Transporting Velvet Antlers

CFMuley · Mar 11, 2021

I’ll be going on a caribou hunt the last 2 weeks of July and I was wondering what the best preservation option is for treating antlers when you don’t have a lot of time to let them dry before they’ll be shipped home.

JakeH · Mar 13, 2021

There's a new product called velvelock that would work.

bugleb · Mar 15, 2021

dump borax on them then freeze dry them if possible. Vacuum off the excess borax when they are dry.

littlebighorn · Mar 16, 2021

My son and I were fortunate enough to kill two giant velvet caribou in the NWT in 2010. In anticipation of the hunt, I sent the outfitter a container of formaldehyde and a syringe with a needle. As soon as we were able to get our caribou back to base camp we injected the crap out of them. It worked great.
Below are the before and after of my results.
The problem is, sending that stuff in the mail is probably illegal and even after we injected them Canada required us to have a Canadian taxidermist inspect them and hold them for two weeks before they could be shipped to the US.
It was also very pricey ($800+) to crate them hole and ship them. Mine scored, at the time, top 10 in the world B&C if I wanted to strip the velvet and have him scored, so I didn't split the horns. As you can see, I just couldn't let the velvet go for a stupid score.
Long story short, if I were doing it over again, I'd see if the outfitter had a good taxidermist that could do the work for you. Mine had that option, but I didn't take it but it would have been a lot more economical.
If you are going to Canada be sure to check the horn shipping requirements, especially with velvet. If you are going to Alaska, it's a totally different ball game, but your outfitter should be able to help you.
Best of luck.

CFMuley · Mar 16, 2021

JakeH said:
There's a new product called velvelock that would work.

I’ve looked into velvalok. I spoke with the owner and he said they’d need 4-5 days to completely dry and I don’t know if we’ll have that kind of time.

CFMuley · Mar 16, 2021

bugleb said:
dump borax on them then freeze dry them if possible. Vacuum off the excess borax when they are dry.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I definitely won’t have a freeze dryer available.

CFMuley · Mar 16, 2021

littlebighorn said:
My son and I were fortunate enough to kill two giant velvet caribou in the NWT in 2010. In anticipation of the hunt, I sent the outfitter a container of formaldehyde and a syringe with a needle. As soon as we were able to get our caribou back to base camp we injected the crap out of them. It worked great.
Below are the before and after of my results.
The problem is, sending that stuff in the mail is probably illegal and even after we injected them Canada required us to have a Canadian taxidermist inspect them and hold them for two weeks before they could be shipped to the US.
It was also very pricey ($800+) to crate them hole and ship them. Mine scored, at the time, top 10 in the world B&C if I wanted to strip the velvet and have him scored, so I didn't split the horns. As you can see, I just couldn't let the velvet go for a stupid score.
Long story short, if I were doing it over again, I'd see if the outfitter had a good taxidermist that could do the work for you. Mine had that option, but I didn't take it but it would have been a lot more economical.
If you are going to Canada be sure to check the horn shipping requirements, especially with velvet. If you are going to Alaska, it's a totally different ball game, but your outfitter should be able to help you.
Best of luck.

View attachment 35298

View attachment 35299

Thank you for the suggestions, that’s the direction I’ve been thinking we’ll be going. I’ll be in Alaska unguided. I was anticipating on splitting skull caps to reduce the cost of bringing them back. How long do you think it took for them to be completely preserved and ready to ship after being injected? Your mount looks great!

roadrunner · Mar 17, 2021

Maybe an option is to have a taxi in AK freeze dry them and then have them shipped to you?

Freeze drying, when done done properly, is a long process - several weeks.

If injecting, handle the horns as little as possible to avoid collapsing blood vessels and you should drain them prior to injecting.

littlebighorn · Mar 20, 2021

CFMuley said:
Thank you for the suggestions, that’s the direction I’ve been thinking we’ll be going. I’ll be in Alaska unguided. I was anticipating on splitting skull caps to reduce the cost of bringing them back. How long do you think it took for them to be completely preserved and ready to ship after being injected? Your mount looks great!

The problem with injecting them is they can continue to bleed. I really don't know how long that could occur. On our flight from the NWT to Edmonton we had them in giant plastic bags, but the bags were transparent. When we got them to drop off to the taxidermist it was obvious that they had continued to bleed. That was probably almost a week after we shot them. We thought they were good when we boarded the plane but I'm sure the pressure in the baggage compartment didn't help.
I'd try to find a good taxidermist in Alaska that would take care of them, let them dry and ship them to you. I don't know anyone that freeze dries them but that could be a good option if you can find someone up there.
I obviously think it's worth the effort to save the velvet if at all possible. Fuzzy Caribou are very impressive! Good luck

SS! · Mar 20, 2021

CFMuley said:
I’ll be going on a caribou hunt the last 2 weeks of July and I was wondering what the best preservation option is for treating antlers when you don’t have a lot of time to let them dry before they’ll be shipped home.

Are you flying into Fairbanks or anchorage? If anchorage Knights Taxidermy will freeze dry them for you. PM me for details. I could ship them to you when done. It costs 1.10 a lb to ship them so it’s pretty cheap.

Chesterwyo · Mar 20, 2021

Isn’t there a guy who transports hunters processed meat and antlers in an 18 wheeler to the lower 48 at the end of the season?

SS! · Mar 20, 2021

Chesterwyo said:
Isn’t there a guy who transports hunters processed meat and antlers in an 18 wheeler to the lower 48 at the end of the season?

Yes but he’s not setup in July. Just September. Also the velvet racks get no guarantee from damage.

nontypical · Mar 22, 2021

littlebighorn said:
My son and I were fortunate enough to kill two giant velvet caribou in the NWT in 2010. In anticipation of the hunt, I sent the outfitter a container of formaldehyde and a syringe with a needle. As soon as we were able to get our caribou back to base camp we injected the crap out of them. It worked great.
Below are the before and after of my results.
The problem is, sending that stuff in the mail is probably illegal and even after we injected them Canada required us to have a Canadian taxidermist inspect them and hold them for two weeks before they could be shipped to the US.
It was also very pricey ($800+) to crate them hole and ship them. Mine scored, at the time, top 10 in the world B&C if I wanted to strip the velvet and have him scored, so I didn't split the horns. As you can see, I just couldn't let the velvet go for a stupid score.
Long story short, if I were doing it over again, I'd see if the outfitter had a good taxidermist that could do the work for you. Mine had that option, but I didn't take it but it would have been a lot more economical.
If you are going to Canada be sure to check the horn shipping requirements, especially with velvet. If you are going to Alaska, it's a totally different ball game, but your outfitter should be able to help you.
Best of luck.

View attachment 35298

View attachment 35299

Awesome bull LBH!