I just bought a bottle of "Antler in Velvet" from Van Dykes. I will be hunting mule deer in New Mexico in bow season starting Sept. 1. For the past two years I have taken bucks during the first week of Sept. and they are in velvet but antlers are firm enough to grab and help drag the buck up the mountain.
The directions on the bottle:
1. If horns are soft, puncture the tips of the antlers with a large needle.
2. Inject ANTLER IN VELVET TAN in vein channels around base of horn. Keep injecting until all the blood is completely pumped out of the tips and clear fluid is visible.
3. Paint on a heavy coat of ANTLER IN VELVET TAN and hang to dry for 4 days. Then rinse off residue in cool water and hang until dry. The velvet can be fluffed with a hair dryer or air compressor and soft brush.

I'm assuming that the antlers I'm dealing with are past the "soft" stage and I can skip step 1 and 2. Am I correct?

I'm wanting to try my first European mount and I don't want to mess the antlers up.

Anyone with experience in preserving velvet, pleaseoffer advice. Thanks

It’s not going to hurt to poke some holes to allow any fluid out, so go ahead and do it. It may not be needed, but shouldn’t hurt anything. A skull mount with velvet antlers isn’t the best project for a first DIY attempt. You’re looking for two opposite results on the same piece, preservation of the velvet, and complete removal of all other tissue. To me, the antlers need to be pinned, removed, and treated completely separately. I’d also suggest not dragging the deer by the velvet covered antlers.

Thanks M. Magis.....what you are saying makes sense and I'm going to take your advice.
When you said "the antlers need to be pinned", I'm not sure about that....please explain. thx