We use nothing but real, naturally shed antlers
Mad River Antler only uses antlers that are naturally shed each year from Moose, Elk Whitetail, Mule and Fallow Deer. Antler sheds are an annual renewable resource for these animals. This process is due to hormone fluctuations which stimulate the shedding of antlers and the re-growth of new ones.
During the amazing growing process, an Elk’s antler can grow up to 2 inches per day. The new growing antler is covered in a fuzzy skin called velvet, until the antler quits growing and hardens at summer’s end then the velvet dies. They then rub the shedding velvet on trees and shrubs to help remove it revealing white antlers. The rubbing develops their beautiful dark natural color.
There’s no question that natural shed antlers are hot these days, with collectors paying top dollar for quality racks and everyone from hunters to hikers searching for shed antlers in fields and backwoods across the country. Over the past decade or so, a growing segment of the general public–including people who don’t hunt, who have never actually seen a deer in the wild, or even who don’t know that deer shed their antlers every year–has gone absolutely nuts about antlers.