For more than 40 years our family has been on the road buying antler. We have heard lots of stories and love hearing more. Every trip to buy antler is an adventure with friends, family, and new acquaintances. We have seen all sorts of weather and terrain. Our trips start in the winter with roads being closed behind us as we pull into Rawlins, WY and people with antler to sell that they found during hunting season and want to sell to pay for Christmas. The deer and moose begin to lose their antler in January and February and the elk are done in April. We travel all over the Western United States meeting people, grading antler in rain or shine, and always having the money to buy the antler.
People don’t always realize what goes into buying antler but it is a huge process and good for people to see and understand. Every trip starts with someone calling to see if we are interested in buying and they have a big enough pile to make the trip. After that we advertise in the area and along the road there to get as much coverage as possible. We take hundreds of calls and Facebook messages throughout the week, quote prices, and plan the trip. A few days before we leave we call and make sure all of our piles are good to go and everything is lined up. Throughout our trip many things happen such as bad weather, cancellations, and admiring collections of antler that can affect our arrival times. After we get home we sort the antler for crafts and medicine and make sure everything goes its way.
In the end every trip is a success.