Advice on prepairing my horn mounts

saxman · Post by **saxman** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:48 am

I know this has been brought up before BUT!!!

As you know my 9 point from last year has been stolen from the taxidermist.
I have my two small racks form my Alabama Muzzleloader buck and this years crossbow buck.

I want to get the hair and skin off the skull.
What do you guys do.

and also my Alabama buck horns have lost some of their color,how do I restore that

Thanks all

bob1961 · Post by **bob1961** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:54 am

hide and hair i just cut it off as best as i can....let dry a while then scrape off what flesh is left and dried....i refreshed an old set of sun bleached antlers with some plain ol walnut stain brushed on one side at a time and just before dry wipe it off with a rag and keep wipeing till it looks like you want it to....i wish i had before and after pictures to show the difference to ya.......bob

....

Yellowlab823 · Post by **Yellowlab823** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:11 am

If you have the patience and remove the hide, you can put your skull in a closed wire mesh container and allow the bugs to do the job for you. I have done several skulls this way to include a bufffalo skull. Time consuming yes but those little flesh eating bugs will do the trick. Just make sure the wire mess is small enough to let bugs in and keep rodents out, we all know how much they like antlers. Maybe not the best way, but it works.

bait pile willie · Post by **bait pile willie** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 9:51 am

cut the skin off and as much flesh as you can, boil in a p0t of water for 15 minutes and let simmer for a while.the meat and cartliage should cme off with little effort. the brain should come out with high pressure water.if you really want to whiten up the skull soak it in 30 o/o peroxide, tape up the base of antlers so theywont be affected.if you use household bleach it will soffen the bone.yyou can use bleach if you towel it on and offbut the secret is the 30 o/o peroxide.this is how I do my bear skulls and deer skull caps.

Fox · Post by **Fox** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:35 am

I have done thw same as willie.

Cut off what you can, then in a large put boil the crap out of the antlers until you can just peel off what is left.
If does stink a little but works and does not take that long.

bob1961 · Post by **bob1961** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 3:50 pm

come to think bout it what lab said....i hung a skull out after the hide, jaw and brain was removed and let the birds and what ever came to it clean it off too..............bob

....

flbuckmaster · Post by **flbuckmaster** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 5:07 pm

sax..dont you have a fire ant hill nearby? just chunk it on top and retrieve it in a week or so clean as a whistle.

jay

crazyfarmer · Post by **crazyfarmer** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:06 pm

lil tip, the sooner you cut off the skin the easier;) I like doing mine the next day. If it dries, it a PITA to get off. Then you can boil or soak in water to loosen

saxman · Post by **saxman** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:47 pm

flbuckmaster wrote:sax..dont you have a fire ant hill nearby? just chunk it on top and retrieve it in a week or so clean as a whistle.

jay

I killed all my Fire ants

groundpounder · Post by **groundpounder** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:53 pm

Lots of good methods here. I think the best thing to do is cut and strip as much off as you can right away. Then move on to any of the above mentioned methods.