returned from an oryx hunt on white sands in new mexico .Do oryx horns need to be removed like antelope before mounting ?If so how?
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I'm going to WSMB for Oryx next month - can you e-mail me as I have some questions.
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Hit the orange button and find everything you could possibly want to know about this subject...DON"T BOIL them!
Bob Mead
their is a lot of tissue under those horns that will create bacteria.
boil the dam things and in a few minutes they will come ogg the horn core , clean them up then you are done.
Boil the piss out of them so they turn black, not the brown color they should be. Steaming them takes just a little longer, gives better results, and does less damage to the skull, so boiling them is probably the best way to go.
I wish all of the Oryx horns I have to pop every year would come off the core "in a few minutes," but that's just not the case.
I boiled mine in a large pot. I wrapped foil around the horns all the way up and left room for the steam to rise up the "foil chimmineys" and covered the pot as good as possible with more foil so the steam only went up the foils stacks. The part that was submerged in water (bottom 5 inces) never turned black even after 20 minutes of boiling. Take a screw driver and work under the horn a bit then I grabbed the horns with a channel locks protected by a leaver glove and had someone twist the scull plate until they popped.
I did 2 sets this way and neither turned black. The first set i drilled some holes up the back of the horns but didnt on the second, and it was no different in removal.