Hello all, I have a skull from an antlered doe that I shot 2 years ago, I have been sitting on this thing for a while obviously in my deep freezer. I have decided to euro mount the deer but I don't want to keep the velvet on the horns. I just dont like the look. Does anyone have any advice as to the best way to go about removing the velvet and allowing the horns to harden and then maybe go as far as suggestions as to what kind of stains I could use to maybe match the natural color of a regular sent of antlers would look like as these will be white/blood stained when the velvet is off. Thanks.
Bud in two years in a freezer you may have already "freeze dried" your deer somewhat. Especially ears n such. The velvet may become stuck on or brittle, I'm actually not sure as though I did taxidermy full time I never worked on a velvet deer 2 years old. The parts besides the horns can be injected n hopefully come back. Id not recommend staining the horns, were the horns soft? During the seasons even if you catch one w velvet horns should be hard
Congrats on the Velvet doe. I would think that by now they would have hardened. Some of the guys have mentioned using wood stain and such to color the bone. Search on here and you should be able to find it. Sorry not much help here. To bad you didn't have it shoulder mounted. Cool story that we would like to hear. Pics or it didn't happen!
Apologies to everyone, didn't feel the need to share pictures as it was harvested back in the 2014 Missouri Rifle season. 200 yards, in a ground blind. saw a huge herd of does and glassed with my scope and noticed antlers in the bunch. Took my shot the deer ran a few yards and fell over. After I walked up on it I was astonished to still find velvet on the antlers (this was 13 November 2014) once it came to field dressing thats when my father in law and I realized it was an antlered doe!
It was still caped (for a year) for that exact reason, I WAS going to have it shoulder mounted. But ultimately I came to the decision not to have it done. Ended up giving the hide to a taxidermist to use on a mount he was working on.
Just a fyi bucks n does faces look dif. Something doesn't look right when you see mount. If the work is ever done on your stuff that way I might be inclined to refuse it. Just my opinion n just info for you
I don't recall ever seeing an antlered doe without velvet. Kind of makes for a conversation piece with velvet on. Just my thoughts
I shot a nice velvet buck a couple of years back in CT. After caping it I put it in the freezer in a big garbage bag. I had it to the taxidermist a couple of days later. The wound up treating it with a formaldehyde liquid to preserve it. I have also used this myself on a couple of other small velvet racks. He advised me getting the deer to him ASAP to be treated properly. I do know they can strip it and do a spray on fake velvet as well, but he advised that it was MUCH more expensive that way and is only needed if the velvet is destroyed.
