago, collecting these and putting a tiny slice into every bottle of his bottled water. His plan was to sell the stuff in Asia as powerful medicine.
I have no idea if he ever pulled it off...
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Post by absarokanaut on May 3, 2024 8:16:04 GMT -8
A few years ago our local paper had a photo of the first Boy Scout Antler Auction that was not done on a per pound basis; they switched to bundles of antlers at various prices. In the photo were lots of happy locals and boy scouts and in the background sitting on the fence were several Asian gentleman that were pi$$ed.
I am kind of against the new rule that out of state people cannot participate until a week after opening day, effectively cutting them out entirely for all intents and purposes. Almost all of this is done on Federal Lands that every American Citizen owns every acre of in equal measure whether from here in Jackson, Denver, Manhattan, etc.
My winter home of 11 years has been just south of East Broadway. The lineup for opening day was HUGE; sometimes literally hundreds of vehicles. That is now prohibited. There have been SERIOUS fights in the field over the years.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that out hiking I now leave sheds alone for the bears, porcupines, marmots, and other critters that sometimes rely on them for nutritional sustenance.
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Travis
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Post by Travis on May 3, 2024 8:29:26 GMT -8
From the article each antler is worth about $150. So money is involved. Social Media is probably driving it as well. This has been going on long before social media, and not everyone is after the money. People have been making things from antler sheds for well over a century. Hunters will pay money to have an elk head mounted and hung on the wall. Selling that trophy is nowhere in their plans. Same with the antler sheds. Plenty of people have paid to travel to the area and hunt sheds. The ones they find wouldn't sell high enough to cover their expenses of traveling. For some locals, maybe money is involved. But the money alone doesn't explain the competition. Long before social media, my dad and great-grandfather in Yellowstone Park at an antler-shed creation in 1939:  |
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swiftdream
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Post by swiftdream on May 3, 2024 10:17:57 GMT -8
We we on a bike tour about 30 years ago and would stay in different places in northern Arizona. We would hike on the days we weren’t riding and in the hinterlands outside of Alpine, AZ we came across a nice big elk antler. It was a thing for the locals back then. I tied it to my bike rack and really have a hard time understanding how an elk can carry two of these very heavy things on its head. It resides over my workbench with other items like my mulch used two person cross cut saw. I’ll never sell it. I’ve come across many deer sheds and once both rather large deer sheds were right close together. Even the big ones don’t come close to elk antlers. I wouldn’t do it for money though and I wouldn’t collect a bunch of them. But from time to time I take that long elk antler down and just heft it in wonder.
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balzaccom
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Post by balzaccom on May 3, 2024 15:37:13 GMT -8
Long before social media, my dad and great-grandfather in Yellowstone Park at an antler-shed creation in 1939: Is thaqt an antler-shed shed? |
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Travis
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Post by Travis on May 3, 2024 18:36:30 GMT -8
Is that an antler-shed shed? Well yeah. I guess the roof leaks in a downpour and there's a draft in a cold wind. But it has style. |
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Post by downriver on May 3, 2024 23:43:24 GMT -8
Montana has this at their Sun River Wildlife Management Area on the Rocky Mountain Front (just outside the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area). Every May 15, hikers, horse riders and shed hunters in trucks make the made dash come 12 pm. I took my buddy, an avid hunter, to it in 2007. It was a hot day in the sun; unseasonably warm. We arrived shortly before the opening at the end of the line on the road. People come days early and camp out in their RVs/trucks. People started jumping the fence before the kick off. I went to take my buddy because he loves hunting, and he had never been to the event. I love to hike, so I looked at it as a chance to get outside in a beautiful setting. My buddy and I split up; he was there to shed hunt. I went away from the crowds and explored the land. I had elk run past me scared by the hoards of humans. The area is grizzly country, so I brought my bear spray with me because I didn’t want some shed hunters stirring up a sow and cub inside the many aspen stands and small streams. I wasn’t looking for sheds, so I took photos and just enjoyed the moment. I stayed away from the masses and explored. My buddy came back with several spike sheds. Here’s a video of the event in 2020: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vklXvWtEfcURegards, DR |
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