Restoring a caribou bull deadhead antlers, if possible..

[swampdonkey]

I was out caribou hunting and found a really really nice wolf killed caribou deadhead. Actually 3 deadheads all within 75yds of each other, but one was HUGE. I'm figuring they were exposed for a year, maybe 2 at max.
For giggles we scored the big one and got a 386", so I'd really like too keep it around.
The antlers themselves are solid with NO rot or mushy spots that I can find and are still firmly attached to the skull. They're a weathered white where exposed to the elements and have little black speckles as well. On the back of both main beams where they made contact with the ground there's a little of that greenish stain and there's also some reddish coloring on the inside of the main beams as well..
So my question is this, can they be restored to a fall brown-ish that looks relatively natural? The nose area is completely chewed off so a Euro would be out, may consider a panel mount down the road, not sure yet. I don't know enough about doing self taxidermy to know if this is something I can do at home or have a pro look at it. Is this something that gets done a lot by taxidermists or is it a hard no?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks..

[4merguide]

I was out caribou hunting and found a really really nice wolf killed caribou deadhead. Actually 3 deadheads all within 75yds of each other, but one was HUGE. I'm figuring they were exposed for a year, maybe 2 at max.
For giggles we scored the big one and got a 386", so I'd really like too keep it around.
The antlers themselves are solid with NO rot or mushy spots that I can find and are still firmly attached to the skull. They're a weathered white where exposed to the elements and have little black speckles as well. On the back of both main beams where they made contact with the ground there's a little of that greenish stain and there's also some reddish coloring on the inside of the main beams as well..
So my question is this, can they be restored to a fall brown-ish that looks relatively natural? The nose area is completely chewed off so a Euro would be out, may consider a panel mount down the road, not sure yet. I don't know enough about doing self taxidermy to know if this is something I can do at home or have a pro look at it. Is this something that gets done a lot by taxidermists or is it a hard no?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks..

Not hard to do at all. You can use regular wood stain which I have done a couple of times, or they even sell a stain just for antlers, but I can't remember the name. I'm actually doing up an old mule deer rack right now. It's super old and bleached out, but I like it that way. I'm doing a black leather wrap for the skull cap mold I made, for contrast with the light antler. You can use bleach, or a bleach/peroxide mix to clean a lot of the stains you see, or if you're not in a hurry, just turn it over and let the sun/weather hit the green areas. Using sandpaper will clean up the antlers too. Oh, and there's a lot of Youtube videos on cleaning and mounting antlers.

[gunner]

Potassium permaganate (sp?) is used by taxidermy shops to stain antlers freshly stripped of velvet.

[swampdonkey]

Not hard to do at all. You can use regular wood stain which I have done a couple of times, or they even sell a stain just for antlers, but I can't remember the name. I'm actually doing up an old mule deer rack right now. It's super old and bleached out, but I like it that way. I'm doing a black leather wrap for the skull cap mold I made, for contrast with the light antler. You can use bleach, or a bleach/peroxide mix to clean a lot of the stains you see, or if you're not in a hurry, just turn it over and let the sun/weather hit the green areas. Using sandpaper will clean up the antlers too. Oh, and there's a lot of Youtube videos on cleaning and mounting antlers.

Thanks for the response. What grit sand paper would you recommend? I might start with that and see where it goes.

[kobuk]

Potassium permaganate (sp?) is used by taxidermy shops to stain antlers freshly stripped of velvet.

This is what I use as well. Very easy to work with and you can slowly add color to get what you want. I will then use scotch bright pads and it will bring out a texture and can make the tips white etc. I had a hard time with regular stain, it worked but wasn't as easy to get what I wanted and takes a long time to dry. Awesome find! Good luck.

[SmokeRoss]

Don't use stain. It will never look right. Do what the Caribou did. Get some branches of several different species and rub the antlers with them, scraping until the bark comes off the branch. Doesn't take long. Completely natural.

[4merguide]

Don't use stain. It will never look right. .

I don't agree. Just depends on how good you are with stain.

[4merguide]

Thanks for the response. What grit sand paper would you recommend? I might start with that and see where it goes.

I would start with a pretty fine grit like 220 or so, or even scotch brite and see what that does first. If it isn't enough, you can get more aggressive. Would be great to see a picture of this big rack you found if possible.

[swampdonkey]

I would start with a pretty fine grit like 220 or so, or even scotch brite and see what that does first. If it isn't enough, you can get more aggressive. Would be great to see a picture of this big rack you found if possible.

I've got some scotch brite pads so I'll start there. I don't know how to get pic's to work on this site. I've got pics of the head. I can certeainly email you some if you PM me your Email address..

[swampdonkey]

Let’s see if this works. I should’ve been holding them in a pic for actual size comparison.