![]() ![]() Read Next: Utah Enacts State-Wide Emergency Shed Hunting Closure to Protect Big Game When you consider that one elk antler can buy a whole tank of gas-I’d say that increase in antler value definitely factors into this.” “The numbers that I’m hearing people throw around are pretty substantial. “It would be naive to think otherwise,” he says. It’s likely that the surge in shed hunting popularity is being fueled by increased profit margins for those who sell their antlers on the open market, Phillips says. There’s also a burgeoning demand for antlers in the high-end dog toy market. Gathered antlers are commonly sold to collectors who use the sheds to make furniture. “We don’t sell licenses for so we don’t have hard numbers, but anecdotally speaking, we seem to see a lot more people out there doing it,” IDFG spokesman Roger Phillips tells Field & Stream. And it coincides with a massive uptick in the overall popularity of shed hunting, particularly in southeastern Idaho, which abuts the the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The announcement marks the first time that Idaho wildlife officials have implemented a temporary shed hunting closure in more than twenty years. The mule deer herds in the southeastern part of Idaho were hit particularly hard by last year’s historic winterkill, the agency said. ![]() “The closure is intended to reduce stress on wintering big game herds, which suffered from the extremely harsh winter of 2022-23,” reads a press release issued by IDFG on November 21. It only applies to public land in the Upper Snake and the Southeast Regions. The “antler gathering closure” will be begin on Januand extend through mid-April. In a move designed to protect wintering deer herds, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) has announced a three-and-half-month closure of all shed hunting activities in two separate game management units. Idaho is the latest Western state to implement new regulations around shed antler hunting. ![]()
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