Velvet preservation

[realunlucky]

There's a few threads on early season velvet preservation, but I'm curious if there are any new products out there that work?

What are you using, and how do you like the finished results? Post a picture I'd love to see.

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[bowhuntercoop]

Guess I’m weird, I strip it off every whitetail and mule deer I kill in velvet. Looks like crap anyways even when a taxidermist preserves it….best way I’ve found is hang em, poke holes to let the blood drain, then pump em with formaldehyde.

 

[280Ackley]

I poked small holes in each tip of my son’s whitetail and froze it for 2-1/2 years in the deep freezer. It still looks fantastic after almost 10 years now.

 

[taxidermybycam]

There's a snake oil sales man no pun intended company. I think it's called like velvalok technologies or something,whatever anyone does don't buy it. It's a scam artist that got some advertising money. You look at the ingredients list on the bottle. It's denatured alcohol mixed with 'proprietary fragrances" it's a black bottle and there's one taxidermy company selling it. They say many taxidermists recommend it. They don't. No sane or good taxidermist would recommend it. Some need freeze dried and a lot just need to sit in pure denatured alcohol to cure.

 

[Beendare]

I would still only do freeze dried.

If there is one thing I would change in my life its chemical exposure- especially formaldehyde.

 

[Tony Nile]

Rapid cooling a freeze dry is by far the best way to go.
In '22 I shot a bull elk in late May in AZ. Got it to my taxidermist about 15 hours later. minimal mass loss, no problems with the velvet slipping

 

[displacedtexan]

Ha!

I was searching this last night.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I have a freeze dried Sitka blacktail from 2020 that has held up fine.

 

[displacedtexan]

I have a freeze dried Sitka blacktail from 2020 that has held up fine.

I'm starting to seriously think about just taking a small chest freezer and the little generator.

 

[LongWayAround]

I have one velvet mount that was freeze dried from 2015-2017 (not sure). Looks the same, no smell.

 

[Tony Nile]

To cntinue my earlier post - pics from in the field and today. I tried to line today's pics up to the field pics form 4 yrs ago.

 

[MattB]

An archery shop owner here in CA swears by Velvalok. He sells many dozens of bottles each year and his clients have provided nothing but positive feedback on the product. The one time I used it, the results were great. The webbing in my buck's antlers were dry and stiff within ~48 of treatment. We did a buck my buddy killed two weekends ago and it worked well for him. His taxidermist asked if he had treated it or if he was going to have to Velvalok it once he received it - for whatever that is worth.

Just make sure you read the directions before using it (antler tips up, spray hard 1" or so from the antlers so the liquid penetrates to the membrane, leave the antlers in direct sunlight and 80+ degrees for a few days after treatment). One bottle will treat most deer, but you would likely need more for bigger critters.

 

[Willie IV]

We freeze dried our caribou antlers and they turned out perfect. Expensive but totally worth it in my opinion!

 

[taxidermybycam]

An archery shop owner here in CA swears by Velvalok. He sells many dozens of bottles each year and his clients have provided nothing but positive feedback on the product. The one time I used it, the results were great. The webbing in my buck's antlers were dry and stiff within ~48 of treatment. We did a buck my buddy killed two weekends ago and it worked well for him. His taxidermist asked if he had treated it or if he was going to have to Velvalok it once he received it - for whatever that is worth.

Just make sure you read the directions before using it (antler tips up, spray hard 1" or so from the antlers so the liquid penetrates to the membrane, leave the antlers in direct sunlight and 80+ degrees for a few days after treatment). One bottle will treat most deer, but you would likely need more for bigger critters.

It's denatured alcohol,same exact stuff you get at home Depot. It just has some glade or febreeze oils added to it. Hunters can be sold anything. Just look at energy drinks,add some camo to the can and bam ,you upsell and cater towards hunters. Or add some camouflage realtree camo to Crocs and charge 10 bucks more. A quart of dentatured alcohol is 7 bucks at Walmart you might need two for most applications.

If I ever got into the scam market I will package baking soda into a spray and call it scent killer spray. Or just rebottle some water and pinesol mixture and sell it as mount cleaner.

