Old ass elk antler
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: kylet
07-Mar-22
I found this elk antlers submerged in a creek over the weekend in SE Wisconsin. It’s real old and almost petrified. Does anyone have any advice on how to preserve it? Any help would be greatly appreciated
From: tobywon
07-Mar-22
Cool find!! Looks like its pretty well preserved being almost petrified. I'm not expert at preservation though.
From: JohnMC
07-Mar-22
I don't know about the antler, but I'd eat the bananas soon they can’t be preserved for long.
From: Grey Ghost
07-Mar-22
It probably doesn't need any more preservation, IMO. I have antlers from my father's kills that are over 80 years old. They've lost some color, but are still as hard as they ever were. Keeping it dry and out of the sunlight will probably help the most.
Cool find.
Matt
From: Casekiska
07-Mar-22
There have been a number of old elk antlers discovered in the creeks, rivers, and lakes of southern WI. Every once in a while there's an article about them in the paper or a brief piece on TV. Haven't heard of one in quite a while however. I feel certain the State Historical Society in Madison would be interested in this and would have suggestions for proper storage efforts to insure preservation. If not them, then perhaps the DNR might be able to help. Good luck with this effort, your antler is probably hundreds of years old.
From: Bou'bound
07-Mar-22
preserve it for what the apocolypse? That thing is not going to go bad at this point!
From: Altitude Sickness
07-Mar-22
I have a lot of Megladon shark teeth, Mastodon teeth, other teeth and bones I found diving in the SE U.S. rivers. They haven’t changed color in 30 years. But I also haven’t had them exposed to the sun either.
From: Ok...Russ
07-Mar-22
Contact your local DNR as suggested. Buddy found this bison skull and had the state agency clean it up, age it and put something on to preserve it. I think it's being exposed to air also that degrades the bone not just sunshine. Around 5000 years old. Pretty cool to find out.
From: drycreek
07-Mar-22
I have some bones that came out of the Missouri River in Montana. I don’t have a clue what animal they’re from but they are petrified, at least they look like they are. I’ve had them for forty years and never attempted to find out what they are. I guess I should.
From: Altitude Sickness
07-Mar-22
Dry creek, I’m guessing Mastodon leg bones
From: Inshart
07-Mar-22
Read an article in Bugle (July - August 2020 - called "hooked from the first bugle") - a guy found a piece of an old elk antler. Had it carbon-dated to the mid 1800's. I would think that the same places that date teeth could date that as well?
From: 'Ike' (Phone)
07-Mar-22
Excellent finds…
From: ROUGHCOUNTRY
07-Mar-22
Yes, here's the stuff you need to buy and "apply." It's called "Paleo Bond" and is used by paleontologists to preserve fossils. It has such a low viscosity it will penetrate wood in seconds. It will penetrate the substrate and bond/preserve it. I have several friends in eastern Mt that have found buffalo skulls and left them outside and deteriorated.
My son and I picked up this buffalo skull in the Milk river last fall and I researched and treated the skull. The P.B. smells like super glue with the fumes etc.....Don't get any on your hands!
Good luck
From: Cheesehead Mike
07-Mar-22
What's an ass elk?
From: Bou'bound
08-Mar-22
The offspring of a female donkey mating with a bull elk obviously.
From: Habitat
08-Mar-22
Wensels auction had big collection of antlers found in the ocean.The was a girl that found a grizzly skull in our river in Kansas awhile back.Congrats on the cool find
From: Zim
08-Mar-22
Very cool find. Like everyone else’s photos too! Thanks for sharing.
From: SB
08-Mar-22
Elk havn't even been on this planet long enough to become "petrified"!
From: Thornton
08-Mar-22
There's a guy that would know on Bison Bison Paleo on Facebook. All he does is travel and find prehistoric bones across the central US. Dude can find half a tooth and tell you it came from a mammoth.
From: TrapperKayak
09-Mar-22
'Does anyone have any advice on how to preserve it? Any help would be greatly appreciated'...Kinda obvious, put it back in the creek.
From: SB
09-Mar-22
Thoroughly dry it out...then soak it in anything oil-based.
