Question for a Taxidermist

[Rambo]

A landowner near me found two nice bucks locked, dead in a pond. Their torsos are floating with the head, neck, and shoulders under water. He would like to mount the locked bucks and is going through the process of legally obtaining salvage tags. It doesn’t appear they have been there long but it has been 16 hours since they were discovered and it will be nearly 24 hours before they can be removed from the pond.

Is there any chance the capes will be salvageable? In my mind, even if pond dwellers haven’t caused some under water damage, the bacteria and water logged skin would be a recipe for hair slippage later.

Can a taxidermist or two chime in here so I can give him solid advice? I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Scott7030]

Not knowing how long they where in the pond prior to finding, I would opt for new capes. Your taxidermist should be able to give you an idea if the capes are salvageable but, my guess is they would not be. FYI, I've been doing taxidermy over 20 years.

 

[go_deep]

What's the daytime high air temp, and is the pond in the shade?

 

[Rambo]

Thank you Scott7930, I appreciate your input.

go_deep, the pond is in full sun but daytime temps have been in the 40’s Monday and Tuesday but Sunday was nearly 60. Again, unknown when they died.

 

[go_deep]

Thank you Scott7930, I appreciate your input.

go_deep, the pond is in full sun but daytime temps have been in the 40’s Monday and Tuesday but Sunday was nearly 60. Again, unknown when they died.

I would guess that if you pull on the hair, it'll come out rather easy. If you told me around freezing for highs, pond has ice on it, mostly shaded, you'd probably be fine. Once you get your hands on them pull hard on some hair around the rump area. Hair comes out, you need new capes.
Also if they're bloated their rotting from the inside out, not worth trying either.

 

[Billy Goat]

I think Iowa salvage tags can't be mounted, FYI.


Could be wrong.

 

[Rambo]

I’ve never heard that, but we’ll definitely look into that Billy Goat. Thank you.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

[TheTone]

Locked bucks look great as a euro IMO. I’ve got two sets. It’s great to be able to actually hold them and look at them. Whatever he does don’t pull them apart

 

[TaperPin]

No taxidermist will want to work with capes that are questionable at best. Just going through the caping/tanning process only to find they aren’t usable isnt free - two bad capes is twice as expensive - even if clients say they don’t mind paying twice if it doesn’t work out, they don’t really. At least my taxidermist would say no way unless two known good capes are used.