Scouts Chalk Up Hours On Antler Project
Scouts and Scout Leaders are in the midst this week of bundling, weighing, and tagging antlers to be sold at auction Saturday morning. The task comes on the heels of several evenings and one full day combing the refuge for shed antlers to be included in that sale. Altogether, Refuge Spokesperson Lori Iverson says the project involves a lot of hours on the parts of the volunteers. Iverson says altogether, the Jackson District Boy Scouts donate 2000 hours or more which would be equivalent to a full-time refuge employee working a 40-hour week. The yield from the annual sale varies from year to year, but frequently represents some high dollar amounts. However, Iverson points out the scouts only get a fraction of the money to help pay their national fees. Iverson says that amounted to about 20% of the gross sales in the past, but the refuge has revised the memorandum of understanding with the Boy Scouts increasing that to 25% reflecting the increase in dues that the district has struggled to pay over the past few years. Iverson says in the past year, money raised by the Scout event has been used to purchase mat tracks for the tractors used in distributing feed to the elk, for new radio collars for tracking the elk, and to pay the salaries of irrigators as the refuge raises natural forage for the wintering herd. The antler auction begins at 10:00 am Saturday.
