TEXAS — It’s mammothly unfair that a deer hunter went out looking for deer and found something he never thought he’d find.

While out at the O2 Ranch in West Texas, a hunter uncovered a mammoth tusk fossil.

“I was skeptical when a deer hunter showed me a picture of what he thought was a fossil,” says O2 Ranch Manager Will Juett. “I figured it was likely just an old stump, but imagined how great it would be if he was right.”

Mammoth tusks are very rare to find in West Texas, according to Juett.

“The tusk was located in the drainage area of a creek bed,” Dr. Bryon Schroeder says. “We realized pretty quickly there was not more to the skeleton, it was just an isolated tusk that had been separated from the rest of the remains.”

For two days, the team protected the tusk by encasing it in plaster and burlap, then built a crate for its move to Sul Ross State University for additional study.

The carbon dating results from the tusk are expected to be available in a few months.

“Seeing that mammoth tusk just brings the ancient world to life,” Juett says of the find that created a buzz of excitement for everyone involved. “Now, I can’t help but imagine that huge animal wandering around the hills on the O2 Ranch. My next thought is always about the people that faced those huge tusks with only a stone tool in their hand!”