World Famous Jackson Antler Auction still running strong

JACKSON, Wyoming (KIFI)- Getting its start in 1968 the Jackson Antler Auction has been a staple for May in Jackson for nearly 55 years. The auction supports the local chapter of the Friends of Scouting which helps the regional district for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts organizations in the Jackson area. The auction also helps support the National Elk Refuge.

In 2023 the Antler Auction was able to auction off 90,000 pounds of antlers for anxiously awaiting bidders. Raising $218,000 for the scouts and elk refuge. For many of the Auction Bidders, supporting a good cause is what keeps them coming.

"Even though you may end up paying a little bit of a premium at an auction like this rather than buying off the street, I think it's going to a good cause. And we're happy to support the scouts," said Kevin Pewitt who was able to leave in the winning bid for a match set.

Pewitt adds, that the cause was super personal for him as well. "Our son was a scout and just helping out kids and helping out that organization is super important."

For Nancy Durrant coming to the Auction has become a tradition. "Just the tradition. The Elk Refuge and the History of the Elk up in Jackson Hole. We just. We love it. Yeah, It's just cool to have something. A piece of history."

This year Durrant was the happy winner of a "dead head" meaning a skull with the antlers still attached. Her prize was able to raise $15,200 for the auction. She says she was happy to be involved. "This goes to support your scout troops, and,  you know, they go out and pick up all those antlers, and, I mean,  they do a lot of work to get this organized. It's not easy.  So it's fun. It's fun to support them and see other kids. It's just fun. We love it."

She says coming to the auction is her big vacation every year.

Linda "The Antler Queen" Rumsey a big part of the Wild West Designs and Little Big Horn team has been a part of the auction for a long time. Being a part of the auction helps her business every year. She says she got her start in the antler export business. "We were exporting to the Asian market. And so the Asians actually came up to buy the antler. And so we got connected with an Asian buyer. And so that's the reason why that was. It was strictly a kind of export at the time."

She says being involved in her community and supporting local organizations is very important to her. "We're very proud of our store.  We feature a lot of US-made craftsmen and artisans from all over the antlers made into all sorts of things that we buy for the store.  So yeah, and hopefully we support the Boy Scouts. They do an awesome job."

For the Boy Scouts being able to put this on takes a lot of prep work. "We have about 90 different adult leaders, both men and women that spend time not only picking up the antlers, but also sorting the antlers and making sure that we have all the matched pairs together that we can. And then building up these trailers and pallets. And we have to keep it within 120 lots in order to get through to our auction timeline," said Paul Vogelheim.

Vogelheim says that some of the "dead-heads" that were collected didn't make the auction and will appear in later iterations of the auction.

The Auction is actually perhaps the big event in the Jackson Elk Fest that takes place at the same time. Surrounding the Jackson Town Square is vendors from all over the country selling antlers in match sets, single pieces, and "dead heads" for those who don't participate in the auction.

One of the antler collectors coming to visit says seeing the vendors with the many different antlers is amazing. "It's great.  So then everybody wants to get something and get something right from the dog Antler chews all the way to the collectors," said Ryan Mckenzie.

He says he likes to try and get unique pieces from different vendors. "I just like getting the non-typical stuff. So a lot of cool stuff here."

Traders' Rendevous out of Gunnison, Colorado has been a big part of the elk fest for the past 36 years. He says that being a part of it is special. "This is like the Super Bowl of antlers coming up here, you know? And so, yeah. And, you know, we come up just we see everybody year after year and it's fun. Love Jackson Hole," said Ryan Clark.

Clark adds that in his view the auction and the many different vendors are complimentary. "I mean, the antler sale, of course, brings a lot of people then people are pleasantly surprised that they see all this other stuff out on the that they can actually buy because a lot of the stuff over there goes fairly, fairly good price. And not everybody can afford to buy a pallet full of antlers. And so they're happy to see a single antler to buy."