Preserving Antlers and Turkey Fans
 

Hello,

So, I have a question for the hunters here. I have 2 turkey fans, one set of 2x2 white tail deer antlers, and one set of 2x3 mule deer antlers. These are my trophies. I also have a skunk hide from a skunk I shot. (They are predatory unprotected in Idaho.)

Funny story about how I got the skunk hide, but thats not what I am posting.

I am posting to look for advice about preserving the turkey fans and how to mount the antlers, (There is no skull,) on a wall.

Ill start with the turkey fans. When I shot the turkeys many years ago, (One Jake and one Tom,) I cut off the tails before processing them to keep them as trophies. I used a borax/salt solution to put the tails in and I let them sit for 3 weeks. They are still pretty well preserved, but there is a problem. Not to sound gross, but sometimes they leak liquid slightly. I dont know if I did something wrong or not when preparing the fans.

I want to fix this, but I need advice on how to fix it. Anyone know where I went wrong? How do I fix it?

Second, the antlers from my deer hunts. Its just the antlers, and I am struggling to figure out how to put them on the wall. Anybody got any ideas how to do this?

Any help will be appreciated,

Jared

The salt is sucking moisture out of the air, without removing all the flesh I don't know how you could fix that, if you have a taxidermist near you If I were you I would talk to one or two for advice. So far as the antlers go, you could make a fake skull out of plaster of Paris with the antlers inserted up to the pedicel like they were on the skull. You might want to drill a hole in the middle of the antler and epoxy a bolt in the hole to give the plaster of Paris something to hold onto. After they are mounted into the plaster you can cover the plaster with leather and no one but you would know they were not on a skull. You could then mount the fake skull on a plaque, you can buy those kits cheaply.

Thank you so much. I appreciate that. I guess I could try to remove the Flesh, and then reprocess it. If I can't, I may have to get rid of these trophies.

As for the antlers, thank you. I'll certainly do that.

Jared

If you remove the flesh lay the feathers down in numerical sequence on a large piece of cardboard and number each feather. on the cardboard. doing that you will know exactly what orders the feathers should be reassembled in. Perhaps you could buy a piece of Styrofoam insulation or something similar and cut out a piece that has a radius on top and flat on the bottom. Then you could count how many evenly spaced holes you need for the fan. Then you could punch holes evenly spaced holes in the top radius and around the sides forming a fan, and insert and the feathers with a little glue on the quill, just remember the feathers should overlap a little. Then cover the foam with leather of cloth. Good luck perhaps some others here might have a better idea..

On the antlers the taxidermist I had used a water based satin urethane to put on them to preserve them with. Once dried makes them easier to clean and also will prevent mice and the like from trying to chew them..

He is looking for way to display antlers on the wall because they are not on a skull. I forgot to tell him in my previous post that he may want price deer taxidermy forms, if they are not too expensive, buy the forms and saw off the top where the antlers would be mounted, epoxy the antlers into the form and cover with leather or cloth then mount on a plaque.

Actually, I just figured that part out. I was able to get a piece of wood, drill some holes in the antlers, and screw Them into a piece of wood which I can screw onto the wall.

Post some pictures when you're done. It sounds like a fun project.

I think the pictures attached. If they didn't, I will reattach them. As you can see, I've got two primaries from two Geese, two sets of deer antlers from Deer I shot, and two turkey fans.

I also have a skunk pelt.

There we go, Dont know why they didnt attach last time