This weekend marks the 50^th annual Boy Scout Elk Antler Auction on the Town Square in Jackson Hole.  Every spring the local boy scout troop gathers the shed antlers from the National Elk Refuge and auctions them off, along with others, to raise funds for habitat enhancement projects and so much more.

Locals and visitors alike gather on the Square to take in the endless rows of antlers from deer, moose and elk.  They also can enjoy the High Noon Chili Cook-Off and the Mountain Man Rendezvous.  There is fun for the whole family!

Here are a few fun facts about antlers:

 • Antlers can grow an inch a day.

 • Antlers are sometimes called horns, but this is an incorrect description.  Horns are sheep, goats and cows and typically do not shed.  A horn is made of a hair-like tissue over a bony core.  Antlers are bone and are shed and regrown each year.

 • The soft, fuzzy covering of an antler while it is growing is called velvet.  It is full of nerves and blood vessels that nourish the antlers as they grow.

 • It takes approximately four months for antlers to fully grow.

 • Antler size is determined age, nutrition and genetics.  The older and healthier the animal, the larger the rack.

 • An injury to the back leg of a buck has an impact on antler development on the opposite side.  If an animal’s back left leg is hurt, the right antler will have deformations.

 • Once antlers are shed, the new rack will begin to regrow in one to two weeks.

 • Moose have lousy hearing, so their antlers actually act has hearing aides.  The antlers “capture” sounds and funnel them into the ears.

For more information on Elkfest visit the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce website.