I was thinking about taking an old set of white tail antlers from a buck my uncle shot (he passed a while back) and making a set of rattling antlers out of them. To do this would mean cutting the antlers off of the skull plate. I have scoured the WAC's and RCW's and the hunting regulations and can't find anywhere where it is illegal. I know for proof of sex the antlers need to be attached to a skull plate, but this animal has long been consumed so that's not an issue. I know that having a set of sawn antlers might look bad, but from what I can tell its not illegal as long as the deer was legally taken. Anybody ever ran into this?
And I know I could just use a set of sheds for this, but I want to use this set of antlers for two reasons. The first, and most important, is to have them with me as a reminder of past hunting trips with my uncle and to have a little piece of him with me while I'm out there hunting. And the other is this is a good set for the purpose. Its a mature 3x3 with fairly good mass but not a big frame so they will pack easier but still have the sound of big mature bucks.
