antler coloring

[runningboard]

question; my daughter got a whitetail buck with nice dark chocolate colored antlers, after skinning, dressing, hanging the antlers are getting lighter in color and are approaching yellow. what's going on? anything I can do to keep them dark or return them to darkness?

[spur_ride]

   i've never heard of that befor. weird. 

[bow4elk]

  i've never heard of that befor. weird. 

me either...strange?  Can you take a photo and post?

[runningboard]

I only have a picture when she got it just now, I'll take a picture of it later and post. was only like 24-30 hours

[bucklucky]

Are they just drying out??

[Joe_Hunter]

I know I Know

You have a pesky squirrel

[HerdBull]

Get any Bleach on them at all? 

I have a 350 Elk shed that I found.  Is slightly bleached naturally.  Thought perhaps putting a little mineral oil on it might help bring out the darker tones.  But then it would attract dust.  Has anyone got an idea for this one?

[Joe_Hunter]

herdbull:
 Most taxidermy supply companies sell antler stain. some guys will use wood stain and even others will use  oil base paints available from most crafting stores. I've used all and have had good results with all. I will say that sheds have the tendency to not take stain very well so several applications may be necessary to get a good effect.
Good luck
I would also suggest to searching "antler staining" on www.taxidermy.net
 

[the1rod]

Well i don't know how long it will last, but my dad had an old set of antlers that had bleached out, when he got his deer this year he rubbed some blood on the old antlers, it rubbed into them and darkened them up real good. like i said, i don't know how long it will lasts, but it looks good for now.

[BLKBEARKLR]

Pictures would help, I usually use a couple of dark stains to re-color the antlers in. If they are drying out and you have them outside it could slightly change the colors, but not bad.

If you are going to use stain, wipe it on, leave it sit for a couple of seconds then wipe it right back off.

Some of the stains you get at the taxidermy supply company's will not put them back to dark, unless you play with them quite a bit.

[Sneaky]

A paper towel with some hard used diesel motor oil works great on bleached out sheds. Use sparingly.

[huntandjeep]

 i used wild antler magic on a couple sets of my sheds.  works pretty good got it at www.wildantlercreations.com

[fishcrazy]

My dad shot a whitetail 2 years ago that did the same thing. It was wet when he shot it and had that cool chocolate color. As the horns dried they had a more normal lighter color.



Kris

[MtnMuley]

Indeed weird!  Must have been wet antlers....