I shot a nice 8pt this year in SC, not my biggest so i didnt get a mount however i did take the skull plate and dried it out for several weeks in the yard. The inside of the skullplate is clean and dry however the outside between the racks still has the hair on the bone. This is my first attempt at this so any help is appreciated. I am putting it in one of those Iron Buck skulls for display. my question is, is it necessary to get that patch of hair off before i put it in the office or should i keep it on to add character?

I know this should prob go to the Taxidermy forum however this gets more traffic.

thanks in advance

Whatever you like. If you wanted to remove it, though, it would have been much easier when it was fresh.

i guess my main question is, will the hair start to stink over time when the rack is in my office?

Yes, and it WILL draw bugs. There should be nothing but bone left.

Yes M.Magis is right it will draw bugs eventually, I have had mounts with hair on them for years and all of a sudden they are full of some sort of worm that was eating the dried up hide found out later it is carpet beetle larvae. So your better off cleaning them, never had problems with stink though.

boil it....

Check out the taxidermy forum in here they are really great with help i boiled mine on the grill outside using the sideburner nasty smell but it came out pretty good.

You will want to boil and degrease it. It does smell but you will not have the bugs later. You can also bleach it youself and have a european mount instead on the Iron.

Good luck to you. I agree w/bowanna..post the questionon the Taxi forum.

i boiled mine and it came out real clean

Thats exactly right. I make sure I pull mine off no longer than 2-3 days they come off alot easier.