Tried heating horns and skull - didn't work. Help!
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Use the "maseration" technique. Work's well for me. Stink's like sin,
but you will get result's.
try soaking in wisk detergent and a little water . drill tinny holes around the horn and up. cut the meat out from under the horn.
let soak for 2 days then try to pop off. will lighten horns slighty
I would not soak bighorn horns in water, it discolors them. Put the horns in a plastic bag in a warm place for a couple of weeks then lay a piece of cardboard on the concrete floor and slam them down on it and they will pop off. The stink will amase you. You then must cut apx. 1/2 of the core horn off to expose the honeycomb inside it, then boil the skull clean, let dry. As soon as the horns are off be prepared to put borax or dry prs. inside them and let them dry inside with it. When everything is dry use mat and resin or bondo to reattach and a few very small nails on the back side bottom of the horns to put it back together. The biggest mistake I see with bighorn sheep mounts is the horns put on to high or forward or both by beginners, so really study what you have there. I mount about 25 bighorns a year, you can e-mail me if you have any further guestions
Shannon, this one's been beaten to death in there. Jim's advice is right on. Even I changed my mind about how to do this.
I'm not a taxidermist, but because I killed a dall ram this year and am getting it mounted, my taxidermist is showing me step by step what he is doing. What he did with my horns was turned them upside down so that the honey-comb channels in the skull plate are exposed. Pour just a tad of water, not alot in them, then bag them up just like Jim said. The little bit of water gets the bacteria going much quicker and most of the time they come off with little effort when butting them against a hard surface. He also placed screws below the base of the core so that he could get a perfect fit once the horns are ready to be fitted back on. Another thing I noticed he did was saw off the tip of the cores so he wouldn't have to struggle with getting the horns back on.
Jim