On May 8 at 6 a.m., the Soda Lake elk feedgrounds were cold, windy and empty, except for some Wyoming Game and Fish horses turned out on summer pasture.
This was the start to the non-resident shed antler hunting season for much of southern and western Wyoming. But, the season started May 1 for residents – and the difference was palpable, with trucks and people buzzing around.
This was the first year where new laws requiring non-residents to wait a week to shed hunt were in effect. The idea was to give locals a chance to find sheds, given the growing popularity and potential profitability of the sport.
Enforcing the new rule went relatively smoothly, said Pinedale Game and Fish Game Warden Bubba Haley.
“We looked at license plates a lot. We talked to as many people as we could,” Haley said about the first week.
He added that Game and Fish also relied on the public to call in any suspicious non-residents, which didn’t amount to much.
“One of those, they were not antler hunting, they were just from out of state,” Haley said. “The other one was a local from Pinedale that wrecked her truck, and so she was using a replacement rental vehicle with non-resident plates.”
Those were the only two reports he received.
Haley said he wasn’t surprised no one was out looking for sheds on the non-resident opening day, given the bitter cold weather. But he expects non-residents to be poking around on the weekend when the weather warms up.
“There's still antlers out there, they're just going to be a lot harder to find,” he said.
They’ll be harder to find because the land has been picked over by residents, but also because it was a really mild winter.
“We didn't feed elk on some of these feedgrounds, so elk were scattered,” he said.
And if the elk were scattered, so are the shed antlers.
The season is now open for all until January 1. Non-residents over 15 years old have to purchase a $21.50 conservation stamp to hunt for sheds.
