Staining Strip buck antlers after Losing Velvet

[Sneaker]

I am looking for some help on how to stain my antlers. I killed the buck August archery on the AZ strip on a 100 degree day a few years ago. We obviously lost the velvet :/ My potential problem is, as you can see in the pictures, there are a bunch of darker blochy blood stain areas or something in the antler that I'm pretty sure would make the stain job look funny. Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Would you treat it like painting and do a white primer or something first, and then stain the antlers to get it all more uniform? What stains do you like best? Thanks

[Flatlander]

First of all congrats on a great buck. Second, you may want to hit up the guys at Badlands Taxidermy in Holbrook. TC does the best antler staining I have ever seen. I am sure he would have a solution.

[Big Browns]

Why don't you send it out to have some velvet put on them. There are several companies that do a great job.

[resolute]

Why don't you send it out to have some velvet put on them. There are several companies that do a great job.

+1

[Lucafu1]

how did you loose the velvet. im just curious.

[Critter]

Sneaker,

Check out a post made by CouesRanger titled "antler recoloring" (I tried to paste in the link to it in this reply but not working... anyone know how to copy in the link?) Anyway, in that thread I posted a whole bunch of pics of before and after. Same situation... a buddy's velvet was stripped off two different bucks. I've been coloring antlers for a few years... probably colored around 100 or more but I don't use stain. I use Mud and tung oil. I may have details in that post if not Pm me or reply and I can give details. You'll have to search for couesrangers post unless someone can fill me in on how to post the link. I copy the link but when I click paste in the reply nothing happens.

[prowlerMan]

http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/40066-antler-recoloring/

[Critter]

Thanks prowlerman...

Sneaker if you like what you see with mud Pm me or call me at 928-899-8711 and I can explain process I use.

Imo stain ruins the look especially if they are hard white like this but each antler takes on stain different so you could try either way. Good luck

[Sneaker]

how did you loose the velvet. im just curious.

Velvet is basically skin/flesh. If you don't preserve it ASAP, especially when it is hot, it will "slip" or start to become detached from the antlers and start to rot basically. They hold blood. My brother and I were both just out of college and dirt poor and bootstrapped our hunt together out of his Jeep Cherokee and anyone who has hunted those hunts can fill in the blanks from there lol.

 

Thanks for the replies, I really wish I would have been able to have the natural velvet, but I don't like how the artificial velvet looks. I will get in touch with you Critter, thanks, that sounds like the way to go. Here in Kingman we have mostly very light colored dirt, so I'll have to hunt down some richer ground somewhere.

[Lucafu1]

I was just wondering if you tried to preserve it somehow and it ended up not working. that is one sweet buck, velvet or no velvet. BTW if you ever get near tucson I got some dried mud in my front yard from 5b this year that i washed off my bronco. its really realy dark haha.

[Heat]

Henry Aguilar is a top notch taxidermist right there in Kingman. Maybe he can help? A cheap way would be to put your coffee grounds in an old sock and rub away.