Thief steals bundles of Boy Scout antlers

MOIESE — Dozens of hours of work by local Boy Scouts went down the tubes last week after someone stole hundreds of pounds of antlers slated to be sold as a fundraiser for the National Bison Range last week.

Sometime between 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night and 6 a.m. Thursday morning, June 22, some 200 to 300 pounds of valuable elk and deer antlers were stolen from the Foust farm in Moiese.

The antlers were slated for sale by the local Boy Scouts to benefit the range for special projects at the Visitor Center, and a small portion of the money was going to offset costs for the Boy Scouts summer camp.

On that Wednesday night, the antlers were stored the Foust home. Arnold Foust is a Scout Master of Troop 1956 in Ronan.

"Normally what we do is keep them off the premises of the Bison Range, until just before the sale," said Foust, who coordinates the yearly event. "Then we bring them over to the sale location right here at the farm."

Foust estimates that the antlers were worth about $2,000. He said he suspects it was someone who is affiliated with an antler retailer, since they knew the antlers would be at the Foust farm immediately prior to the sale. The antlers are stored at a safe location until right before the sale, which is when they were stolen.

"They knew that we had the sale there, and had to transport them there. The sale is public, and the buyers have been coming here for the last 15 years or so," he said.

The thief or thieves had to travel down a long and narrow driveway to Foust's property. Sheriff's deputy Pat O'Connor estimates that they had to transport 30 to 40 pound bundles of antlers into the back of a pick up truck. However, there are no tire tracks.

"I don't know how you could do that without making a bunch of noise," O'Connor said.

"We have a dog. We're not really sure what happened there either," said Foust.

Currently there are no leads. However, O'Connor estimates whoever stole the antlers had to have prior knowledge of where they were placed.

And they obviously knew what they were doing, Foust noted.

"Antlers are hard to market. You have to know how to sell them. They picked out the best grades. Most people wouldn't have a clue what's a good grade," Foust said.

What a buyer looks for is fresh, recently dropped antlers.

"If they have a crack or have faded that degrades the quality of it, then the price starts to drop accordingly. We had them all bundled up in bundles — bundled up in grade. If they are unique or different they will go for a little more money. This person went through all the bundles and picked out the best ones."

Foust was frustrated that the Boy Scouts will also endure the loss. After several months of combing the bison range for antlers and having a professional grader to sort them out, the scouts' efforts could be all for naught, Foust explained.

"We use some of the money to help offset the costs of our summer camp. It's not really a fundraiser for us. We put a lot of hours in there, for almost two months, every available Wednesday and Saturday," he said. "Financially, we could make a lot more money doing other things, but this is good educational opportunity for us."

While looking for antlers, they also work on animal identification and compass and map use as part of their scouting skills. But more importantly, Foust said, is that the Bison Range gives them a portion of the proceeds to cover their expenses, such as fuel, and the scouts use that money to help offset the cost of their summer camp. Foust said for some families on a budget, the increased cost might be too much.

"We put a lot of time and effort into this, and instead of having the money, now we have tell the boys 'Instead of costing this, it's going to cost $75 more for summer camp.' Unfortunately, some of the boys might not be able to afford going now. It was unfortunate that someone decided to do this," Foust said.

If you have information about this case or if you saw a vehicle parked under the large cottonwood tree at the entrance to Foust Farms in Moiese between 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night and 6 a.m. Thursday morning, June 22, please call the National Bison Range at 644-2211 ext. 203, or the Lake County Sheriff's office at 883-7301 or 1-800-TIP-MONT.

If you would like to donate money to the Boy Scouts summer camp, to help offset the money lost from the sale, call Foust at 644-2688.