Historical Antler Prices for College Economics Report

[tyhill7hocmx]

Hi all,

I am a student at Boise State University and am taking an upper level microeconomics class. We are required to write a report on any subject that we cover in class. I was hoping to use the Antler Market as my subject and curious if I could detail exactly what type of micro-economy it is. I am trying to find historical antler prices but haven't had much luck. I was looking online for something official but thought that maybe I could find a few people to get a decent average on here. The timeframe I would be looking for would be about 20 years, this way I could show how different forces effect the price of antlers in the west. Thanks for your time and any information you can provide.

Tyler

 

[MT_55]

I think you might have some luck in contacting an antler buyer. You may have to try a few of them as you will need someone willing and able to provide that information to you.

Cool project.. Post your paper here when you're done!

 

[tyhill7hocmx]

Thanks, I have contacted a few antler buyers. I have not received a good set of data points to start with yet. It would be great to get a few different sources and perspectives.

 

[idahoan]

I dont have every year but here is what I remember.
2006 - Brown Elk $5 a pound
2010 - Brown elk $7 a pound

2018 - early 2019 - Brown elk was $14 a pound

Could be off but thats what I remember.

Blaine

 

[Bambistew]

LAST EDITED ON Apr-16-19 AT 12:40PM (MST)[p]Contact Don/Tony Schaufler in Ennis MT. They have been buying antlers for as long as anyone... since the 80s. There have been a number of highs/lows correlating to a few different things.

The asians used to buy a lot of antlers for homeopathic reasons. Then mad-cow hit and there was a ban on exports, but they got around it by shipping to countries without bans... but as far as I know the amount going overseas is much less these days.

The furniture market in the 90's drove up prices for nice brown elk and mule deer, then waned. The craft market in general has somewhat slowed down.

Collectors are always on the lookout for nice antlers, but they really don't drive much of the market, and with game farms the prices have really suffered. Prior to fenced whitetail operations, and deer management programs, giant free-range whitetails used to fetch ridiculous amounts by collectors. Just about any nice Boone and Crockett whitetail rack (A-grade) would fetch $1500 and go up from there. Sheds sets maybe 1/3 to half that. Today you can damn near buy sheds sets for poundage.

As I'm sure you know, the main driver today is the dog chews, and to be honest, I think that train is about to run its course.

For prices. There was a point in the late 80's early 90's where brown elk was pushing $15/lb, it dropped to $5-8 for a long time before increasing again in the last decade. Big brown mule deer would generally fetch maybe 50% more than brown elk during that time due to the craft value. Brown/big whitetails were similarly priced as mule deer.

While I think there is money it, and its driving the frenzy. I don't think if the price bottomed out tomorrow, that many people would stop looking.

You might look in the archives (for the Jackson Hole news paper, if they have one) for info on the Horn Auction, they used to include the price/lb in for the large piles sold by the Scouts. The price was usually a bit inflated over what others were paying, but not a lot, maybe 10-20%. The local boy scout troop may also have records on prices paid. THe proceeds go to the refuge to buy feed for the elk... also another place to look.

Please share when you get your research done, it would be interesting for sure.

 

[tyhill7hocmx]

Thank you for all of the information so far. This last post kind of cements the original idea for the paper. This market is almost a monopsony, which is a market with many sellers but one buyer. It really isn't a true monopsony, because a guy can sell his antlers to a craft store, furniture store, pet store, and there are different buyers in each state. The thing that kind of brings it back to the idea of a monopsony is that usually the grade of antler dictates what market the sellers will enter, and a large majority of those antlers go to one place. AfterI can put some charts together, using prices and possibly driving events it will be interesting to see if the market resembles a free market or a monopsony.

I am by no means an economist, and its not my favorite subject, but it makes it more enjoyable if I can at least talk about antlers!

 

[MT_55]

If you have space to fit it in.... I think it would be neat to try to figure out how many antler buyers there were 30 years ago vrs. today... Not sure how you would accurately do that but maybe an estimation might not be out of the question. OR,, the amount of buyers (and by buyers I mean wholesale sellers) that fluctuates with large increases or decreases in the pricing.

 

[Squirrel]

My current situation precludes me from caring about your opinion but go ahead and give voice to it anyway...

I think the suggestion above about checking the "spot price" yearly would be best accomplished by knowing the Jackson auction price. It may not reflect small scale purchases very well but the overall trend would be very plain to see.

Going from memory I recall deer (#1) at $6 in the 80's peaking at $15 around 2000 then plummeting down to $6 and slowly creeping back up to where they are now

Elk were $9 crashed to $4 and recently peeked at $16 before pulling back a bit to where they have been and still are around $14

Factors are fascinating, asian market, crafts, and this latest is just nuts(to me) with the dog chew thing.

Hell my dogs have had tens of thousands $ of dog chews over the years and they still go dig up a mummified gopher and crunch it down like ice cream...

Post up your document here after you write it would you? Or just send it to me I would like to read it.