Elk on a hillside in Midway, Utah
February 25, 2011
Today I am presenting a little tutorial for all you "city slickers." Believe it or not, the bull elk sheds his antlers each year, usually sometime in March. These have obviously not shed. We have been watching these elk for the last couple of months. We take drives in the late afternoon and have seen these elk in the same place, lying down and enjoying the sun on every occasion. They feed at night and probably return to this location in the morning. They are free to move about and are not fenced in. You can be sure that there are persons watching for the moment when the antlers drop. It is illegal to take antlers without a shedders license. One can take a test online to secure such a license. We have men crossing the "back 40" of our property looking for shedded antlers of deer and elk. Several days ago, Cody came in with a deer antler in his mouth.
At the elk reserve in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the Boy Scouts are allowed to collect the shedded antlers, and bundle them into lots. The lots are then auctioned off to collectors from around the world. In Asia, the antlers are ground into powder and sold as an aphrodisiac.
Deer and elk antlers are also used to make furniture, lamps, candle holders, etc.
So, there you have it...more information than you ever needed or wanted to know about the shedding habits of elk and deer.
Thank you for the tutorial. I love this kind of information. So do you have an address for the shedders license? Are you getting one? Are you keeping an eye out for shedders on your land? I want to go antler hunting.
ReplyDeleteI really love this idea of hunting for antlers. We could do this on ATVs. I took the test. I'm certified. Want to do this with me?
ReplyDeleteI guess the antler harbors in Jackson Hole came from shedders!
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