Antler Sports Show offers antler, horns trophy scoring in Trout Creek

The first-ever Antler Sport Show at the Lakeside Motel and Resort in Trout Creek kept Larry Lack busy, as the Boone and Crockett scorer measured set after set of antlers and horns Saturday in his quest to fill pages in the Montana record book.

Lack, a Thompson Falls resident, helped create record books in Idaho, Washington and Oregon, and has been working on the Montana record book for a few years now. He was invited by his friend, John Harris, who organized the show at the Lakeside Motel, to come and score anyone's mounts, antler racks, sheds, skulls, or horns.

Vendors and artists were also invited to participate in the event by setting up displays and booths for selling, trading, or showing. Among those with booths were metal workers, skull and antler artists, guns and ammunition salesmen, sporting goods retail, an archery manufacturer, taxidermists, hunting/wildlife organizations, and shed collectors.

Harris said the morning saw a steady influx of people coming to the show from just before 9 a.m. until about 1:30 p.m. and then after a brief lull it picked up again later in the afternoon. He said people kept Lack busy by bringing in antlers from deer and elk they've shot over the years, but that they never have had scored. Lack said the 37 heads he had to score were all impressive.

“They're all trophies,” Lack said. “Some are at the state level and some are at the national level.”

Lack said the purpose of the state book is to highlight those “trophies” that could not make the Boone and Crockett record book. State books have lower standards than Boone and Crockett - which has very strict criteria. “That's why we have state books,” Lack said. “If it's a mature animal in that state, it's a trophy.”

Lack said only six of the 37 heads he scored did not qualify for the state book. He worked at a table measuring the heads with his wife helping him document the scores. Lack said some of the more unusual things he saw Saturday were two large bear skulls, an exotic Barbary sheep from New Mexico and two mule deer that qualified for Boone and Crockett.

Lack said as a Boone and Crockett scorer he is not required to score anything other than what he sees could possibly be a record. But Lack said he will give anything a score that he can.

“If some kid brings in a little two-point - I'll score it,” Lack said. “If you bring it in I'll measure it.”

Harris said people attended the show from all over including Eureka, Kalispell, Polson, Plains, Noxon, and also Sandpoint, Idaho. He said there was also a horn-buyer at the show from Hayden, Idaho. Lack said he will also go to people's homes to score larger mounts so they don't have to transport them.

One of the displays Saturday was the elk-shed collection of Joe Frields from Trout Creek. Frields had four sets of elk antlers he'd found out in the woods on display at the antler show. He said he's hunted for shed antlers since he was eleven year old, and that is one of the keys to having an impressive shed collection. Frields said he does sell antlers he finds but that isn't why he hunts for them.

“It's not a business,” Frields said. “I just do it for the fun of it.”

Frields said he has a few sheds at home that he would never sell. He said collecting sheds is not unlike hunting the animals who leave them and that a shed-hunter needs to keep an eye on where the elk are to find their antlers.

Stan Arrants, a taxidermist out of Trout Creek, said having the sports show with Lack available to score antlers is a good idea and something he'd like to see in the future. “Most people wouldn't ever do it if he wasn't here,” Arrants said.

Arrants said that during this time of year people are starting to get restless and the show allowed people to get out. One booth at the show held a contest to guess the score of a large elk shed. Noel Hendrickson, the owner of Big Bull Sports, had a pair of elk antlers at his table where he offered a prize to anyone who guessed what it would score after Lack tallied it. Hendrickson said he got the shed from a friend in Kalispell who has found other sheds from the same bull. Lack measured the shed Monday at Big Bull Sports and Hendrickson said it scored a 374 6/8. Rick Farthing of Trout Creek won a Montana BlackGold bow sight for guessing the correct score. Hendrickson said the shed will be on display at Big Bull Sports.

Hendrickson said he was happy to be a part of the sports show and that he was confident it will have a bright future. “It'll be an annual thing,” Hendrickson said. “It'll grow over the years. Things like this do.”

Harris said he was pleased with the turnout and the overall response from vendors and attendees. He said people seemed to appreciate it as not being just a gun show but a combination of things and it helped to get people excited for the upcoming bear season. Harris already has a date set for next year's show at April 11. He said the plan is to hold it annually on the second weekend of April and at it will continue to offer free admission.

Harris said he has not yet considered whether he will charge any fees to vendors next year but the Lakeside Motel is expanding their building so there should be more space for more vendors at next year's show. He said there will continue to be an emphasis on measuring and art.

“We're going to look at what we did this year and try to improve it,” Harris said.

Lack said lots came out of the antler show as he picked up some leads as to more heads that could possibly make the book. He said the smaller show in Trout Creek helped his information gathering a lot as he had to finish scoring 11 of the heads at his home on Sunday.

“I was very busy,” Lack said. “That was a big plus. That was by far the best small show we've had anywhere.”