I have "Joe" mounted, a six pointer (no brow times) that was shot in Maine in 1972. He is in desperate need of cleaning. As an example, the white patch under his chin which should be WHITE, is a dingy yellow. Yep, he really looks his age. I admit, I should have taken better care but it honestly seems like this "dingy look" has occured in the past year or so. He moved from the house to the camp a few years ago. Any suggestions on cleaning him would be appreciated. His hair seems to be OK, but I would have to be careful not to damage any when he finally gets cleaned. Thanks in advance to all.......Jimmy

This will probably be your best bet.

http://www.taxidermy.net/wasco/cat/15/mountclean.html

It is gonna be hard to clean and get it anywhere near its original look. What i might suggest is calling your local taxidermist or processor and getting your hands on a new cape to put on the deer. Understandably, you might not want to do that as the cape is the original but it would certainly look better.

another thing you could do is make a rack mount with just the anlers on an oak plaque. or just get another cape to put on it. you could use a doe cape.

I use pledge house spray wax. To bring back the color on amtlers. get some brown paste shoe polish. Brush a small amount on antlers and wipe off. Go easy a little amount of wax at a time. To much at one time might make it darker then you want.What it does is bring out the depth in every little bump and crevious

It is difficult to use a doe cape in that they dont have horns, and make the job a heck of a lot harder to make the neccesary cuts in the head to make it appear that it did. And, a big ole buck cant be matched in size by a scrawny doe. I havent seen doe with 24" necks around here.

Definately go with the new cape. Hard as heck to totally clean old ones.[:@]