Emailed the lab this morning, explaining about the missing deer and elk teeth. With copies to whomever might be interested.

No response.

So, on the daily heeler exercise walk to the post office I went in to visit with the Postmaster.

When I told her the lost package of teeth was mailed 5 December, her face fell.

All undeliverable/unreturnable packages in the USPS go to a center in Minneapolis. Where, after 30 days of waiting to see if anyone reports the package missing, they are opened and examined for any means of identifying either the addressee or sender.

Failing this, they are held for another 30 days, and then put up on auction.

So my deer and elk teeth would probably have been sold to the highest bidder just about last week. She says they are huge auctions, with trailer after trailer full of book-of-the-month rejections (the companies normally refuse to pay the return postage) and other miscellaneous items.

She says they also have some auctions on eBay. Gonna have to check that out.

So I dutifully filled out the lost package report anyway, just in case.

She noticed it was sent to a university postal station.

They don't follow USPS rules religiously, and are usually manned with students, not postal employees. There is still a chance the lab might find the package lost at the university station.

My hopes were up.

Just checked my emails, with two from the guy at the lab.

First email said, no luck. No box of teeth.

Damn.

But he left a sliver of hope. He's new, and would check with the technician who was there in December.

Second email?

They found the teeth! Stuffed into the forensics freezer, instead of the samples freezer. He promises quick processing.

Breathe big sigh of relief. And promptly called the postmaster to let her know.

Next email in the box has all the preliminary harvest survey results (how many hunted, how many critters were killed and where, and how many days it took). Gotta go look at it.