DailySusan Humor Blog

WHAT THE ELK?

Forget the Interstate. We drove home on back roads from a boating excursion on the Nebraska-South Dakota border. We saw a gingerbread-y old house done up as an art school . . . a couple of junk yards that were textbooks of farm implements through the decades . . . lots of “beefies,” our word for cattle . . . and of course, miles of corn and beans in beautiful fields as far as the eye could see.

Then we got a surprising treat.

Just outside the town of West Point, Neb., nine elk were grazing in the late-day sun, with magnificent antler racks. Daughters Neely and Maddy check them out. Maddy was looking around for Santa Claus, because these were definitely reindeer on steroids.

It was better than Cabela’s, because they MOVED! We’ve traveled pretty extensively, but we’ve never seen elk. Best of all, we live in the town of Elkhorn, so now we have even more pride of place.

But the question was, why nine BOY elk? Where were the girls?

I googled a little bit, and found a possible solution: it seems that the 15 to 25 pounds of elk antlers each male sheds annually can produce a delightful income in this global economy. Turns out elk antlers are ground up for a hot-selling aphrodisiac in Korea.

Now we know why they call it “animal husbandry.”