rainy day deer mount

[hornhunter1987]

my grampa gave me a set of 135"ish blacktail horns that im wanting to get mounted. He put a coat of gloss on them so I was wondering if a shoulder mount could be mounted so it looked like it was wet. I was thinking it would match the horns so they looked wet instead of just having a coat of gloss on them. If any taxidermist or anyone else that knows could chime in and tell me if this is possible it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[cedarriver]

Yes it would be possible, but once you do it I don't think there would be any going back. lol.

[hornhunter1987]

thanks for the reply. what do you mean by "no going back"? If I was to not like it the hide would not be able to go back "dry"? how would you do it? comb in a epoxy or something? thanks again!

[Elk Plain Taxidermy]

You could always try stripping the gloss off. I did that with a set of mule deer antlers that were in a cabinet shop for over 10 years and were covered in gloss.

[Elkstuffer]

The best thing I found for the wet look is gloss Modge Podge. But Cedar is right, there is "No going back". In my opinion you are better off stripping the antlers. It's not fun though. I put about 10 hours into a set that was in a bar for 20+ yrs. Had the shelac and nicotine about a 16th inch thick. Acetone and real fine steel wool and a lot of patience 

[FSTaxidermy]

I would also try to strip the shellac off of them.  I used the acetone removal process also (the shellac wasn't as thick as yours Ric ) and it worked well to just wet a rag and wrap the antlers a section at a time (need to cover the rag to slow down the evaporation).  Let it set for a few hrs. each section and the shellac wiped off without to much strain.

hornhunter, you could also add some snow on the buck to simulate wet weather 

[Elkstuffer]

This is the buck with the shelac removed and a new cape. The old mount was just a big blob of yellow goo 

Snow would be a neat addition to the mount as Duane suggested.

[Natures Way]

You could just use dullcoat and be done in 5 min.

[daydreamn]

You could just use dullcoat and be done in 5 min.

[hornhunter1987]

Thanks for the input guys! I'm not wanting to remove the shellac though. seems like almost every black tail I've shot has been in the rain or wet from a previous rain so that's what I'm wanting to recreate. The snow is a really good idea but it doesn't scream black tail to me. If anyone has a picture of a wet looking deer mount I would love to see it. thanks again.