Leave it be or fix it?

[TRIPLE]

I was fortunate enough to wack a really solid buck last weekend (story and pics coming soon...it's a bit long winded). Unfortunately, after the shot he rolled down a rokslide and broke a very cool cheater off his left antler. I couldn't find the broken tine and was rushing to beat the heat. I have pics of the buck before I shot him and I know my taxi can "fix" it with a piece of another antler and make it look good. So, the question is should I doctor it up with a chunk of bone from a shed or leave it be knowing it was a neater looking deer before I shot it?

 

[Shrek]

That is entirely up to you. My feeling is to fix it to the animal you shot not what was recovered. A mounting is a memorial to the animal and I wouldn't want it portrayed as anything more or less that it was. I would never want an enhanced trophy but a repair to original condition is something I would do. I feel the same way about velvet damaged in a fall. I am completely comfortable replacing damaged velvet. I am not okay with adding antler to a weak side or fake velvet to a deer that was hard horned. I am also not okay with people who buy trophies and claim to have hunted them themselves or leaving that impression . I gave a head to a doctor that was in a club with me who said he wanted to mount it for an office decoration. I later heard he was claiming that he had shot it. Very sad .

 

[idig4au]

^^^what he said above

 

[Snipershirt]

Your call....had it happen to me about 15 years ago. I had if fixed as that's how the buck was and how I wanted to remember him.

 

[JDeanP]

We had a friends head displayed in an area at work. The mount fell one day and busted a tine. It was repaired and nobody thought anything of it. I don't see any difference.

If you put the effort into legally harvesting the animal, do whatever you wish with the results.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Personally, I would want it mounted in the condition I shot it in.

 

[weaver]

Id fix it. If it was broken off before the shot i wouldnt.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Lets see the before & after pics. I guess it depends on how big & cool the cheater is.
Hunt'nFish

 

[tipsntails7]

I'd fix it. You owe It to the buck to represent him how he looked in life.

 

[TRIPLE]

I agree with all of you for the most part, my only real hesitation is matching the kicker closely enough to do it justice (it's really hard to find an exact match tine with a 90' turn in it.

I'll get pics up soon..... They are on my camera and I've been in the woods a bunch and haven't been able to put it on my computer yet.

 

[TheHardWay]

I'd get it fixed. Do you have to use a piece of real antler? I would think that a taxidermist would have access to some sort of composite material that he/she could use to shape a point to perfectly match the point shown in the pictures.

 

[realunlucky]

I'd also probably fix it, if that's the memory I always think of when I see him