# Removing fungus and recoloring antlers



## jwatts

Back in January I shot a buck and decided to do a euro mount on it. Being as it was still hunting season I didn't want to fool with the normal cleaning process. A neighbor told me of a method he tried so I decided to give it a shot. I skinned and fleshed the head, tied a rope around it, and chunked it in a catfish pond.

Fast forward to today. I pulled the head up. It has been picked clean. I have had it degreasing in warm water most of the afternoon and it is coming clean and looking good. The problem is, the antlers are covered in pond scum. I am having a difficult time getting it to come off. Does anybody have a suggestion as to how I can get it off of there? Also the antlers look a lot lighter in color than before I threw it in the pond. Is there anything I can use to restore the color?


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## Matt D

What did you put in the warm water as a degreasing agent? Sometimes wts can be greasy, and other times, they don't require a strong degreaser. As far as the algae/fungus on the antlers, you should be able to clean them up with a mild detergent. It sounds like you are going to have to stain them and you can do that with potasium permanganate. Just remember alittle goes a long way, and I would recommend wearing gloves as it will stain you hands.


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## mathewdbl_lung

I don't know about the pond scum but I have recolored the bases of antlers with light wood stain, q-tips and a small paint brush. You can't tell that its not natural.


That being said* I AM NOT A TAXIDERMIST *by any means!!!

Good luck with your project. Please post before and after pic.


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## BlCreekTaxdermy

Take a power washer to the antlers or go to your local car wash & pressure wash the pond scum off. There is a good chance the antlers will be stained green in some places. Either way you are more than likely going to have to stain your antlers like Matt said. If you have never used potasium permanganate, dont freak out when you see its purple, it dries brown. LOL


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## jwatts

Thanks for the ideas. I am using dawn dish soap and an old fish cooker to degrease the skull. I heated it to 120 to 140 degrees and let it soak for a few hours yesterday. I am going to do the same again today.

If scrubbing doesn't get the pond scum off I will hit it with a pressure washer. I will also look into the potasium permanganate.

I will try to get a few pics up this afternoon.


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## kevinsulikowski

my question is how did you not loose the teeth or the nasal bones in the pond or did you


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## jwatts

]I didn't lose any teeth or any of the nasal bones. They were all very much intact. I did notice they started to free up some after I soaked the skull in the warm water, but they seemed to set back up after it cooled and dried.

Here are a few pictures after I let it dry overnight. The skull cleaned up pretty nice. I am wanting to leave the natural color as opposed to using peroxide to whiten it since I am mounting it on some rough cut cypress. I am attaching a few pictures that show the discoloration of the antlers. It isn't quite as bad as I initially thought it was going to be. I scrubbed the fungus off as much as I could before I put it up to dry for the night.


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## jwatts

Also, where can I get the potassium permanganate?


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## cgthes

I use a dark wood stain (provincial) is the color rub it on with a rag and then wipe off the excess. I have done this on numerous racks and it brings them right back to life.


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## jwatts

I soaked it in warm soapy water a few more times and it cleaned good. The smell went away as well. I still need to recolor the antlers. I decided to go ahead and make the plaque and get the skull mounted up. I intended to have a backboard with a plaque in the outline of the skull mounted at an angle. The rough cut cypress I used was pretty dry and kept cracking when I tried to cut the outline. I decided instead to mount the skull itself at an angle off of the backboard. Here are a few pictures after I finished it.


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