These massive antlers were found by a sawyer crew while on the JRNWR work trip. There are 14 - 16 points, depending on how you count them. If you require them to be an inch long, there are 14 .... if you count whether or not you can hang a ring on them, there are 16. Regardless, this is a huge set of antlers! Antlers are not found lying around in the woods very often and this is why:
By this point you may be wondering what happens to all those antlers the bucks are shedding each year and why you haven't found any lying around in the woods. Once antlers are shed, they don't last long in the wild. Since they are storehouses for mineral salts so prized by rodents, they quickly become food for mice, rats, squirrels, and porcupines. As these animals nibble away, the antler's calcium and phosphorus provide nourishment, and the gnawing action it-self helps keep the rodent's teeth worn down. Those antlers not eaten are bleached, softened, and weathered away by the sun and rain until they become part of the soil. Their minerals may one day provide the nourishment for a plant that will be eaten by a buck and in turn provide nourishment for his growing antlers. So go the cycles of nature.
(Source: TPWD - White-tailed Deer )
You never know what you are going to find on a worktrip!
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