Heads up, horn hunters: No more midnight marauding

New regulations on shed antler and horn collection are now in effect that expand boundaries and delay the opening time some 12 hours this year. Updated directives expand seasonal closure areas to include enhanced critical wintering habitat, and also enact a new opening time of on public lands. The 2020 shed season opens May 1 at 12 noon. In years past, the closure lifted at midnight on May 1. Since 2009, Wyoming has prohibited the collection of shed antlers and horns on most public land west of the Continental Divide from Jan. 1 through April 30 of each year. The annual closure is to protect wintering big game. “In the winter, big game animals such as mule deer and elk use most of their energy just to survive,” said Rick King, chief game warden. “Limiting disturbance during this critical time of the year may help them hold on to more of their valuable reserves.” The closures affect land administered by U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands and Wyoming Game and Fish Commission owned or administered lands west of the Continental Divide, excluding the Great Divide Basin...MORE