DIY Velvet Euro

[ZMT588]

Took my velvet buck in to the taxi for a euro. Said 450 bucks... Seems a bit steep to me. Anyone out there have any velvet bucks euro'd and what was the price? I'm thinking I might go back and pick him up and attempt a DIY euro. Possibly with a sous vide so the steam doesn't damage the fuzz. Anyone have tips or experience working with a buck in velvet and what to use to preserve him?

 

[BigAntlerGetter]

I’ll suggest if you want the velvet to look good have someone do it, it’s a lot of work, if you’re worried price check a few taxis, I’m betting $450 for a decent sized buck with velvet isn’t to far off,


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cnelk]

Easy to do your own. I’ve done a couple.

Make sure the velvet antlers stay cold or chilled as you can.
Cut the antlers off at the burr and send them to Huffman Taxidermy in Trinidad Colorado.

While the velvet antlers are being freeze dried by Huffmans, do a euro on the skull.

When you get the antlers back from Huffmans, pin and attach the antlers back in place.

 

[cnelk]

 

[cnelk]

If I remember correctly, Huffmans charged about $50 to freeze dry the antlers

 

[cnelk]

Did my sons archery velvet bull elk the same way.

 

[LongWayAround]

I've had a set of velvet antlers freeze dried as well and they turned out as perfect as they were to begin. I think I paid $150? As an add-on to a shoulder mount.

Posted in another thread, but... I recently had a taxidermist suggest wrapping the skull plate in leather and mounting the preserved antlers to a plague.

 

[Finch]

I don't know anything about preserving velvet but $450 seems a lot of steep to me. That's what most charge for shoulder mounts around here.

 

[butcherboy]

Not steep at all considering the amount of work to properly do a velvet euro. Once you do it yourself you will figure out why it costs this much. I used to charge $250 for a deer euro and another charge to freeze dry the antlers depending on the size and weight. Add shop labor to reattach the antlers. I even did some as a dipped skull with freeze dried antlers. Euro + freeze dry + shop labor + dipped skull + taxes could easily come out to $400-$500. $450 for a shoulder mount is super super cheap. Manikin-$70 tanning-$70-$80 eyes-$10-$20 ear liners-$10-&15 labor to turn, flesh, and salt-$50/hr shipping both ways to tannery. Could easily have $200-$250 invested in a mount. Now add in labor when it’s actually mounted. That’s a pretty poor profit margin.

 

[Russ_Carone]

$450 You could almost do a shoulder mount for that price

 

[butcherboy]

Not in the west or Rocky Mountains you can’t. I was charging $800 + tax for a deer shoulder mount. I know some really good taxidermist’s that are more than that. $1600 for an elk. There are cheaper guys out there but you get what you pay for a lot of times.

 

[Russ_Carone]

Not in the west or Rocky Mountains you can’t. I was charging $800 + tax for a deer shoulder mount. I know some really good taxidermist’s that are more than that. $1600 for an elk. There are cheaper guys out there but you get what you pay for a lot of times.

I live in Western Colorado and I pay $650, and he does great work.

 

[butcherboy]

That’s a pretty incredible price. Cost of tanning has increased, manikins have increased, etc. if he is a full time taxi then he will need to mount a lot of animals at that price to make a decent living.

 

[OverlandOnTheFly]

Bringing this thread back…
Has anyone used any of the over the counter products to preserve their velvet with any level of success?
Thanks

 

[HiMtnHntr]

I've used velvet tan. I know there are safer products on the market now. I've done a few velvet euros by cutting off the skull cap and reattaching after the antlers are treated. It's a pretty tedious process to make it look good. I can see why the taxi mentioned above wanted that kind of money.

Treating velvet really depends on the stage of velvet the animal is in and how quickly you can get it taken care of. Best to have something on hand if you might get lucky to score on a velvet trophy.