Castscratch mentioned velvet antlers on different thread and I have a question and decided to start new thread, rather than drift that one. My nephew recently found a dead velvet buck on my farm and it was probably a victim of EHD, because near water and after a 6 weeks drought. He wanted to mount the rack because it was velvet and he liked it. He just wanted to do European mount or just a rack with velvet. After research he couldn't find a way to do it himself and keep the velvet from breaking down over time, without a license to buy special chemicals. The local taxidermist would not throw him a crumb of info so we just left it this time. So my question.....What do you need to do to a velvet rack to be able to put it on the wall in a DYI matter?
How to preserve a velvet antler?
- Thread starter KY wild
- Start date
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Former taxidermist here. Best way is to put the rack in a freezer and then wait until the dead of Winter when it is going to be below freezing temperature for a few days. Then send it to a commercial freeze dry company. The one I used was located in Denver, CO. They treat the antlers with a chemical and then freeze dry them. They do make chemicals that you can paint on the antlers that are supposed to preserve the velvet, but I have no experience with them. If the rack wasnt immediately put in a freezer then there is probably already some degradation/ rotting of the velvet. It takes very little time for the velvet to begin to rot once blood flow stops if the temps are warm to hot.
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