Anglers Find Unusual Elk Antler in Worth County Stream Bed

The Missouri Department of Conservation reports a single bull elk antler was found attached to a small portion of a skull plate in Worth County’s Sowards Ford Access Conservation Area.

The bull elk antler was located in a riverbed. While elk are native to Missouri, their population did not withstand the habitat changes and hunting from the settlement times of the pioneer.

The Department says elk have occasionally wandered into northwest Missouri from western states, and the antler could have come from one of those animals. This antler may have also been protected by being buried.

Found deer or elk antlers attached to a skull plate can be kept, but only after the finder contacts a conservation agent for a disposition permit.

Ben Clarkson and his son Sam found the antler while on a fishing trip last Friday.