NEW METHOD ON MY ANTLER MOUNT

[David I.]

I don't know if anyone has done this before, but here is how I decided to mount this years nice 9 point antlers.
I used some pretanned deer hide I had to cover the scull cap. I think it worked out real well and looks great.
Here is what I did:
After I dryed and cleaned the scull cap which I had previously hand hack sawed and ground/sanded more or less flat, I temporarily attached it to a board on top of some wax paper. I then filled in some voids under the front and back bottom with some construction adhesive I had left over from another project. You could use whatever you want, ie: wood putty, etc. Or if you have a lot to fill in or replace you could use rigid foam or something.
After it cured, I then touched it up with a file and sandpaper. I then started attaching the tanned deer hide to the scull cap using gel super glue. I did this little by little, inching my way along. I did not cover the entire area with super glue....only here and there where needed. I took my time around the antler bases, stretching the hide to keep it fairly tight and putting glue around the entire bases. I also stretched the hide around and under the entire scull cap and super glued underneath. I ended up with only one small wrinkle that can't be seen easily. The seams around the bases are pretty well hidden also. Be very careful to NOT get any super glue on the outside surface of the hide....it will cause problems later when dyeing the hide.
I then used a razor knife to very carefully cut around the bases to remove the excess hide.
I then dyed the hyde with wood stain, but you could use leather dye if you have any. I used a q-tip around the antler bases so as not to get any stain on the antlers. As the stain dryed it nicely shrunk the hide tight to the scull cap. The stain/dye will NOT be absorbed wherever you may have gotten some super glue on the hide. I had to use a razor knife to "scrape" a little off, but those areas then ended up darker but evened out pretty well after the stain dryed.
I then epoxied a small block of wood to the inside of the scull cap to accept the two screws I used to attach the assembly to the rustic oak slab I had previously stained and polyed. I screwed the assembly through the back of the slab after making two countersunk holes.
I then attached the actual shell casing along with the bullet that lodged in the bucks opposite shoulder from my 30-30 fired from about 80 yards away.
Let me know what you think. I like it better than some other more conventional mounting methods and I personnaly think it looks better.
Thanks for looking.

[hillbill]

very nice mount! i had never thought of epoxying the wood piece inside the skull cap or adding the shell and bullet to the mount.

[David I.]

Thanks hillbill for the nice comments. So far it looks like you are the only person out of the 30 or so people to view this thread to make ANY kind of comments.....positive or negative!! I guess I expected at least 2 or three seperate responses at a minimum. Oh well, maybe many other people have done antler mounts using deer hide and my methods. Then again maybe they didn't like the results depicted in my photo, or didn't like that I used gel super glue, or the whole thing sounded like too much work.....who knows.

[AtlLaw]

Actually Dave, I thought it was a darn fine looking mount... just didn't say so.  29 view to go! 
 
Oh! It gave me some ideas also!   
 
 

[Graybeard]

All of my antler mounts were done that way by a taxidermist. Last one was taken perhaps 15 years ago. It adds a nice touch to them. I've toyed with giving it a try on some others but decided I'd just botch it and wasn't willing to pay the taxidermist again.

[hillbill]

i think my next antler mount will be just like yours but i will take a piece of the hide and soak it in lye water to remove the hair and use rawhide.with your method of putting the wood in the back of the skull it will give me something to tack the rawhide too.i may try to dye the rawhide with a walnut solution. thanks! now all i got to do is shoot a bigger buk than my son did a cupple years ago!

[David I.]

Thanks hillbill for your nice comments. As another option.......Years ago I mounted a set of antlers another way. I very carefully (takes time and patience) scalped off the bucks scalp leaving plenty of extra, I was very careful around the antler bases with a razor knife and then made one nice slit behind each antler base to remove the scalp. I then tanned the scalp myself with a store bought tanning solution....but I tanned it with the "hair on method". I then glued the " hair on scalp " to the prepaired scull cap and had also epoxied a wood block to the inside back of the scull cap. I just trimmed the hide nice and flush with the bottom outside edge of the scull cap all around the outside edge. I had to glue the "hair on tanned scalp" to the scull cap when it was still slightly wet because otherwise it would get too stiff when dry to form to the scull cap. I didn't trim off the excess around the bottom edge until it almost dryed because it does shrink somewhat as it drys. It made a nice mount with the actuall hair on scalp attached. I opted to use hair off tanned hide this time because I thought it might look pretty good, but also because I didn't feel like removing the bucks scalp this time.