I was fortunant to bag a nice mule deer buck during an august archery hunt. I am planing a European mount and have boiled the skull. The velvet was already begining to come of in places. Now that it has set for a while, I can't seem to peel the rest off without difficulty.
Is there any solutions or methods to get the velvet off?
Thanks all.
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Scott,
Boil the antlers just as you would the skull. If you have already "bleached" the skull try to boil just the antlers without getting the skull into the water, it can slightly discolor the bone and require another "bleaching". It should only take about 45 minutes of boiling to get the velvet to release. For a quicker release of the velvet soak the antlers in plain water for 24 hours before the boil.
I've used this on caribou, axis, whitetail and moose, it works great. Let them dry for AT LEAST 3 days before staining or you may get water streaks in the staining.
The surface will be very porous and requires sealing before staining or they will come out very dark.
John