I
slowly and carefully opened the door, holding it open as the car slowed
down. Before it came to a full stop I
pushed it open the rest of the way, took a step on the ground and I was off at
a sprint. I heard a loud horn and a
louder voice yelling profanity at our driver as he veered back into
traffic. No, I was not in the streets of
LA or New York; I am talking about the opening day of Shed Hunting on the Sun
River Game Range in Montana.
You may
find it hard to believe but every year on the 15th of May
(regardless of the day of the week), thousands of people drive up to the Sun
River Game Range, a little over an hour outside of Great Falls to be part of a
strange, yet exciting event. At high
noon, the gates are opened and dozens of riders and runners rush in. The rest, at least two hundred cars and
pick-ups, roar along the road until the driver of each vehicle finds a
lucrative spot to pull over. At this
point, everyone opens their doors and sprints over the hills as fast as they
can. Each person trying to spot and grab
as many of the hundreds of antlers elk bulls have shed in the past few
months.
The
road leading to the game range is littered with the abandoned vehicles of those
who have jumped in with a friend who was further ahead in line (there is
literally a line of cars over a mile long).
The majority of the antlers will be found in the first few hours but
many easy ones will be run by and found later by black bear hunters who come in
later that week. In order to insure
peace, the Fish and Game recently moved the start time to noon instead of
midnight to prevent fights over spots in line.
They have even been known to put radio chips on antlers in order to
ensure no one sneaks in and “poaches” prior to the official opening date. People get time off work; park their truck as
early as two weeks in advance, yell at people for blocking the road, all for
elk antlers. And why all this craziness
you might ask?
Antlers can sell for as much as $10
a pound. Some antlers weigh nine or ten
pounds, so finding two could easily equal more than most Montanans make in a
day. But I think there’s more to it
than that. Part of it must be that inner
child inside most people. The child that
loved to compete in Easter egg hunts.
The other part, for True Montanans at least, is the
“inner-claim-staking-gold-rush-miner” rushing to stake his claim on the
land. It is that inner-Montanan who has
come to seek his fortune, to compete with everyone else, on a land anyone can
set foot, for treasure only the land can offer. Deep down inside, whether they build houses
or sit at a desk all day, I think all True Montanans want to live off the land,
even if it’s just for a day. That’s True
Montana!
