Velvet Preservation

[Renegade14]

Well, if I get a caribou next month the wife said she wants a shoulder mount with "fuzzy antlers". Wondering if anyone has recommendations for someone in Fairbanks to preserve velvet and ship the antlers? I haven't seen anything about Al trying to start back up and his number doesn't seem to work, but a lot of people have good things to say about him. If he's trying to get going again he'd be my first choice to send my money to, but I imagine it's hard to rebuild business after everything. The only other name I've seen thrown around is RJ at ProTaxidermy, but that was from another forum from 2012. Thoughts? Recommendations? Thanks!

 

[thayerp81]

When I talked to Santa's Smokehouse the other day, they said Al was working there now to pass the time, so you may be able to reach him and still see if he would be able to help with preservation and shipping.

RJ may also be able to help you out, he's gotten out of the taxidermy business but is still in business doing airboat transportation up the haul road (Blown Away Airboat Adventures) he is our transporter this fall and he mentioned to me that he can help with preservation and shipping to a taxidermist if I needed, not sure if he's willing to help non-clients but it certainly wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

[ganngus]

Last year we used velvalok, split skull cap in half, and stacked/wrapped and flew with them in checked luggage.

 

[mobohunter]

Last year we used velvalok, split skull cap in half, and stacked/wrapped and flew with them in checked luggage.

So this works pretty good then?

 

[ganngus]

So this works pretty good then?

Yea. My taxidermist showed me how to do a v cut in skull cap. If doing shoulder mount, they can just glue it back together.

 

[kwackkillncrew]

Their website says for optimum results they need to be in 80 degree dry weather... might be tough to find those conditions up here in august/sept

Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk

 

[jdmaxwell]

We also used Velvalok on 2 bulls. Worked great

 

[Beendare]

Interesting, I had never heard of Velvalok. Alcohol based.

We used to inject with Formaldehyde- which I don't recommend as its nasty stuff. We would do that to flush out the blood that can rot later.

Then later buddies have had them freeze dried to good results which I'm surprised as I would think humidity over time would cause rot.

Has anyone done this Velevalok and had it last for many years- long term success stories? [I don't know when it first came out]

 

[medvedyt]

when i guided we used as to inject with Formaldehyde. i learnt that some taxidermists are able to do fake velvet but i do not know at all the process.

 

[Renegade14]

I'll look into velvalok and see what my taxidermist thinks, maybe it'll at least preserve it long enough for him to treat the antlers when we get them home. I'd imagine doing that and checking them on the flight would be the cheapest way to go.

I've also gotta call Santas Smokehouse to ask about meat storage anyways so it won't hurt to ask about Al and what he's doing.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[30338]

My velvet caribou shot in 1993 looks great still. We have a group of 12 and 1 guy was a taxidermist. He injected all the bulls with formaldehyde. Just a sample of 1 but 29 years and 6 cross country moves later its looking great.

 

[austinaz2008]

When I talked to Santa's Smokehouse the other day, they said Al was working there now to pass the time, so you may be able to reach him and still see if he would be able to help with preservation and shipping.

RJ may also be able to help you out, he's gotten out of the taxidermy business but is still in business doing airboat transportation up the haul road (Blown Away Airboat Adventures) he is our transporter this fall and he mentioned to me that he can help with preservation and shipping to a taxidermist if I needed, not sure if he's willing to help non-clients but it certainly wouldn't hurt to ask.

Al did a great job on mine in 22.

 

[280rem]

Never heard of velvalok. But I found it easiest to strip the velvet and have artificial velvet done. Just take really good pictures of the velvet so they can match the color exactly. Mine looked exactly like when I shot it, it had the fullness of when I actually shot it. Seems like actual preserved velvet dries and shrinks and doesn’t have the same fullness and look later. Don’t think I’d do it any other way and simplifies what you have to deal with in the field and transporting. Oh it will make you sick to strip it at first but the results were AWESOME!

 

[jdmaxwell]

Never heard of velvalok. But I found it easiest to strip the velvet and have artificial velvet done. Just take really good pictures of the velvet so they can match the color exactly. Mine looked exactly like when I shot it, it had the fullness of when I actually shot it. Seems like actual preserved velvet dries and shrinks and doesn’t have the same fullness and look later. Don’t think I’d do it any other way and simplifies what you have to deal with in the field and transporting. Oh it will make you sick to strip it at first but the results were AWESOME!

From someone that used Velvalock, my bull velvet looks amazing and just like when it was live. No drying or shrinking.
My experience