HORSETHIEF CANYON, WYOMINGA couple of hours after the mid-March sun has slipped behind the Snake River Range in western Wyoming, warden Kyle Lash of the state’s game and fish department is breathing deeply as he tromps up a steep pitch on one of the first slopes freeing of snow after the long winter. In his grip is an unconventional trap: a modest-size elk antler, which has five tines and a metal chip embedded in a base that’s sealed with epoxy. It’s the second decoy shed (sheds are antlers that fall off elk, deer, and moose once a year) he’s placing here this evening, in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Lash hopes they’ll help him nab antler poachers.

“As a game