I'm a complete amateur and would appreciate any advice and insights.
I recently got 4 sets of caribou antlers that were tagged with the year 1991. They were mostly light bone colored with dark patches. Naively, I thought I'd just scrub them down with a bristle brush and some bleach/detergent water to get them clean. Half an hour later I hadn't made a dent in cleaning the one I started with, but I noticed I was softening a hide like membrane covering the whole antler. This was a revelation to me as I'm used to the whitetail deer horns around here that seem to be completely bone-like. I've now been soaking one antler in a drum of water for 2 days and the membrane is getting a little softer and peeling off in some areas.
Am I right in trying to remove this membrane? Is there a more effective way of doing it? Am I doing any damage to the antler by soaking it this long? If it's not supposed to come off is there something that will preserve it so it doesn't have a funky smell?
I've gathered from reading other messages on this site that the dark patches are dried blood and have a whole set of difficulties of their own......but one thing at a time.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
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peel it off as it softens up. thats about all you can do. You will probally have to restain them when your done. Yes caribou antlers are hard like whitetails after they shead their velvet.