How you preserve the velvet is determined by the state and age of the rack ,if it's bulbous and bloody and fleshy ,it must be freeze dried. If it's sort of fleshy and bulbous but also sort of hard underneath ,it can be injected with alcohol and bit of formaldehyde or formalin,if it's hard velvet it's fine to just dry on. The velvet you see sometimes in October whitetails,the strips of it that sort of peels off like a bandaid . And in some cases the velvet gets stripped off the bone if it's in the half way or 3/4 state and then replaced with artificial velvet

 

[LongWayAround]

@taxidermybycam what would you actually suggest for cleaning a velvet mount?

I have one velvet muley in the living room adjacent to my kitchen. I'm almost nervous to take it down because I'm sure it's disgusting with greasy bacon smoke and dust.

 

[taxidermybycam]

@taxidermybycam what would you actually suggest for cleaning a velvet mount?

I have one velvet muley in the living room adjacent to my kitchen. I'm almost nervous to take it down because I'm sure it's disgusting with greasy bacon smoke and dust.

You'll wanna know if it's artificial velvet or real. A lot of taxis do artificial depending on the stage it was in and preferred method.
Feather duster and air compressor with air trigger at like 30 psi something light. For both.

If it's got bacon grease in it or stuff is caked into it. And it's real ,you should do feather duster and air compressor first. Then you can move onto like maybe a little bit of Windex thinned with water or simple green from Walmart if it's really caked in.

Artificial velvet. I'd be a little spooked. Feather duster and air compressor should be ok, but if it's got grease and stuff caked in,I'd be worried about putting liquid around it or heavy because it could rehydrate the glue that the velvet is one there with. It might be touch and go with that.

 

[LongWayAround]

Thanks Cam, it's real velvet I hadn't heard the Windex trick. I'll give that a go.

 

[justin davis]

I use formaldehyde. Injection with a syringe

 

[MattB]

It's denatured alcohol,same exact stuff you get at home Depot. It just has some glade or febreeze oils added to it. Hunters can be sold anything. Just look at energy drinks,add some camo to the can and bam ,you upsell and cater towards hunters. Or add some camouflage realtree camo to Crocs and charge 10 bucks more. A quart of dentatured alcohol is 7 bucks at Walmart you might need two for most applications.

If I ever got into the scam market I will package baking soda into a spray and call it scent killer spray. Or just rebottle some water and pinesol mixture and sell it as mount cleaner.

How you preserve the velvet is determined by the state and age of the rack ,if it's bulbous and bloody and fleshy ,it must be freeze dried. If it's sort of fleshy and bulbous but also sort of hard underneath ,it can be injected with alcohol and bit of formaldehyde or formalin,if it's hard velvet it's fine to just dry on. The velvet you see sometimes in October whitetails,the strips of it that sort of peels off like a bandaid . And in some cases the velvet gets stripped off the bone if it's in the half way or 3/4 state and then replaced with artificial velvet

Sorry that Velvalok hasn’t worked for you. Use what you like for all the velvet PA bucks you receive from your clients and we will continue to use what we know works in a state where the vast majority of our archery bucks are killed while still in velvet.

How much cheaper is the fake velvet or freeze drying than the $35 it costs for a bottle of Velvalok?

 

[taxidermybycam]

Sorry that Velvalok hasn’t worked for you. Use what you like for all the velvet PA bucks you receive from your clients and we will continue to use what we know works in a state where the vast majority of our archery bucks are killed while still in velvet.

How much cheaper is the fake velvet or freeze drying than the $35 it costs for a bottle of Velvalok?

Fake velvet on wt deer rack can go from 160-400 depends who does it. Freeze dry can be the same. What I'm saying is there's no one size fits all. Some racks have to be freeze dried some don't. If the bone isn't hard underneath it has to be freeze dried or you're gonna have bugs and blood rotting all over your mount or skull. It's not black and white pick and choose what you method you want. If your deer rack is close to done growing and the velvet is almost done then yes you can use alcohol. Or strip it and go artificial . If it isn't then you must do freeze dry . A spray bottle will not solidify a bone structure or blood vessels that aren't done growing.
If I grow pumpkins and I pick the pumpkin in July when it's still wet and growing it's gonna rot. If I way until September when it's hard and green ,it will get orange and ripen and be ok . I'm not sure how else to explain that to a non taxidermist.