My son, this year, shot his first buck and i would like to know how to preserve the horns. The meat plant sawed off the horns (along with the top of the skull) and gave them to him. I am of the opinion that I should remove the hair and hide ,then boil (or scald) the skull cap or should I use a solution of bleach?... and should I bleach the horns? Is there a sealer that should be used? I have several sets of horns ,but i never have mounted a set to keep inside and i don't want to mess his first set up....thanks
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if it really means something to you.
You can get an antler mount kit at WalMart in the sporting goods section. They are about $10. It has the plaque and instructions.
Read the arcvhies here on 'skull cleaning' and possibly 'bleaching skull' and 'maceration'. As a tip to help you avoid problems.. boiling and bleaching are two things that have extreme potential for damaging skulls caps and other bone material. Add sunlight and you have the top three bone killers... If you opt to go for a hot water cleaning method; SIMMER bone - NEVER BOIL it. If you chose to whiten your bone - as a beginner - use 3% hydrgen peroxide like that used on scrapes and cuts.. nothing else. It will probably take about 3 days with a couple of peroxide changes to get it whitenned nicely. Then there is the 'de-greasing' stage before whitening....
Yes you CAN do it yourself with a $10 kit from Wal-Mart which would be cheaper, but then again you can rebuild your entire car with parts from an auto parts store cheaper than you could get a mechanic to do it. It's not about the cost of the supplies - it's about the experience and knowledge fo the person doing it. So if this is to be an important piece - as you said - your sons first... Take it to a taxidermist with experience in bone preparation and have it done right - don't experiment on your kids first trophy =)
All you have is the skull cap. Remove the skin from it. use an exacto knife to cut closely around the antlers. then skin the skill plate. remove all flesh, and membrane from the skull plate. Be sure to remove the membrane from the inside of the skull. dust a coat of powdered borax, or dry preservative on the skull. No need to seal the antlers, as long as they are not exposed to the elements they will be fine. now at this point they are ready for the $10.00 mounting kit everyone is referring to. Have fun, and give the boy a pat on the back from Tenbears.
okay I have about the same question I shot my first Elk this year and sawed of the cap of the skull here is a pic: http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4196766952&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imagestation.com%2Fpicture%2Fsraid95%2Fp230569ad03ade5fd28d375a7ab579fa1%2Ffa2594e8.jpg&caption=elk2%20001.
the skin, flesh and stuff have all dried and are hard and I was wondering if there is a good way to get skin and stuff soft enough to skin so I can do a temporary mount until I can afford to have a shoulder mount done.
And can any off you from utah give me a price quote on doing a shoulder mount(and I will need a cape) and can I even still do one since I didn't keep the cape and I sawed the cap off.
Thanks
Jake
Oops to look at the picture of what I did copy and paste this: www.imagestation.com%2Fpicture%2Fsraid95%2Fp230569ad03ade5fd28d375a7ab579fa1%2Ffa2594e8.jpg&caption=elk2%20001
Thanks!
Soak the skull plate in a bucket of water, untill the hide is soft enough to remove. It may smell a bit. but won't harm anything.