It’s about 5:45 a.m. on May 1 at a closed gate leading to an elk feedground in Sublette County. There's 15 minutes until the shed antler hunting season officially opens, as it’s illegal to pick up antlers in much of southern and western Wyoming for the first four months of the year.
“We got here at midnight,” said local David Rule. “We’ve been tailgating the night away.”
Rule and his Teton County friend Isaac Spotts sat, sleepy-eyed in their truck, with sleeping bags strewn about in the back seat.
The shed antler opening day is a big deal – with many people taking off work and school. It’s cultural, but also there can be big profits. At times, antlers will sell for as much as $18/pound.
So usually, there’s easily 50 vehicles lined up down the road at this feedground. So if you aren’t in line super early, you might not find any antlers. But this year, that’s not an issue, there’s maybe 10 trucks.
“I mean, I feel stupid getting here so early now,” Rule laughed.
“Me too. I could’ve slept in a bed,” Spotts added.
The small turnout is likely because for the first time, only Wyoming residents can pick up antlers for the first week of May. The state legislature passed the law last year in response to concern from locals that they’re being pushed out of the sport by out-of-state hunters.
Rule said normally, “I feel like this [is] the freaking Hunger Games. Like last year, by the time I got there [the feedgrounds’] it was like a lot of them [elk antlers] had already been taken.”
Slightly serious, slightly joking he added, “this year we don’t have the Utah people slowing us down.”
Manning the feedground entrance gate is Kyle Berg, Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s (WGFD) Pinedale habitat and access biologist. There was about two minutes until vehicles could officially enter.
“I'd say this is a little bit quiet,” Berg said. “I don't know what that other entrance looks like. But I would say last year, there was probably 50 vehicles here and 30 or so up there. So this is less.”
Berg said he didn’t expect many people to try to break the new rules, as notice about the changes has been circulating for over a year. He said the WGFD has largely depended on prior education for regulating it all. Now that the season is opening, Berg said he wasn’t going to be checking driver’s licenses to see if someone is in-state or out-of-state. Rather, his job was to “just keep an eye on things, making sure people stay on the roads and are in places that they're supposed to be.”
Once the clock struck six a.m. the handful of Wyoming trucks took off towards the feedgrounds in search of shed antlers.
The non-resident opening is May 8 at 6 a.m. They will also be required to purchase a conservation stamp. Berg said he doubts there’ll be a line-up of out of state people waiting, as most of the antlers will likely be picked up by then. Although, he said since it was such a mild winter, non-residents might still stand a chance.
“The elk weren't necessarily concentrated on feedgrounds because it was a light winner,” Berg said. “So the sheds are spread out – could be an opportunity for non-residents.”
Editor's Note: The headline for this story has been changed on May 3, 2024 for grammatical errors from 'less people' to 'fewer people.'
