Take Care of Your Trophies!!!

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

Just a reminder....this is the time of year to take care of your trophies/trophy room. With the onset of cold weather bugs tend to move into heated spaces, ie...your house. Such bugs that can be super destructive to mounts are carpet beetles, mites, weevils, etc. Bugs like this can chew on the pedicles of the hair ends on mounts, most of the time completely unseen until it is too late, causing bare spots secondary to hair loss. Areas that are notorious for this damage is around the eyes, nose, and especially the pedicles around the antler/horn bases. Let face it, at the end of the day your trophy is a persevered piece of jerky and its an inviting spot to bugs looking for some leather snacks. I've seen/heard of damage occurring from ANY household or location, doesn't matter if you believe your house is well sealed up or not.
Therefore, this is a good time of year to inspect, clean, and bug bomb your areas containing your memorable trophies. Use a lightly damp cloth and wipe down animals in the direction the hair, stay away from the eye, nose, and mouth areas with any moisture; use a dry cloth or keyboard air-can for that. Wipe down antlers and horns first with damp cloth. Use either a commercial antler/horn conditioner or even a cloth sprayed down with WD40 will work great as well. This restores luster and oils to dehydrated antler/horn material. Just keep it away from the hair.  Finally, bug-bomb your trophy area. I've used quite a few different brands, and I really like Hot Shot Fogger with Odor Neutralizer, pic below. It gets into hard to reach areas, smells good, doesn't leave a residue, and is long lasting. Just don't hang around in the area after you spray for a few hours! I bomb the shop/studio every other month with this product, just a precaution, especially in working with my flesh eating bugs (in a different building on the property, but still....)
Additional three things that are horrible for mounts....Smoke, direct sunlight, and moisture....just fyi.
Good taxidermy with PROPER tanning techniques and care of your mounts will make them last a lifetime. Best of luck to everyone in the upcoming rifle season!

Joel/BlackRiver Taxidermy

[Sundance]

Thank you in for taking the time to write this. What antler conditioner would you recommended if I didn’t want to use WD-40?

[greenhead_killer]

Perfect! I was just thinking on looking into this. Thanks for the detailed breakdown!

[zwickeyman]

Great advice, thanks

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

Thank you in for taking the time to write this. What antler conditioner would you recommended if I didn’t want to use WD-40?

Any of the commercial ones work good. I actually like to use Watco brand 'Light Walnut' Danish oil, put it on a rag and wipe the horns/antlers down. The color will not change but merely 'enhance' darker points. Ive used a couple of different commercial brands but this is my favorite with how this finishes the antlers/horns out.

[CaNINE]

greatly appreciate you reaching out with these tips.  I have a buddy who didn't notice bugs were making a home on his Canada Moose mount until it was too late.  All the hair around ears and antler bases is now gone.  Looks horrible.  He build a plastic sheeting area around the mount and bug bombed it.  No more bugs but what a shame.  Lesson learned.  I now give all my mounts a good inspection every few months.

[wadu1]

How would I clean a bear rug that a cat pissed on, more than once?

[pd]

How would I clean a bear rug that a cat pissed on, more than once?

Step One: Get rid of the cat.

(Sorry.  I would be sorely tempted.)

[millerwheeler]

For the cat .22 should be a good fix for the future as for the rug good luck on that

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

How would I clean a bear rug that a cat pissed on, more than once?

Step One: Get rid of the cat.

(Sorry.  I would be sorely tempted.)

Nothing takes out cat urine smell, especially in leather that it’s soaked into....your kind of screwed. Mount the cat!

[npaull]

Joel are there any products you’d recommend that can be sprayed directly on a mount if you just want to treat one preventatively for bugs?

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

Joel are there any products you’d recommend that can be sprayed directly on a mount if you just want to treat one preventatively for bugs?

The product I pictured you can, just 'haze' it. Unfortunately most products that have a 'penetrating' factor are an aerosol that require absence of the area for a while due to asphyxiation concerns, which is how it kills the bugs.

[npaull]

So you just sorta spray that product on the mount?