AUSTIN (KXAN) — A hunter recently stumbled across a rare mammoth tusk as he searched for deer at a private West Texas ranch, according to a release from Sul Ross State University’s Center for Big Bend Studies (CBBS) Tuesday.

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

It turns out, the hunter was right.

Soon after Juett reported the find to CBBS, a team of anthropology professors and archaeological researchers descended upon the private ranch. The team quickly confirmed the hunter had, in fact, found a mammoth tusk.

“The tusk was located in the drainage area of a creek bed,” CBBS Director Dr. Byron Schroeder said. “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.”

CBBS said it took the researchers two days to cover the tusk in plaster-covered burlap for protection, before it was taken to Sul Ross State University to be carbon dated.

Carbon dating results for the mammoth tusk will be available in the coming months, per CBBS.

“Seeing that mammoth tusk just brings the ancient world to life,” Juett said. “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!”

A rare West Texas discovery

This discovery marks only the second time a Trans-Pecos mammoth artifact has been carbon dated, according to Sul Ross State University.

The last time somebody discovered a mammoth tusk in West Texas was reportedly in Fort Stockton during the 1960s, when carbon dating was only about 10 years old.

“There was a big range of error back then. Now we can get it down to a narrower range within 500 years,” Schroeder said.