Elk, Antlers, and Protesters

For forty-five years now the Scouts and Scouters in the Jackson District (Jackson Hole, Wyoming) have been collecting elk antlers on the National Elk Refuge and selling them at an auction in town to raise money to fund Scouting programs. Doesn’t that sound like a win-win?

Who wins? Well, first the elk win. Long before the mountain men “discovered” Jackson Hole generations of elk spent their summers in the surrounding mountains and wintered in the valleys. One-hundred years ago, during a particularly harsh winter, the ranchers who settled this beautiful land took pity on the starving elk and started feeding them. The elk thought that was a good deal and they have been kind enough to return every winter since and, in exchange for food, allow tourists to ride around their feeding winter grounds on sleds and take their pictures.

Elk keep their antlers until early spring. They use them to dig through the snow and get to the grass below. Bull elk also use their sexy antlers to impress the ladies and to prove their manhood to other bulls that might try to do the same. The antlers can also make shish kabob out of any one or thing that gets too close for comfort. In the spring their antlers naturally shed—usually on the Elk Refuge where the elk have spent the winter impressing each other. Full grown elk antlers are pretty impressive. They can get as long as four feet and weigh over ten pounds each.

Usually by mid-March the elk have dropped their antlers and headed back into the hills and mountains for the summer. That’s when the Scouts move into action. In a forty-five year partnership with the National Elk Refuge the Scouts spread throughout the refuge picking up the antlers the elk left behind. The antlers are gathered, sorted, bundled, and held for auction. The Scouters organize and conduct the auction each year. Eighty percent of the proceeds go back to the Elk Refuge to help cover the expenses of feeding and protecting the elk during the winter months. The other twenty percent is kept by the Scouts to fund Scouting programs. It’s a fun and unique way to raise money to support Scouting and the Elk Refuge.

Over the years the Scouters of the Jackson District have organized an event around the Antler Auction. ElkFest is their name for the occasion and it includes the Antler Auction and an expo with booths in Jackson’s downtown Antler Square. The booths are manned by local Cub Scouts, Scouts, and other agencies such as WY Fish & Game, US Forest Service, and the National Park Service. Three street blocks north and east of the Square are blocked off and that’s where the auction is conducted and the antlers are displayed and staged for auction. ElkFest has grown to become a major event in Jackson and it now kicks off Jackson’s Old West Days which is their annual community celebration and the opening of the tourist season.

Here is a link to a video about ElkFest: http://vimeo.com/40758092

This all sounds very classic home-town Americana—and it is. But here is where the plot thickens.

A radical religious group, Operation Save America (OSA) has decided that ElkFest would be a good venue to stage a protest. And what are they protesting? Scouting’s membership policis? Animal abuse? The sale of animal parts; antlers, fur, and skulls? The government’s environmental policies? Festivals for kids and families? The answer is none of the above.

They are protesting abortion. OSA has decided that Jackson is the most godless city in the country and they need to be called to repentance—-during ElkFest. What does this have to do with Scouting or the ElkFest? Nothing—they are just using our venue as an opportunity to preach their gospel of hate. Don’t get me wrong, I support their antiabortion position and their right to freedom of speech. It is their inappropriate choice of venue, crowd, and the methods they use that I object to. They use very graphic images and in-your-face preaching to shock and offend people into action. Too often the action is violent.

A little more background. Last year OSA announced their intent to protest at ElkFest. The Jackson City Council considered their request and voted to not grant them a permit because their cause had nothing to do with the kids and family theme of the event. OSA said they didn’t care and would protest anyway. They were told if they did they would be arrested. The City got a protective order from a judge directing OSA to stay at least two blocks away from ElkFest. They ignored the order and protested at ElkFest anyway. Two of them were arrested. The group has spent the past year defending their cause in court and recently the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled against Jackson and said, in a three to two decision, that OSA has the right to protest anywhere and any how they want to on public property. God bless America!

I’m glad we live in a free country that protects the right of all people to express their opinions and beliefs. But I fail to find in the bible where aggression and hatred are justified. It seems to me those are the methods that the Pharisees and Sadducees employed and Jesus used his harshest condemnations for them and their intolerance.

So this year it looks like the voice of the auctioneer and the antlers will have to compete with OSA protestors on all four corners of the Antler Square with bullhorns and graphic posters of aborted babies. How do you explain that to a seven-year-old Tiger Cub Scout?

I'll let you know how it goes.