It’s a familiar problem for Montana hunters and shed enthusiasts: you’ve got more antlers than wall space, more racks than shelving, and a garage that’s starting to look like a natural history museum annex. Maybe you picked up a few old mounts at an estate sale because the antlers were too good to leave behind. Maybe you’ve been walking river bottoms along the Blackfoot or Bitterroot every March for twenty years and the pile just keeps growing. Either way, right now — during peak shed season in the Northern Rockies — is exactly the right time to figure out what to do with the overflow.

Here’s a practical, Montana-specific breakdown of your best options.

Know the Rules First

Before you sell, donate, or even give away a set of antlers, understand where Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks stands on possession and sale. The good news: shed antlers and antlers naturally attached to a legally taken deer or elk skull are legal to possess and sell in Montana without a license or permit. Antlers are considered a non-regulated part of the animal once they’ve been shed or legally harvested.

However, if you’re dealing with antlers still attached to a full skull or cape from a trophy mount, the paperwork matters. Make sure any mounted animal you buy, sell, or disassemble originated from a legal harvest. Montana FWP game wardens take possession of illegally obtained wildlife parts seriously — don’t let a garage-sale mount become a legal headache. When in doubt, call your regional FWP office. The Missoula regional office can be reached at (406) 542-5500, and they’re used to answering exactly these kinds of questions.

Selling Antlers in Montana

The antler market is real, and in Montana it’s active. Here’s where to move product:

• Antler buyers at local auctions and classifieds: Montana has an active informal market for quality antlers. Check local classified boards and Facebook Marketplace — buyers in Billings, Great Falls, and Missoula are consistently looking for quality brown elk antlers by the pound. For those willing to travel, larger regional antler auctions held in Wyoming each spring attract serious buyers and can be worth researching if you have significant volume to move.
• By the pound at trading posts: Dry white sheds typically fetch $8–$12 per pound, and fresh brown elk antlers — picked up this spring — can bring $15–$20 per pound or more from buyers who resell to the Asian medicine and knife handle markets. (Prices vary by buyer and season; figures reflect general market conditions as of spring 2025.) [Editorial note: Montana Antler & Bone in Billings has been referenced as a local buyer in this category — please verify current business operations before publishing.]
• Online marketplaces: eBay and Etsy are well-established platforms for moving both raw sheds and finished antler crafts. A matched set of heavy 6×6 elk antlers can sell for several hundred dollars to the right buyer.
• Taxidermy supply dealers: If you’ve got antlers pulled from old mounts, local taxidermists in towns like Bozeman, Helena, and Kalispell often buy or broker quality sets for customers who want a replacement rack for a European mount.

Craft Uses — Turn Antlers Into Something

Montana’s maker community has a genuine appetite for antler material. If you’re handy, or willing to connect with someone who is, antlers can become:

• Knife handles and gun grips — a cottage industry in towns like Hamilton and Whitefish
• Chandeliers and light fixtures — rustic lodge décor remains in demand from Flathead Lake cabin owners to Yellowstone-area vacation rentals
• Coat racks and drawer pulls — small cuts of antler tine make excellent hardware, and Etsy shops run by Montana makers sell these year-round
• Walking stick handles and hiking staffs — a satisfying DIY project that costs nothing but time

If you’re not crafting yourself, consider selling raw material to local artisans. Post in community Facebook groups or reach out to maker markets in Missoula or Bozeman — you’d be surprised how fast a bucket of tines disappears.

Donate to Wildlife Education Programs

This is an underused option that makes a real difference. Montana FWP’s wildlife education programs, local 4-H wildlife chapters, and school science programs regularly accept donated antlers for educational display and wildlife ID training. Contact your nearest FWP education coordinator or reach out to Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) program coordinators through FWP’s Helena headquarters.

Some Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation chapters also accept antler donations for fundraising banquets and live auctions. The RMEF has active chapters in Great Falls, Missoula, Billings, and Bozeman — a set of nice antlers donated to a banquet can raise real money for elk habitat right here in Montana.

Dog Chews — Seriously, It Works

Elk antler dog chews are a legitimate market, and your Lab or Heeler will thank you. Antler chews are long-lasting, low-odor, and packed with minerals. Cut antler sections into 4–6 inch pieces with a bandsaw, sand the cut ends smooth, and you’ve got premium dog chews that sell for $10–$25 each at farmers markets or local pet boutiques. Several small Montana businesses already do exactly this — there’s room for one more.

The Bottom Line

Whether you’re pulling antlers off an old mount you grabbed at an auction or sorting through a winter’s worth of sheds from the foothills above the Swan Valley, you’ve got solid options. Sell by the pound, craft something worth keeping, donate to a program that puts them to work, or feed them to your dog one slow afternoon. Just don’t let them rot in a pile. In Montana, good antler material is worth something — to someone. Figure out who that someone is before shed season wraps up and the next batch starts piling up.