How much would you charge

Question

If you had a true trophy Elk rack say in the 370 class and some one offered you money for it what would you charge.

I am of the mind that the hunt for such a elk or the waiting period to get a tag would weigh in on the price.

My thoughts, 10k what would you say???????

An antler broker would say 1-2K.

It may be worth more to you if it had sentimental value.

If I shot it I wouldn't sell it for any price. I have crates full of shed antlers that I can't bring myself to sell.

>An antler broker would say 1-2K.
>
>
>It may be worth more to
>you if it had sentimental
>value.

I'd agree with the 1-2k. No way it brings 10k. Also depends on it they are sheds, a euro mount, or a nicely done full shoulder mount.

Depends on how broke you are.

I buy antlers and can buy 370 euro bulls or sheds all day for $700- $800. While it may be special to the guy that shot it there's always the guy down the road that will sell his for $700.

Probley closer to $400 from most buyers!

>If I shot it I wouldn't
>sell it for any price.
>I have crates full of
>shed antlers that I can't
>bring myself to sell.


I agree, I have every set of antlers from every deer and elk I've ever harvested as well as a small pile of sheds.

How about a 420 gross set of year old sheds? Close to 15 lbs each.

After I am dead and buried, my wife can sell them or give them away. Until then the fun of looking at them is more than anyone would be willing to pay

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

I am of the same thought txhunter58 I don't know if anyone has enough money to be able to get those horns out of my hands.

I agree with the other posters that antlers aren't worth as much as we might think.

We hear of world records being worth $100K or more and they are but they are the exception.

Antlers attached to the skull plate are usually worth more than sheds. (Because you can't score a shed)

There is a 440 AZ bull attached to the skull plate on E-bay right now asking $3,000 with no one bidding.

So a set of 420 sheds would be worth less than that.

I've seen quite a few elk racks and shed sets in that class for less than $600. Last year, I lucked out and bought a brown 380" rack and 344" rack together for less than $300 total. Unfortunately, when selling and buying, the antler market rarely takes costs of a hunt, waiting periods, or taxidermy fees into consideration. It's all about score, antler condition, and eye appeal/character. That bull we might wait up to 20+ years to harvest is usually worth way more in memories than any cash offered on the market.

My racks are all priceless, no amount would ever get them away from me. I wouldn't even sell my 4" whittail spike I shot as my first ever buck. Well on 2nd thought, the guy might get a swift kick in the ass and I'd keep my antlers...

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"

I will not be selling my big antlers. I was just wondering what they are worth. One guy told me the big elk sheds are worth 10,000. I thought that was considerably inflated and happy to see that most agree. The score is typical, not nontypical by the way.

I have a set of antlers on the skull that scores 370+ typical. I would happily sell them for $1500. (Splitting the difference between $1-2K mentioned above). While I haven't been trying to sell them, and I am happy to keep them, for that price they are for sale. BTW, I did not shoot this elk.

Bill

Antlers are one of those things that are both priceless, and worthless all at the same time.

Aside from the $12 per pound that a trader might pay, they are pretty much worthless pieces of bone to the vast majority of people. However, to you, or possibly another "beholder" they may be worth quite a bit of money. I'd say that someone who wants them as decoration would never pay what you might think they are worth.

Any object is only worth what someone will pay for it, or what you can insure it for...

"Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!" 2 Ne. 28: 24

Elk, and white tails can be ranched.

So there's always a bigger set around the corner, cheaper than your asking price.


There are two ends of the spectrum where Antler guys are concerned.


The guys who jerk off to Antlers are comical.


The guys who couldn't care less about them except for their cash value are soulless.



Most of us are somewhere in the middle.

What if I jerk off to them because of their cash value? Where does that put me on the scale?

Memories and photos are priceless. I remember every minute of each hunt. Antlers are clutter that I clean out every 10 years or so.

I am with you blank, the pictures mean more to me than the horns, even though I like to handle them once in a while and look at the mounts on my wall. but I would never get rid of my horns. once or twice a year I pull my elk racks out of the shed and relive them all


How to start an argument online:
1. Express an opinion
2. Wait

Don't sell unless you really need the money!

And this is why there are mercenary idiots crawling out of the woodwork. I don't have any "trophy" racks, and if that was why I was hunting I would give it up. The antlers I have are not for sale, and never will be.

Sure, if I had a chance at a world-class bull I would take it (duh), and those antlers wouldn't be for sale either. The point is (as I see it) that I wouldn't be taking the shot because it's a "396 inch bull". I would be taking the shot because it's a mature elk that I have matched wits (and luck) with and came out ahead. I've passed up legal small bucks, not because they were small, but just because it was the first day of the season and I had a week of vacation time available. I've also taken does, and cherished the hunt as much as any buck I have taken.

Market hunting nearly wiped out much of the big game in North America in the 1800s, and here we go again. When there is big money associated with antlers of a specific size, wealthy idiots get into the business and snap up any lease that has produced a B&C trophy in recent history. Access to private land without high fees disappears entirely. Poaching becomes profitable. "Hunting" programs on television multiply like rats. All so someone can claim a bigger rack than someone else.

I once sat on a ridgeline with a rifle, watching a muley buck that would have gone very high in the books standing broadside at 80 yards. It's one of my most treasured hunting memories. If I had been deer hunting I'd have gladly shot him, but I was elk hunting and deer season wasn't open yet. I'd like to think I'd have made the same choice if I had known I would be able to sell that rack for big money. The point, such as it is, is that adding money into the equation potentially makes poachers out of a significant number of people who wouldn't otherwise be tempted.

The breeders work on producing bigger and bigger racks, someone makes a deal to shoot a 440" bull elk out of a corral, the story gets out and we all take a PR black eye by association. It's not just elk, either. There are a couple of African buffalo bulls on game ranches valued in eight figures for their breeding potential. Where's the line between wildlife and livestock? Give it a few decades and all the record books will be meaningless. Actually, the first time an animal resulting from a captive breeding program or highly "managed" private property, whether it was taken by fair chase or not, is entered into a record book it becomes irrelevant. Maybe that's not entirely a bad thing.

There was a time I would have loved to have my name in the B&C or P&Y books. Now, I'm not sure I would even have a really big rack officially scored. The record books don't mean the same thing they once did. All the glory hounds hunting private leases in ten or twelve states every year have made sure of that. How many "book" racks does it take before they lose the only value they really have? And what kind of person goes out and buys a set of arbitrarily large antlers? I just don't understand it.