Bear Bums – Bear Hunting

Horn Hunting in Utah

Horns are a trophy and have been forever, I suspect.  The bigger the better and the more the better, right?  In Africa, no animal I know of sheds its horns.  Here in North America and in many other parts of the world we have many horn shedding animals.  Some, such as the North American antelope, aren’t of much interest while others like mule deer, whitetail deer, elk and moose make up a fad/sport that is booming.

The horns have a value in real dollars or pesos or whatever, depending on where you live.  This price is dictated by the market value, just like a value for potatoes.  The market is dictated by their use, for things from jewelry to aphrodisiacs.

Today, two of us spent from 6am to 6pm on the venture.  We caught the horses, drove to our secret spot 2 ½ hours away and rode with saddle and pack horses about 10-15 miles.  The cost to us was minimal, only diesel, horse feed, pasture, horse trailers, pickups, horses, pack and riding saddles and equipment, time and the list goes on.

We had a great horn-gathering day with approximately 20 single elk sheds and 3 deer sheds found.  One elk shed was even big.  I’m sure the $ value of the horns is $200-$300, at least.

Here’s the truth.  We got muddy, sweaty, worked the horses to death and gabbed our lips off.  We saw deep snow, mud, rocks, cliffs, springs, water falls and other cool terrain.  There were deer, elk, turkeys, moose, ducks and geese and multiple small creatures to see.  We saw bear tracks, mountain lion tracks, Indian artifacts, new spring grass, flowers like crazy, and a lot more.

A lot of physical exercise and horse training got done, not to mention the chance to breathe clean, cool air all day.  After we parked the horse trailer and started, we did not see one human, human track or a domestic animal except the two of us and our 3 horses.

Great activity!