Mounting Shed Horns

[pert near]

I was helping my buddy shed hunt last month & we were lucky enough to find both shed drops from one of the biggest bucks on his place. He took them to a taxidermist & he mounted them on a plaque. The spread looks natural & is perfectly balanced. The taxidermist talked him into painting instead of staining the horns. The mount came out fantastic!

My question is, how do they do that? Is there an artificial skull cap that you can buy & then glue/screw the horns on to? Is this a common practice or a custom technique? Looks like the paint was just thinned some & rubbed on with a rough cloth, or is the paint special too?

TIA for your comments!

 

[Hardtarget]

Taxidermists have their ways. There are lots of products to get them to the mount you want. They do a good job of helping us keep our memories of great days in the woods! I saw a shed mount once. They only found one side so they mounted it like you saw it from the side...almost flat with the wall. Looked good.

Mark

 

[FL-NC]

Speaking of using sheds, I saw a beautiful white tail mount on a vertical post last week in Iowa. The post was about 3' high weathered fence post with various sheds wrapped around the length of it with the buck head on top.

 

[Armored farmer]

This is Mrs armored solution.

 

[Patocazador]

As far as coloring faded antlers goes, I've seen a couple that used brown shoe polish on a rag and wiped along the length of the antler. They looked good. It's possible it may have to be repeated if the antler fades again.

 

[sage5907]

I do taxidermy work and I have stained many antlers. First, what one person likes would be repulsive or offensive to the next person. There are many products on the market to color antlers and many of them are made to sell and not to look good. McKenzie Taxidermy Supply sells many products and you can find them online, but I have never found any of these products that I like. Many old mounted antlers are colored with liquid shellac and I have never liked the shiny finish that it provides because they don't look real. To look good shed antlers have to be relatively fresh because as they weather they get pores that soak up whatever substance is used which gives them dark uneven spots. As a taxidermist I sometimes mist a set of antlers with dark brown Life Tone lacquer using an airbrush and after it dries I remove the excess with steel wool to get the right color. A simple way that anyone can use is to use a single coat of Minwax medium walnut stain. Just rub it on with a rag and rub it off so that no excess is visible. A small brush may be needed around the antler burr or in rough hard to get areas. Just make sure all excess stain is wiped off as soon as it is applied. After the stain dries you can rub it lightly with 000 or 0000 steel wool to remove any shine or color that you don't like. Experiment with the rubbing to get the right texture. On antlers that already have good color just give them a coat of Liquid Gold furniture polish. Rub it on and rub it off so that no excess is visible. The Liquid Gold is great for making old sets of antlers look better and it can be use year after year. I wouldn't recommend using Liquid Gold first and then trying to stain them later.

 

[pert near]

Thank you sage5907 for the excellent coloring advice!

I was wondering if there was a taxidermy "skull-fixture" or something that allows shed (or other separated horns) to be mounted & create a standard plaque/shield type wall mount. Typically, the deer skull has a pillar below each horn about 3/4" to 1" tall that the hide covers up to the horn crowns. To look correct, the angle, spacing & spread geometry needs to be right in the placement of the separate horns. I assume each horn would need to be threaded for a stud or bolt to attach with. Any ideas how taxidermists do this?

TIA...

 

[sage5907]

McKenzie Taxidermy Supply sells three brands of mounting brackets. Go online and look for the following items:
Skull Cap with Pedicles Medium Skull Cap CAPM $18.50
Skull Cap Antler Systems Whitetail Shed Skull Cap - Medium SK3 $16.25
Deer Shed Antler Systems (Steel bracket) SHED $39.50
The first item listed looks to be the easies to use.. Drill a 5/16 hole in the base of the antler and then I would use JB Weld to secure the antler in place. You would have to rig up some kind of jig to hold the antler in place while the JB Weld sets up. Go to Google and type in McKenzie Taxidermy Supply item CAPM. Also McKenzie Taxidermy Supply item SK3. Etc.