I I just got back my I African animals from the last two trips to South Africa. I had everything dipped and packed and sent back to the states. Upon opening the packages in crates and plastic wrappings I noticed some concerns and was wondering if I could get some help I was preparing to do my own European, but I noticed here’s a few items that I noticed off the bat.
1. A number of the horns have drilled holes in them Southern the holes are even facing towards if you’re looking at the map. Very disappointing. How do I fix this?
2. it appears they didn’t remove the horns on my wildebeest, Impala’s and hartebeast. I noticed they had an older and it appears to have had some bugs but appear dead now. How do I remove the horns from the skull so I can clean the horns inside and skull better to prevent the smell and future bugs??
3. On a few of the horns, they boil the skulls to a point they are discolored and clear. How do I get that color back on my horns?
4. The animals that already have the horns removed should I use some sort of chemical to clean inside the horns to make sure there’s no flesh or anything that could create a bug problem?
I really would appreciate any help.
I am going to reply to each number
1) It is not uncommon for them to drill holes in horns and put tags with your information on them to keep them straight when doing large batches of skulls. I am not saying this is the best thing in the world, but more people have holes drilled in their horns then they realize. It is often repaired with two part epoxy in a color to match the horns, and many people don't even realize it was done. You can do this to repair the holes in yours as well.
2. The animals you mentioned, more often than not, the horns will not be removed from them because the shape of the horns. As someone else mentioned, it is fairly common for them to drill holes in one, or even a few spots along the horns and inject it with insecticide and or formaldehyde. Those holes are often then filled in with a two part epoxy. If you don't know that this has been done, and you want to try and prevent future bugs, this is likely to be the most logical way to prevent that.
These animals are sometimes cited as the start of future bug problems in mounts because it is difficult to treat the inside of these horns. Although, many people have had their mounts for decades and never had an issue with it. Mount Medix also makes a product that can be injected into the horn area to treat as well. Process would be the same as stated above with other insecticides.
3. You can use a variety of things to try and dye and match the horns where they have been bleached out. Many liquid staining type dyes would work. Stains, leather dyes, shoe polish (as someone mentioned). Also, some people airbrush paint them in those areas to match. You could do a combination of both to get a dark base and then airbrush to try and get a closer color match.
4. You could put some type of insecticide with a residual property to it inside the horn, swish it around to get full coverage, and then dry it out. This would likely work for quite a while. I have seen some people say that they put a moth ball or a piece of mothball inside the horn before gluing it in place. I don't know that I would do that, but you can see why that would have a lasting protective effect. I imagine you could also get some of the mount medix horn treatment I had mentioned and swish it around inside the horn area as well and get the same effect as on the wildebeests. Another thing to do to try to avoid future bugs would be to try and attach them to the horn cores in a way that they are completely sealed 360 all the way around the horn, as that would make it a bit more difficult to access any material left inside.
An extra note about bugs:
According to my taxidermist that does probably 80% of his business as African mounts; he claims that almost every dip and pack crate he receives has dead bugs in them. He says he has not received any with living bugs. I am not a taxidermist, so I can't speak to that specifically.
Maybe some US based taxidermists that specialize in African mounts could chime in and say if that is accurate.
