Antler And Bone

My nieces husband gave me some deer antler a couple Christmas's ago.  I'm not sure if it was poached or not, so I am hesitant to use it.  I am sending it to someone who will use it, and won't get into any hot water over it.  Recently, a local cop (Sheriff) got busted for confiscating a rack of deer antler...among other things he confiscated.  I have heard stories such as this all my life.  It would be very hard to know which police officers to trust around here anyway.