Just received my mounts and skull mounts back from SA. I had told the taxidermist to leave all horns natural. Of course, when I opened the crate the Wildebeest and Kudu horns have been "painted black" or whatever. I realize there is not much I can do now, but why do they do this? Their own invoice says to leave them natural....but....

I don't want to open up a long distance case of
he said she said or griping but with all the overall beauty, I will always look at them and get p'oed just a little.

The funny thing is they left the Eland and Impala horns natural!

Any information would be appreciated.

Replied at 24hr, but you can search (Find function) for more of my experiences, as needed.

Most African game horns are boiled to the point they have the oils of the karetin ( the horn ) burned and it is leeched to the surface.

They do this to remove the sheath and clean the inner core. Just like the stupid taxidermist here in the states that boil sheep horns off the cores they turn very dark.The African horns turn dark or black when they boil to long and to hot.
So they just add more black paint near the base to make it all look the same where it meets the skin on top of the head.

The only thing that can be done is the complete repainting for the horn. Base coat them white with Kilz stain blocker and start from scratch and airbrush them.

Thank you for the explanation. It makes sense now.
I'll shut up.

Again, thank you. Mr. Kudu is now resting on my wall where he shall stay. And he's looking at Mr. Wildebeest across the room.

ftg767,

Don't be too dismayed. This is typical. My kudu had beautiful chocolate colored horns when alive. When I received it here in the States, they were almost black and very dull from boiling. My kudu is a pedestal mount, and when I look at it, the horns bug me. (The horns are removable) I have a new taxidermist who says he can color them back to the original color, and then he'll put bees wax on them to give them back their natural satin sheen. I'm looking forward to having that done.

To retain the original color (FWIW) kudu horns have to go through a maceration step. This is basically letting the skull portion soak in water, that must be changed out, until they loosen (rot?) due to bacterial action. This is WAY too involved for today's high volume safari trade, thus the boil 'em all in an iron bathtub over a wood fire approach that yields black horns. My taxi over here immerses the skull in clear/clean boiling water and used a burner ring (propane) instead. At least that's how he was doing a blackbuck skull+horns.