Searching For Unburied Treasure

Sun., May 26, 1996

Staff And Wire Reports

The West’s greatest treasure hunt is underway as thousands of people area afield to hunt for lost bones and the possibility of a small fortune.

Those lost bones are deer and elk antlers, which the animals shed naturally each year - the deer in January and February and the elk in March and April.

Fortunes can be made later when the antlers are sold at auction or to antler buyers.

In Asia (specifically China and Korea), freshly shed antlers are considered a prime source of vitamins while serving as the main ingredient for perceived love potions.

Domestically, shed antlers fetch a fair price as the ingredient for jewelry, belt buckles, furniture and tall tales about “the one that got away.”

Weekend horn hunters can expect prices of $4 to $8 a pound, depending on quality. Freshly shed antlers draw top dollar while old sun-bleached, weathered bones may fetch about $1.50. Lightly weathered antlers may bring $5 a pound.

“I’ve seen a matched set of shed elk antlers that weighed 22 pounds each,” said Greg Boynton, an antler hunter from Salmon, Idaho. “The largest I’ve found weighed 18 pounds.

“There are thousands and thousands of dollars worth of antlers just laying around back in the mountains, but it takes time and luck to find them in large amounts.

“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, so when you find a huge antler it’s pretty exciting.”

Gathering antlers isn’t universally condoned, however. It’s illegal in national parks, since shed antlers are part of the ecosystem. Rodents, and essential link in the food chain, gnaw on antlers for mineral nutrients.

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