Antler Auction Bound

by Joy Ufford

Wyoming Game and Fish’s Gary Hornberger of Pinedale finishes loading 440 pounds of shed elk antlers collected by winter feeders from their respective Sublette feedgrounds. These will be combined with another 1,210 pounds of antlers – a horse-trailer-full – collected from Hoback Basin, Teton and Lincoln feedgrounds, making the G&F haul heading up to Jackson for Saturday’s Elk Antler Auction a record-setting 1,653 pounds. Proceeds benefit the National Elk Refuge pellet-feeding program. Hornberger said the old record was 1,403 pounds and attributed the antler-collecting success to the late spring keeping elk on feedgrounds longer where their shed antlers were easier to find.

Photo credits:  Joy Ufford