Alan Butts has been converting antlers into unique jewelry, whistles, lamps and candelabra for 33 years. Crafting knives for cooking, hunting and fishing is his specialty.
“It’s a testosterone kind of thing,” says the 58-year-old retired mason, who works out of two sheds in front of his antler-shrouded house in McCoy.
Butts bristles at bosses or customers telling him what to do. He doesn’t believe in computers, art fairs or advertising, claiming the hand-painted plywood sign on the Conger Mesa Road, off Colorado 131, attracts customers from Wolcott, 21 miles south, and Steamboat Springs, 60 miles north.
“They want me, they’ll find me,” he claims. “I buy, sell and trade just about every kind of antler. Some go to Cabelas, and others end up as handles on flyswatters. Any income I’m missing, I save in psychiatry bills.”
Butts, who reluctantly answers the phone at 970-653-4423, says he’s like McCoy – not much up for change.
