DIY Antler Mounting

[Musky hunter 82]

Hey guys I just saw this and wanted post a couple of picture of 2 deer that I have done. The first is of my wife's first nice buck, and the second is of my biggest buck. I also did one for a co-worker this year, I have the process down to around 3-4 hours.

[leech~~]

Nice work on them. Most woman don't like seeing the skull part of mounts. Maybe you can post your process?

[Musky hunter 82]

The process I used to do the Euro mounts or to get my wife to like the skull mounts????

[BLACKJACK]

Just show some pictures of the mounting process and we'll be satisfied!!!

[hockeybc69]

There are many pictures of the process in this thread in the previous pages.

[DonBo]

Just show some pictures of the mounting process and we'll be satisfied!!!

[slimngrizzly]

ooookay.....

[Musky hunter 82]

[Beagler_Wes]

Hello all. New here, but wanted to say thanks to everyone here. Your photos helped my dad and I mount a set of antlers from this year. 

 

First a bit of context. The antlers here belonged to a buck we had seen prior to season in velvet while running our beagle Trigger on our property. During the PA rifle season while a friend of ours was putting on a short drive we found him dead with a broadhead just behind the shoulder. It never hit any vitals and we don't know who shot it. Unfortunately this buck was the big one that got away and its a shame that this is how things ended for him.

 

The meat was spoiled but the rack was too nice to just leave it.

 

Looking at various tutorials online for ideas i stumbled across this forum and the photos really helped my dad and I out. We never mounted one like this before with bondo, etc.

 

I tried putting a bit of a bevel on the block of wood with the belt sander to try and make for a more natural shape since the block was pretty thick.

antlers taped up and spray foam used to fill the void. 

this was after the spray foam had expanded and hardened. 

This is after trimming with a exacto knife and sanding.

My dad did the Bondo. He mixed just a bit of hardener with it. In hindsight maybe it could have used another thin coat and been built up to the pedicles a bit more?

This is the bondo sanded and smoothed up.

this part gave me fits! It probably didnt help using a type of pleather or upholstery fabric. And I think I probably cut the holes a bit too large and it created a pocker at the base of the antlers.

I found some nice decorative cord at a craft store. It had some batting on it for rugs but I cut the stitching and it worked ok.

initially we had a much smaller plaque but didnt think it would look right for the width of the antlers. 18" inside spread. I ordered this basswood plaque from Amazon. Its shown here with a few coats of wood tone spray finish.

after several coats. I tried darkening the edges and leaving the center lighter.

this is with three holes drilled through the back of the black. The nails are just there to mark the back of the antlers. It gave us an idea where to put a few pilot holes for the screws we ended up using. 

Here's the antlers attached to the plaque. The space at the bottom is for a photo.

We added a bit of gold colored braid/cord around the edge.

heres a shot of it head on.

Here is the finished product. For the photo we bought one of those 4x6 clear plastic standees you see on tables at restaurants and such. We then scored it with an exacto a few times to break it to a single sheet of 4x4 plexiglass for the 4x4 photo. We predrilled holes in each corner for the decorative furniture tacks. We initially were going to put rope around the photo too but thought it would look too busy so we just left it as it was.

One last photo to show the photo and tacks in better detail.

 

Any constructive criticism or feedback is greatly appreciated. And once again thanks to everyone else for sharing their photos. They were a huge help in doing our own project. I have another plaque and set of antlers I would like to try mounting like this.

[leech~~]

Beagler_Wes, Welcome to the forum

 

Nice save on finding the buck, and nice work mounting the antlers.   Looks great! 

[leech~~]

3 minutes ago, leech~~ said:

Beagler_Wes, Welcome to the forum

 

Nice save on finding the buck, and nice work mounting the antlers.   Like the rope work-Looks great! 

Oop not sure how I said that twice? Lol

Edited March 18, 2021 by leech~~

[Beagler_Wes]

25 minutes ago, leech~~ said:

Beagler_Wes, Welcome to the forum

 

Nice save on finding the buck, and nice work mounting the antlers.   Looks great! 

Thanks!

[ozzie]

great job!  looks like a lot of time, effort, thought went into this project  Nice finished product

[Wanderer]

VERY nice work there!

[Beagler_Wes]

4 hours ago, ozzie said:

great job!  looks like a lot of time, effort, thought went into this project  Nice finished product

 

4 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

VERY nice work there!

Thank you both!

[Hookmaster]

I think the darker border on the wood is a nice touch.

[Beagler_Wes]

3 hours ago, Hookmaster said:

I think the darker border on the wood is a nice touch.

Thanks! Im pretty happy with how it turned out. Hopefully it gives some other folks other ideas for plaques and photos like the other posts did for my dad and I.