Photos from 2nd Annual AZ AntlerFest!! AMAZING collection!

[CouesWhitetail]

Well, what a weekend it was! I spent Fri-Sunday up at the Arizona AntlerFest and WOW!! I have seen that collection before, but there are always new additions and it's impossible to take it all in! It's just the most amazing collection of antler I have ever seen!! Over 12,000 pounds of antler including over 50 coues bucks over 115 and over 50 elk that score 380 or better.

 

Thank you to Alan and Shelly Ellsworth for opening their home for this great event! They are great hosts and what a privilege to be able to view this collection.

 

As if Alan's collection wasn't enough, Jim Reynolds also brought many of his best bucks and great coues sheds. UNBELIEVEABLE! His collection is mind-numbingly awesome. Most people would think that the coues sheds that he offered for sale are awesome, but the ones he keeps are just world-class! Thanks to Jim and Susan for taking the time bring all those great antlers up to the event! I never get tired of seeing those coues.

 

The combination of Alan and Jim's collection means this was by far the world's greatest collection of Coues bucks ever assembled!!! I felt blessed to be there!

 

Anyway, words don't do this event much justice so I will just start posting some pics. I met lots of CW.com members up there, so if you took any pics while there, feel free to add them into this thread......

 

Most, but not all, of Alan's collection comes from elk and coues sheds and racks he has bought from the White Mtn Apache Reservation.

 

 

442" elk:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taxidermist Dan Lee (of Artist Touch Taxidermy) holding a giant coues owned by Alan that Dan colored and will be mounting for Alan. WOW!! Dan was up there to promote the amazing fake rocks with lichens that he makes which can be used to display sheds and racks! I think the rocks are an awesome idea and they look great! I came home with a few small ones to display my sheds from my puzzlerock buck. (sorry Dan I didn't get a pic of your rocks while I was there...doh!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite things about collections like this is the series of sheds they have from the same buck or bull. I just love watching how the racks change over time....very interesting to me!

 

Alan already owned several sheds from this bull, but a guy brought in a shed he found that was from this bull. He found it a long time ago and never expected to see anymore from this bull and was thrilled to see it at Alan's! The shed he found is the brown one on the right and the others are Alan's. The bases on this bull are amazing!

 

 

 

 

Love this nontyp!

 

 

 

 

 

 

some great coues sets:

 

 

Jim Reynolds was selling some great coues sets too:

 

 

 

and some of Jim's bucks:

 

 

And this GIANT set is from a game farm in Canada and I believe Josh scored it at 430 without a spread!!

 

 

 

view from above in the barn:

 

 

 

Love this tree made from muley and coues sheds!

 

 

 

bucket full of muley sheds!

 

 

Saw several CW.com stickers up there, but here is a new one! Thanks Alan! Hope it makes you smile

 

[Dan H]

^{Amanda, your pictures really came out great.}

^{That was by far the most amazing collection of antlers people could ever see at one time.}

^{The people and displays were all great.}

 

^{It was Antler Awesome!! There are some monster bucks and bulls in Arizona and when you see these collections it sure makes you really want to go shed hunting.}

 

^{The year after year WT and elk sheds and matching shed sets were truly amazing. I was so glad we went up there.}

^{Can you imagine the number of miles covered and the sceneries people experienced while finding all those sheds. Good times!!}

 

^{Wish we could have stayed and had a few cold ones with you all but had to drive you know.}

 

^{Thanks again for the invite,}

^{Dan and Angela}

[Elkaddict]

Unbelievable collection! Great photos, looks like a good time!

[Rag Horn]

Thanks for the pics.

[COOSEFAN]

Thanks for sharing the pics with those of us that couldn't make it Amanda! Looks like an antler-lover's paradise! JIM>

[ready2hunt]

Some of those shed are unbelievable! I am sorry I missed it! Thanks for the photos

[GRONG]

Yup, what a great time it was!! Amanda, both of those GIANT sets of elk sheds I measured were both right at 430" without a spread and would've been 470+ with the spreads. Simply disgusting amounts of bone! I think this year's fest was better than last year's. It was great seeing other cw.com'ers there. Sure was nice having some after hours kickback time with the few that stayed! Awesome porkchops you had Amanda! I'll post some pics soon as I get em on the 'puter

[Pine Donkey]

WOW...speechless!!!

[Chef]

I am sooooo jealous and wanted to be there so badly.

Great photos Amanda and i am happy you all had such a great time!

[bonecollector]

Simply amazing! I missed out again on a good time. Thanks for sharing the pics.

[CouesWhitetail]

Yup, what a great time it was!! Amanda, both of those GIANT sets of elk sheds I measured were both right at 430" without a spread and would've been 470+ with the spreads. Simply disgusting amounts of bone! I think this year's fest was better than last year's. It was great seeing other cw.com'ers there. Sure was nice having some after hours kickback time with the few that stayed! Awesome porkchops you had Amanda! I'll post some pics soon as I get em on the 'puter

 

Thanks for the score info Josh. and it was great spending time with you and your wife and kids! Glad you liked the pork chops I grilled up with the homemade prickly pear bbq sauce! And no Chef, I didn't take pics of them, though I should have as they looked great!

[Non-Typical Solutions]

This was the first attempt of any kind to put my work out in a setting like this weekend.

I must say it is pretty tough to compete with the display of antlers and great work of others that were there.

But we made a stab at it and I was not disappointed with the results.

I didn't take any pictures of our booth but here are some photos of a few of the items we had on display.

 

One of the fun things for my son Cole was he got to help unload piles and piles of antler that were brought in to be bought. He had a blast rubbing shoulders with Josh and Alan.

 

Thanks for a great time....

[naturegirl]

Absolutely amazing! I'd love to see in person the series of sheds from the same bulls/bucks and to see the changes from year to year. Thanks for sharing.

[firstcoueswas80]

Amanda, do you or anyone else some better pictures of that 7th picture? Those bucks are awesome!

[CouesWhitetail]

I don't but maybe Jim or Josh do.