Durango – The growing popularity of collecting antlers has Colorado wildlife experts and business people worried that eager collectors are hunting too early and stressing vulnerable deer and elk on winter ranges.
Increasing prices and competition for antlers have many collectors invading snow-filled forests as early as January and February to find the first antlers shed after mating season, Colorado Division of Wildlife officials said. These hunters harass wildlife at a time when the animals need to conserve energy.
“We’ve seen an increase in antler collection in the last three years because we have a deer herd with national notoriety for its mature bucks with larger antlers,” said the DOW’s Gunnison-area wildlife manager, J Wenum. “People from all over are coming weeks earlier. It’s not illegal, but if people could wait until May or June it’s much better for the animals. They’re really struggling to maintain their body weights now.”
But several magazines and Internet sites advise collectors to begin their searches in January or February by following the well-used game trails between bedding and feeding areas.
Randy Clark is owner of Traders Rendezvous in Gunnison, a store that boasts the largest display of mounted antlers in the state. Clark buys and sells antlers, and he finds demand growing as the mountains fill with more rustic homes and lodges decorated with everything from multi-tier mule deer antler chandeliers to horned love seats.
But Clark couldn’t agree more with the DOW that too many collectors are going outdoors too early and that it’s counterproductive in the long run.
“We’ve seen it in Gunnison in the last few years. As it gets very competitive, people are going way too early and chasing deer in the cold and belly-deep snow. People are on snowmobiles chasing deer,” Clark said.
He said he advocates spring collecting to the people he buys from, but the trend is early hunting. And if he doesn’t buy the antlers from them, someone else will.
He’s afraid the harassment will lead to a decline in trophy bucks, which he believes he witnessed last hunting season.
Mike Williams, owner of the Antler Shed in Montrose, said the price he pays for the raw antlers used in his custom furnishings has doubled in the past several years to $18 per pound.
Dave Harper, the DOW’s wildlife manager for the Dolores district, said he’s seen determined collectors hunt on ATVs, even driving on public lands closed for the winter by federal managers.
“It used to be common to see antlers on the ground,” Harper said. “You have to really look now because people are out there scouring the ground.”
Harper said it would be unfortunate if wildlife managers had to consider creating a limited season for antler gathering.
“We are just asking people to pay attention and respect private land and state wildlife closure areas,” said DOW spokesman Joe Lewandowski in Durango. “And we are asking them to wait for spring.”
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or edraper@denverpost.com.
