Antlers Sink

Andrew McKean
By Andrew McKean
April 12, 2011
The answer: They sink. Mule deer antlers sink. See my the blog here.
Fresh whitetail sheds sink.
Older, dried-up whitetail antlers sink.
Ancient, flaking, baked-on-the-prairie-hardpan mule deer sheds sink.
Even older, wafer-light sheds like this tiny shed sink, though this one demonstrated a little buoyancy until it got entirely waterlogged. Then it stayed on the bottom.
Doesn't matter how deep the water. Sheds sink. I tried caribou antlers, but they're even denser than whitetail sheds.
You know what doesn't sink? The hundreds of winterkilled deer carcasses that are floating on our rising floodwater.
These deer and antelope carcasses are finally thawing out, and bobbing in the current and backwaters in a macabre reminder that Mama Nature is who is in control around here.

Last week I posed a question that many of you knew, but others speculated about: Do shed antlers float or do they sink?

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