AZ Game and Fish hold outdoor expo and silent auction

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A bison head mount and a 420 inch set of elk antlers are among the rare finds up for grabs at the Arizona Game and Fish Outdoor Expo.

Sportsmen who are still searching for the antlers of their dreams for their man caves won't have a hard time hunting them down this weekend. Game and Fish officials will be auctioning off hundreds of wildlife items and trophies that were seized by law enforcement during investigations.

This year there are a lot of trophies from bighorn sheep, and the permits are typically hard to get.

"They are very rare, we do hunt big horn sheep in Arizona, we offer limited tags, so having this amount of big horn sheep is really remarkable for us," said Ken Dinquel.

More than 200 items will be up for auction at the Expo from deer and elk antlers to bison head mounts and other wildlife pieces.

One of the unique trophies are a set of elk antlers; the antlers were turned into officials by a hunter who found the animal already passed away. But many of the pieces are seizures from poachers who broke hunting laws.

"Typical violations are hunting in the wrong area, hunting in the wrong season, not having proper tags, license fraud," said Dinquel.

One poacher's loss will be another hunter's gain, and the proceeds will benefit the AZ Game and Fish officers. The money will go to new equipment for rangers.

The silent auction typically raises around $20,000 every year.

The auction takes place at the outdoor expo this weekend which is located at the Ben Avery Shooting Range, on Carefree Highway west of I-17.