Four Montana men face 33 criminal charges for a series of poaching incidents across the Montana including six bull elk, three ...

A medium-size antler is worth about $150. A trophy-class bull elk’s “dead head,” with antlers attached to the skull, can fetch much more.

Investigators say 46-year-old Gary Felts and 44-year-old Stephen Lee abducted the antlers - worth $500,000 - Sunday night while a vendor at the convention center waited to load a truck.

Cheers are heard when the elk steps out and gallops off via the driveway, with the rope still fixed to its antlers. The state didn’t say exactly how long it took the two men to get the elk out.

The older the buck or bull, the larger the headgear, to a point. Bull elk usually grow their first set of antlers, called spikes, when they are a year-and-a-half old.

On Sept. 19, 2021, FWP received a tip that someone had left a bull elk on a ranch near Cascade. The head and antlers had been removed, as well as the lower jaw. The body had been left to waste.

Cheers are heard when the elk steps out and gallops off via the driveway, with the rope still fixed to its antlers. The state didn’t say exactly how long it took the two men to get the elk out.