The Great American Antler Boom

In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, some antlers are easy to find. A large arch of intertwined elk antlers greets passengers as they arrive at the local airport, and, in town, antler chandeliers hang from tall ceilings at a high-end furniture store. Jackson’s trademark is a town square with four archways; each arch was made from some fourteen thousand pounds of antler. Most of the antlers come from the National Elk Refuge, an expanse of hills and meadows on the outskirts of Jackson where roughly eight thousand elk spend the winter. The animals eat government-funded alfalfa pellets, living in a carefully managed symbiosis with a town that presents itself as a frontier outpost, and which has a median home price of three million dollars. Read Full Article »