Cowboy Heaven Consulting, LLC
6116 Walker Road
Bozeman, MT 59715
406-587-9563
1-877-613-0404
info@cowboyhvn.com

The Sun River WMA opens at the civilized hour of noon, but the others open at midnight. Particularly on the Dome Mountain WMA near Gardiner, it’s pretty much of an Oklahoma Land Rush scenario at midnight. I’ve never participated in that, but friends that have report it’s an even more low-probability exercise than looking for shed antlers in the daylight hours. For those who haven’t done much shed hunting; unless you’ve been watching a group of bulls in late winter/early spring and have pinpointed where they’ve dropped their antlers, it’s a lot like looking for needles in a haystack, or rather, shed antlers in a million acres of sagebrush and timber. I’ve found a few over the years (three yesterday), but I rationalize it as mostly a good excuse to get outside, scout some new areas, and get some exercise in the process.

Unfortunately, friends who have participated in the Dome Mountain opening, and have expended considerable effort in the process, report that virtually all of the antlers are already gone by the May 15 opener. Antlers used to be worth considerable money for export to the Asian aphrodisiac market, as well as for use in lamps, furniture, and art. A ban has been placed on export, so that market has collapsed. Hopefully that will reduce the amount of antler poaching that goes on….

I decided to try out the Bear Creek WMA, on the west face of the Madison Range south of Ennis. I do require at least a modicum of sleep, and am very busy with other commitments, so I couldn’t get too excited about the midnight opener. I arose at 3:00 AM, and was at Bear Creek just as it was beginning to be possible to see without a flashlight. To get to the point, I only found three antlers, none all that impressive. Most noteworthy is a good-sized six-point, although it’s old and bleached. It’s got unique coloration with lichens growing on it, though, and will no doubt fit in somewhere in our decorating scheme. As the morning progressed, though, antler hunting began to take a back seat to wildlife viewing and photography.

Naturally, though, I missed the best photo op. I had climbed up to about 7800’, and had stopped to get my bearings. It was raining quite hard (a novel thing in itself this spring), and at that elevation I was in the clouds. I stopped under a large tree for a degree of shelter, took off my pack and was utilizing my recently purchased GPS. Couldn’t get a reading under the tree, so I had stepped out into the open. While waiting for the GPS to lock on, I looked up and a cow elk was walking by not 20 yards away. She saw me and froze, but couldn’t smell me for a positive ID due to the rain. I didn’t move, and we had a little stare-down for a few seconds before she ambled off. She was sleek and beautiful, it was in one of those little semi-level pockets high on the mountainside, lush green, and with the fog drifting through could have been a National Geographic caliber photo. Except that my camera was in my backpack laying twenty yards away. Oh, well, that scene will join the host of others that only exist in my memory banks…After that, I was into elk like mad, and saw several hundred (all cows, I believe) plus about 75 mule deer. The grouse are drumming, several pairs of redtail hawks were soaring about, and it was a great way to spend the morning, irregardless of whether I found the mother lode of shed antlers.

I did find four cow elk carcasses, picked clean, all in one vicinity. They might have been winterkills, but I suspect a mountain lion. Two of them were right together, and it appeared something had attempted to drag the hind legs and pelvis into a tree. Unsuccessfully….

So, the search for shed antlers goes on, as I am attempting to accumulate enough large fresh brown ones for a chandelier. As with my other hunting endeavors, though, if my main objective doesn’t present itself, other experiences have a way of occurring that make the outing most worthwhile.