Just shot my first moose.

God sent me a little bull. Don't think I'll have the shoulder mount done, but would like to put the antlers on the side of the house. Any way to preserve them from bleaching out in the weather etc.?

Any advice for cleaning the meat off, etc. in preparation for that sort of display?

With your plans, you're wasting your times. The "sealers" that you could possibly use are either photo sensitive or environmentally sensitive to being "nailed up over the barn door". You may extend their "life" a bit with polyurethane or even epoxy, but the color underneath will fail. Both the poly and epoxy will fail because the antlers still some moisture. This moisture will expand while trapped under the sealer and eventually crack, blister or break it. Your antlers will bleach and start to crack and deteriorate.

So the only plan is to just let them bleach out, dry out and crack? Gotta be a better taxidermy option than that!?

quote:

Originally posted by Mssgn:
So the only plan is to just let them bleach out, dry out and crack? Gotta be a better taxidermy option than that!?

Other option is... DONT HANG THEM OUTSIDE!!

Put them in the garage, barn, attic, etc..

Or hang them outside in their natural state and let nature do her work to make 'em look pretty! They will last for years and years if they are unter the eaves and protected from rain etc. The natural look isn't all that bad.

the chef

Mssgn, I simply don't know what to tell you then. I've been a taxidermist for over 50 years and I've tried to stay abreast of every new and wonderful thing that comes into this industry. But I tell people who think "A good taxidermist can fix anything" that IF I could grow hair, I'd be making one helluva lot better money doing things for the Hair Club for Men rather than my taxidermy shop. Moose SHED their antlers each and every year. Moose shed hair twice a year. A mounted animal does neither and to keep both the antlers and the hide from "aging" too quickly, you MUST keep them away from heat, light, and moisture. Even under the eaves of your house, the sunlight will hit them (unless they're on the back side of the house), the changing seasons will get them and the changing humidity from fog, rain, snow and dry air will get them. They ARE going to age just like every other organic thing in this universe. If I coulda stopped growing old, I'd have picked 35 and stayed there nearly 30 years ago.

Thanks guys. I'll try mineral oil and a UV blocking deck stain. If they bleach, they bleach and I've done what I can do. My wife says I can't put any more taxidermy inside the house until I get an addition built. No time for that - deer season is open! lol

Mssgn,

I live in the high desert but previously lived in AK for 22 years. I brought one moose rack down here with me and it is at least 15 years old. It has spent its whole existence outside with no treatment whatsoever. Clean the skullcap as best as you can, bore some hole in in it and screw it to whatever surface you want. It will be fine.

Mark

thanks

Mssgn, if you lived in the high desert like Mark, you might be OK, but in the rest of the country and certainly where Mark came from, the bleached and age cracked moose antlers bear testimony that he's wrong.