Caribou Velvet- can it be cut off/removed and have a nice appearance

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05 October 2012, 06:33

strapman

Caribou Velvet- can it be cut off/removed and have a nice appearance

I have been talking to an outfitter who hunts on the northside of the Brooks Range. He runs his last Caribou hunt, mid-August. If I shoot a Caribou it will be in velvet. Can the velvet be removed and the antlers still look good?

05 October 2012, 07:30

jdollar

yes , i have done it several times. however early in the season( early August) the antlers underneath will be hard but bloody when the velvet is stripped. they will need a good scrubbing to remove the blood stains. later in the season the blood is gone and you can just wipe off the velvet( which is often hanging in tatters anyway), with white antler seen underneath.

05 October 2012, 16:50

Michael Shipman

They also can be stained a little darker like they sometimes look later in the season.. Sometimes they are real light when the velvet first comes off.

05 October 2012, 17:48

Gracedog

The antlers will continue to ooze blood for days after stripping the velvet off, so the best thing that you can do is submerge them in water for about a week until the blood is all out. I took a couple of bull caribou in the NWT some years back that still had tight velvet which I stripped off. they were very bloody, so we threw them in the lake overnight to soak. They came out clean and flesh colored. After a few hours out of the water, they were quite bloody again. Upon arriving home, I didn't have the means to submerge them, and lots of blood bled through. This left them permanently stained, and the stain job that my taxidermist did wasn't enough to cover the stains.

05 October 2012, 21:53

Outdoor Writer

quote:
Originally posted by Gracedog:
The antlers will continue to ooze blood for days after stripping the velvet off, so the best thing that you can do is submerge them in water for about a week until the blood is all out. I took a couple of bull caribou in the NWT some years back that still had tight velvet which I stripped off. they were very bloody, so we threw them in the lake overnight to soak. They came out clean and flesh colored. After a few hours out of the water, they were quite bloody again. Upon arriving home, I didn't have the means to submerge them, and lots of blood bled through. This left them permanently stained, and the stain job that my taxidermist did wasn't enough to cover the stains.

Yup, same here. I also threw the antlers of my AK 'bou in the Mulchatna River for a couple days after I stripped it bare. In both cases, a few of the tips were still a bit soft but hardened after they dried out.

This is the one from AK :

06 October 2012, 08:24

Mike Smith

Yep just strip it off and soak as others already stated. I like to then stain mine for a darker appearance but it is all personal preference. I tried sealing the velvet a couple times but never liked my results. I understand there are a couple guys who do flocking and also a couple who do a freeze dry if you like the look of the velvet on an early season Bou.

07 October 2012, 07:24

strapman

Thanks guys. I appreciate your input.

07 October 2012, 08:16

jdollar

i had 1 nice rack freeze dried and 15 years later it still looks perfect on a skull cap mount.

07 October 2012, 09:08

LittleJoe

I love the velvet look. My dad shot a Barren Ground and the velvet slipped and they darkened the horns. It does not look great but I think most of that is because we know it was shot in the velvet.

11 October 2012, 20:35

DoubleJB

You dont want to try and keep the velvet on there?

I love the look of velvet! I have an Axis that I shot in velvet and its proudly hanging in my study... one of my most prized trophy's.

17 October 2012, 19:47

george roof

Double JB, keeping the velvet on isn't much of an option up in the area he's hunting. Once on the ground, there's not much way to protect it (even if you have injection fluids) and with the bushplane ride, swapping airplanes and getting it back "home" is just too much for most people. Like Outdoor Writer, I take a piece of parachute cord with me, tie them on the antlers and throw them in the river or lake for a few days. Many times the tips of some antlers are going to need some epoxy work as they are still pithy and porous.

19 October 2012, 18:47

Jerry Huffaker

George is correct for the most part, it's very hard to keep it. But there is an option, RJ Simington has a taxidermy studio in Fairbanks, if you can get them to him reasonably intact, he will preserve the velvet for you there and ship them to your taxidermist. He has done this for my customers and it worked.