Stripping Velvet

[Whip]

I'll be headed to AK the last part of August and am assuming that caribou will still be in velvet if I'm lucky enough to get one. Unless it would be something truly special I'm planning on a euro mount. Most likely would need to strip velvet and then have the antlers stained by a taxidermist later. Any tips on stripping velvet, and also on preparing the skull for shipment home on the airline? I'm not concerned about scoring, so would likely cut one antler off to nest for shipping and have it pinned back in place by the taxi.
Does this sound like an easy plan, or what other suggestions are there?

 

[Mykolaivka887]

It peels off the bone easily, like a banana, or even easier than that. It'll sluff off simply from rough handling.

 

[Hydroguy]

We were able to leave our velvet on our caribou last year, but we weren't doing euro's. My buddy did a shoulder mound and I just did an antler mount with velvet on it. We took Velvalock with us and that did a great job of preserving the velvet. Here is a link to thier product. https://www.velvetantlertechnologies.com/products/velvalok-velvet-antler-preservative.

 

[Hydroguy]

Your plan to cut one antler and nest them together to ship home is a good plan. Are you planning to boil out your skull before shipping?

 

[Whip]

Your plan to cut one antler and nest them together to ship home is a good plan. Are you planning to boil out your skull before shipping?

Cleaning the skull will likely be the hardest part. I won't have a way to boil it, and I know getting it clean enough to fly with is going to be a lot of work, especially the brain cavity. Any tips or suggestions are appreciated! If I can't get it clean enough for a full euro I'll just have to cut the skull plate.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Cleaning the skull will likely be the hardest part. I won't have a way to boil it, and I know getting it clean enough to fly with is going to be a lot of work, especially the brain cavity. Any tips or suggestions are appreciated! If I can't get it clean enough for a full euro I'll just have to cut the skull plate.

This has always worked for me:

Remove as much exterior skull meat as possible, and use a wire coat hangar - bent into a hook at the end of the wire - to remove as much brain matter as possible. Then liberally salt. Salt again. Maybe salt again, all the while air drying as long as possible. Then, when it comes time to package for your flight home, wrap and double wrap and triple wrap the skull in heavy plastic, and then duct tape the hell out of the plastic, so nothing happens to leak.

Have a good time.

 

[medvedyt]

if you not far from a lake try to put the skull in the water. fish and insects will take care of blood meat and brain ...