Velvet care

[PastorJoel]

I scored a fresh blacktail doe yesterday afternoon and the shortly after a fresh 3 pt. buck (ROADKILL)

The buck is still in velvet and some of it is messed up from the impact with the vehicle.  What's a low effort to preserve it.  I'm not concerned about quality, just hoping they don't stink.

Thanks!

[724wd]

I toss them in the freezer in an UNSEALED bag for a couple years. cheap freeze dry.

[dreadi]

I have a 3 year old euro mount of a spike elk that was still in velvet when I shot him.  You don't need to do anything to it. Just let it alone.

[HillHound]

I have one I picked up that broke off a road kill buck about 10 years ago and velvet still looks good. I poked holes in the end of each tine with a needle and hung it upside down in the sun.

[DeerSkin]

The fastest way to save the velvet that I have used is to get a gallon of acetone. Take the antlers And hang them up side down in your garage, poke a hole in the end of each antler tip or cut a small X. Brush the acetone on starting from the pedicels and letting the acetone soak into the velvet working it’s way down each antler tip. If you don’t mind the mess I also just poor the acetone heavily on the antlers. Use your hands and squeeze out the blood as you work down the antlers tines. The acetone will dry out all the blood inside. I will repeat this multiple times then set up a fan and let it hang. I’ll repeat this for 2-3 days or until the end of each antler tip doesn’t wiggle anymore and the velvet is tight to the antler the more acetone you use the better, I’ll go through the whole gallon jug on one rack.  Flys are going to be your enemy, they will try and lay eggs in the velvet so the acetone will help keep them off. 

[DeerSkin]

This is a road kill bull I got last year. You can see in the pic I hung the antlers upside down, then took a bed sheet to make a closed off area then set up an a/c and Fan to help with the drying process. The velvet will rot fast when it’s hot outside.

[DeerSkin]

Here is another one I did last year for a friend using the same acetone method.

[PastorJoel]

Thanks for all of your input!

[PastorJoel]

Thanks all for the advice.

I ended up being pretty busy and next thing I know, the antlers are super stinky and flies have laid eggs in it.  I ended up removing the velvet and soaking them in oxyclean.

[Donaker]

I got a August Sitka blacktail (in Alaska) in prime velvet and preserved the antlers in the freezer.  I did absolutely nothing to the antlers aside from cleaning the skull, and put them uncovered in my deep freezer for about a year.  That was about 3 years ago and they are still in mint condition.  I've had friends use the same technique for as little as about 3 months.