Antler Removal

[RustyJr]

Well . . . thanks to the good Lord I managed to shoot another deer this year. Used my Hawkeye in 270 Winchester again. Thought it was a doe and ended up being a cowhorn spike. I am wanting to take the antlers and make a gun rack with them. Already figured out how I want to do it (antlers attached to a board backer). Question is . . . Is there a way to remove the antlers from the skull without using a hack saw on the skull? Will boiling cause the antlers to detach from the skull? Thanks in advance.

RustyJr

[86er]

Boiling is not going to do it. Unfortunately you have to cut them off. If it was literally a few hours dead or a very late season buck you might be able to try another method but this does not seem to be what you are dealing with. You can either cut the skull or cut off each antler below the pedestal. You can cut the skull and then drill up into the antler and work it loose but that is risky, messy and difficult. Once you cut them off you can run a double sided screw into the antler or drill a hollow and use Gorilla glue to seat a wooden dowel in there. That'll be your attachment point to your base whether you decide it's the screw or the dowel.

[AJMD429]

I have cut off antlers with a hacksaw parallel to the outer surface of the skull, when we had a buck that got car-hit and wandered off into a field and died. No cutting through the skull, and it gave a decent chunk of antler with a good base.