According to Live Science, the hunter was exploring the O2 Ranch in Brewster and Presidio counties near Big Bend National Park when he spotted a mammoth tusk lying in the drainage

“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!”

While looking for deer on a privately owned ranch in West Texas, a hunter stumbled upon a rare mammoth tusk. […]

Researchers plan to carbon date the tusk to get an idea of how old it is, Schroeder said. The last time a mammoth tusk was found in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas was in the 1960s, roughly a decade after carbon dating had been invented. Carbon dating has become a much more exact science now.

A deer hunter found a prehistoric mammoth tusk on a West Texas ranch. Researchers at a nearby university are analyzing the fossil to try and determine how old it is.

Sul Ross University announced its researchers have confirmed an unusual find: a mammoth tusk on a ranch in the Trans Pecos region of West Texas. A deer hunter at a ranch in Brewster and Presidio counties found and took photos of a large, curved relic, telling the ranch operator he’d come across a fossil.

Turns out, the hunter was right. After Juett reported the find to CBBS, a team of anthropology professors and archaeological researchers came to the ranch and swiftly confirmed the fossil was a mammoth tusk . "When they confirmed what they had uncovered, I couldn't believe it," Juett said.

I was skeptical when a deer hunter showed me a picture of what he thought was a fossil,” the ranch manager said. “I figured it was likely just an old stump."

A rare Columbian mammoth tusk found on a Texas ranch offers new insight into Ice Age giants.