I HAVE A W.T DEER IN VELVET WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TREAT THE HORNS I HAVE HEARD MANY WAYS NEED SOME MORE INFO PLEASE
I HAVE TANNED WITH VELVET TAN ON A AXIS DEER AND THAT WAS OK BUT THIS VELVET IS REAL SOFT I HAVE HEARD IF I LEAVE IN A FREEZER FOR A FEW MONTHS IT WILL FRREZE DRY IS THAT POSSIBLE.
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Yes over time things can become "freeze dried" if left in the freezer. Freezer burn and freeze dried are one in the same. But as for placing the antlers in your freezer and expecting them to come out freeze dried ready to mount is asking way too much! (in my opinion anyhow) Look at it this way, you put a raw steak in the freezer pull it out a couple months later...it's freezer burned...if you're still gonna eat it ... I bet you'll cook it ...cause it's raw! Same thing... the antlers will come out of the freezer raw ...thaw and just start their delayed decomposition!
I've preserved a samll set of velvet whitetail antlers by injecting them with denatured alcohol. Slowy inject near the bases and keeping the tips down. Continue injecting until the tips drip freely. Then I injected them again a few hours later. Actually injected them about 4 times. You might be better off injecting Preserve It or something similar.
Now I'm not saying this is the proper way to preserve a nice set of velvet antlers, but it worked on this small set. This was just for my personal experimentation.
Best of luck
E mail Bruce Rittle for this question on the antlers, he will give you the answer, no problem.
Here's a "Copy and Paste" of our instructions for treating Velvet.
How to Preserve Velvet using Preservz-It
Have you ever used Formaldehyde in the past to preserve velvet? If you
have - this Preservz-It (PI-641) is used exactly the same way - same dosage -- same results. However - it doesn"t cause cancer like Formaldehyde. It's still an Aldehyde product though - so you must use some practical safety when using it. I'd use gloves and avoid a splash in the eyes. Both Formaldehyde and this Preservz-It fix protein.
There are 2 ways to use it to preserve velvet.
You can soak the antlers in a solution of it for 1-2 weeks then remove them
and hang them to dry. I like to hammer some nails in a paddle and let the
sharp ends stick out. Then I go over all the velvet and prick them before I soak them - this allows better penetration of the solution.
To mix the solution use: To every 1 Gallon of Water used, add 1 fl. oz. of PI-641 (Preservz-It) and 4 ozs. of 20 Mule Team Borax.
In the field - the best method is to prick the end of each tine to allow a
flow of fluid - and then using a hypodermic needle, fill it with the above
solution and inject it into the base of each antler into the veins feeding
the velvet. Force the solution through the veins and out the tips of the
tines. When you have finally flushed the veins you will now see a clear solution
flowing out the tines. After they have been completely flushed - then paint
the velvet with the solution and hang them to dry.
Is there a time frame to stay in to either inject or soak before the velvet antlers get screwed up? Has anyone done a european mount with velvet antlers?