US Black Hawk helicopter trespasses on private Montana ranch to grab elk antlers

Summary

Collecting fallen (or “shed”) elk antlers is a popular pastime in elk-heavy places like Montana, but it’s usually a pretty low-tech, on-the-ground affair. That’s why last year’s story about a US Black Hawk helicopter descending from the skies to harvest shed elk antlers on a ranch was such an odd one. Was it really possible that US military personnel were using multimillion-dollar government aircraft to land on private property in the Crazy Mountains—yes, that’s their actual name—just to grab some antlers valued at a few hundred bucks? Antler hunt In May 2025, Montana rancher Linda McMullen received a call from a neighbor. “He said, ‘Linda, there’s a green Army helicopter landed on your place, picking up elk antlers,’” McMullen told The New York Times last year. “I said, ‘Are you joking?’ He said, ‘I’m looking at them with binoculars.’” The local sheriff, who said he was “still trying to figure all this out” at the time, added that this was “the first helicopter I’ve heard of” regarding shed antler collection. The Adjutant General for the Montana National Guard, J. Peter Hronek, quickly issued a statement on Facebook “regarding unauthorized use of military aircraft.”