Rack 'em Up! The Fabulous Antler Auction in Jackson Hole, WY
The 57th Annual Elkfest is one of the West's great traditions.
That’s a pic of our daughter Sidney on May 18th, in the town square of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She’s at the 57th Annual Antler Auction, better known as Elkfest. Unless you’re a Boy Scout in Wyoming, a hunter or an outdoorsman, this incredible event is little known and far off the beaten path. But it’s also one of the West’s great frontier traditions, and here’s my report.
My late father-in-law was a true Arizona cowboy and each year we take a road trip somewhere through the West to honor his spirit. We live in Arizona and this year’s trip included Jackson, Wyoming, which is a great western town that also serves as a hub for the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. It’s a cowboy town that’s preserved much of its distinctive frontier heritage. We stayed for 5 nights in mid-May, which is before their high season. At 6,500 feet elevation the temps never got above 55 and there was still plenty of snow on the Tetons and blocking the hiking trails. If you wonder why it’s called Jackson Hole, take the tram up to 11,000 feet and look down… Jackson sits down in a pocket, protected by mountains on three and a half sides.
Jackson also abuts one of the world’s great wildlife sanctuaries, the 25,000-acre National Elk Refuge, home to over 20,000 wild elk. The Refuge encompasses some of the most spectacular terrain in the country, including vast expanses of the Rocky Mountains, grasslands, high meadows, miles of the Snake River, valleys, forests, and remote canyons and gorges. It’s huge. Despite the number of animals, you can drive along for 20 miles and never see an elk.
Like all mammals in the deer family, male elk grow antlers, beginning in the spring. But in the winter, after mating season, the elk come down from the high country to the warmer parts and drop their antlers. These dropped antlers are known as sheds and usually occurs between January and March. In Jackson, this is when the Boy Scouts spring into action.
For 57 years, one day each year, once the elk have moved out, the Boy Scouts are granted exclusive access to the Refuge to go in, search for sheds, and retrieve. Parents get to go too, because the elk share the refuge with bears, coyotes, big horn sheep, bison, wolves, mountain lions, and moose. Many families go in on horseback, to cover more ground. (The Scouts are allowed in as early as possible, because forest critters chew up the sheds, which act as a sort of multivitamin for mice, squirrels, and porcupines. Bears and wolves also benefit from the high calcium content. So the sheds don’t last long.)
This year, on the designated foraging day, the Scouts harvested some 8,100 pounds of antlers, down from last year’s 9,600 pounds. Cowboys told us this is because this winter was warmer, and the elk left the lower elevations for higher ground earlier, for better forage. When the elk leave sooner, there are less sheds.
25,000 acres is a lot of land to cover in one day. Scouts come from all over Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and Utah to participate. Rangers tip them off as to where the biggies might be found. Sheds are piled into pickup trucks, SUV's, trailers and wagons. Size matters. They're organized and brought to town a couple months later for the big grand gala auction.
Come May 18th, Jackson Town Square is a sight to be seen. They close the streets and antlers are piled high, displayed and spread out from one end of the square to the other. Cowboy bands are playing. It’s an antler bonanza and for us, the only word I can use to describe the atmosphere is thrilling. Everyone is into it. Every kid has a prized rack on the street or sidewalk. And while there are hundreds of kids selling sheds, come afternoon, all eyes go to the stage where the prized trophy sets are auctioned off for the big money. You must register to participate in the auction, for a crack at the really cool stuff. If you shop the street, you’re simply dazzled by all the antlers. Not just elk, but you’ll see cattle, antelope, deer, big horns, and plenty of moose.
A ten-year-old buck might shed 6 or 7 points. These were rare and stunning. Interestingly, the antlers are not sold by number of points; they're sold by weight. The price is about $25 per pound and it adds up fast. When the afternoon comes and the bands stop playing, the dignitaries fill the stage (One of Wyoming’s Senators, an ex-Scout, was there), and the bidders fill the grandstands. The auction kicks off the weeklong celebration known as Old West Days, and bidding is lively. You'll find collectors, charitable supporters of the Scouts, interior designers from across the West, home decorators, ranchers, cowboys, and tourists like us. Single antlers, and matched pairs. Small, medium and large. The most prized antlers? These are of course the beetle-cleaned skulls, antlers still attached. In 2023 a great set sold for over $15,000.
The following night as we sat at the Silver Dollar Cowboy Bar, a rancher told us this year’s auction raised $218,000. The Wyoming Scouts get 25% to support their valuable endeavors; the rest goes to the National Elk Refuge.
Elkfest is a festive and fabulous tradition. Strolling the streets around Jackson’s town square on the morning of Elkfest, temps in the 40s, hundreds upon hundreds of antlers on the streets and sidewalks, it brings out the cowboy in all of us and was easy to fall into the spirit of it all. We shopped. There's surprisingly little bartering involved. They put the rack on a bathroom scale, and the price is the price. It didn't seem like the place to try to dicker the price -- people are quite happy to support this lifestyle. We won a terrific moose paddle, quite heavy, quite large, with a fabulous individual pattern. I’d love to make a lamp out of it, but my wife says she's got a special place for it in our Flagstaff home.
The travel agent in me advises: go to Jackson, Wyoming. Go before the high season and stay downtown at the Wort Hotel for the full historic western experience. Try to catch Elkfest, have an elk burger or a little venison at the Million Dollar Steakhouse. The West is alive and well.
NOTE: the Boy Scouts of America are now called Scouting America, and girls are welcome. Some curmudgeons aren’t thrilled with this development, but they’re short-sighted. As Elkfest attests (and we saw a few girls, proud to be Eagle Scouts) Scouting is good; it instills wonderful values of camaraderie and teamwork, an appreciation for the outdoors and conservation. For both boys and girls, these values should be encouraged on every level, at an early age. Walking around town square during Elkfest, you see the great things Scouts do, maintaining traditions. This is a wonderful thing for the future of the country.
Thanks for reading. Please feel free to share with those who share a passion for the West.
MD in AZ