Horns for The Highest Bidders

By DAVID ELLIS

Investments ranging from art to real estate are suffering from depression nowadays, but the bidding for elk horn is still going strong. Boy Scouts in Jackson, Wyo., who each year auction off the antlers shed by bull elk at the nearby National Elk Refuge, earlier this month collected a total of $76,177, or about $11.20 per lb. The price per pound has been rising about 50 cents annually, thanks in part to Asian bidders who can sell ground elk horn for as much as $300 per oz. because of its purported aphrodisiac and medicinal qualities. But this year Korean buyers sat on their hands, complaining that the ever pricier horns were now out of their range. The 6,839 lbs. of antlers went to 31 domestic buyers, who will use them largely to make furniture.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart