Tule Elk’s New Antlers; A Work In Progress
This bull has shed his antlers and has the beginnings of new ones. Recently, I posted some photos of two bull elk fighting at Tomales Point and said that some bulls were already shedding their antlers. That was based on having seen several bulls in the Limantour herd that had shed one or both antlers, including the subject elk. However, last Saturday I was at the Tomales Point Elk Reserve and noticed that none of the bulls that I saw had shed any antlers. That surprised me. For some reason the Limantour herd seems to be shedding antlers earlier than the larger Tomales Point herd.
At this time of year the Park Service has to be on the lookout for people who collect antlers to sell. That is against the law. Yet, people do it knowing it is illegal. There must be enough money in it for some people to break the law. It could be worse. I mean they aren’t killing the elk for the antlers. Countless animals are killed illegally every day for one or more body parts that are marketable. This happens to many species. The ones that come to mind for me now are sharks, bears, tigers and elephants, but there are many more.
