On the opening weekend of Montana's rifle season, an antler thief cut off the head of a hunter's whitetail buck while he was hiking to his truck to retrieve a game cart. When the hunter returned to the kill site, the 10-point buck's head was gone, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) reported in a press release shared to Facebook on October 31, and the thief was nowhere to be found.
FWP said the incident took place west of Kalispell, Montana. “The deer head can be identified by five-by-five antlers with a unique drop tine,” FWP stated in its recent Facebook post.
Antler theft in the West is nothing new. The Kalispell incident is one of several such crimes reported in recent years, as black market demand for deer and elk antlers brings higher and higher profits. In 2022, for example, backcounty hunter Jimmy Lynn lost the head of a trophy-class mule deer to a thief after he notched a coveted tag deep in Wyoming’s Hoback Range.
That same year, Adam Grenda had a set of 430-inch bull elk antlers stolen from the back of pickup truck in a motel parking lot in Billings, Montana. Shed antlers and European mounts left unattended in people’s yards have also been targeted for theft in Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado, and federal agents have busted multiple illegal shed hunting rings operating inside the National Elk Refuge near Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Read Next: The Biggest Poaching Busts of 2024
Game wardens in this case are offering tipsters a possible cash reward. “Anyone with information is asked to visit tipmont.mt.gov or call the local game warden at 406-871-3104," FWP said. "Callers may be eligible for up to $1,000.”
