Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Broken Antlers

blake

blake

Life Member
Many of us have harvested a nice buck that we want to have mounted but unfortunately the rack was broken up from fighting with other bucks, broken during the velvet phase or from other reasons that aren’t apparent.

When this happens we always have the option to have the antlers
restored/repaired to their original state. However not every one desires this option.

I personally have mixed feelings about restoring a rack for mounting purposes. If I have previously seen the buck or have trailcam photos to verify what the buck looked like prior to the antlers being broken I would not hesitate to have the antlers restored. If I have never seen the buck before I don't think I would have the repairs done. But I could always change my mind?

I don't think there is a right or wrong answer, and the choice to
restore/repair or not is totally up to the person that has harvested the animal. I would urge you to not let others try to influence your decision.

You may wish to check, but I don’t think repaired antlers are eligible for the record books.

So what do you think, would you have antlers repaired on a buck that you wanted to have mounted?
 
I think it depends. The deer I took last year broke 3 1/2 inch fork of his G3...after I shot him. It began snowing shortly after I shot him, we searched the 100yds he travelled like Crazy but to no avail. I took a screen capture to the taxi and had him repair it... i'm still on the fence though, kind of glad I did, kind of wish I left it. Would I do it again, likely not. If I shot a deer with broken tines, I would not repair anything that wasn't there when I decided to take him.
 
I voted no as I have always thought it was kinda cheesey to do it....but if a third option of undecided had been there, I'd have selected it as I i think it boils down to the situation.
 
One argument is that it was harvested that way, leave it broke. The other is that it grew it so it should be restored to its natural condition which was before it broke. It also depends on how good of a repair job you get. I have seen some that you could tell were repairs.
 
To play devils advocate here, fixing this broken antler could allow a chance for an exagerated length, or better yet it could allow for someone to add additional tines from the broken piece to make it a non-typical buck. Am I right? It would be very unethical for the repairer to do this, but it could happen. This is why I voted no. I would rather leave it as I shot it rather than repair it, not know what the actual length was. I don't know, maybe I am way off base.
 
If I have previously seen the buck or have trailcam photos to verify what the buck looked like prior to the antlers being broken I would not hesitate to have the antlers restored. If I have never seen the buck before I don't think I would have the repairs done.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. The extra money for it wouldn't be an issue because I am a taxidermist, and it would be easy for me to just take back off if I didn't like it.
 
I voted, no as well. But think of this, if they could come up with a set-up where it looks totally natural, yet be removable, maybe a magnet or something along those lines I would reconsider doing this. That way when showing it off I could pull off the tine etc. to show what the harvest looked like. Taxi's is something like this achievable?
 
I voted yes, however, I would not shoot a buck if he was broke up really bad. If it was a kicker, or at most a G2,3, or 4, I would get it fixed. If he had more than one tine busted off I wouldn't get it fixed, and in most scenarios I can think of I wouldn't shoot him in the first place.
 
Taxi's is something like this achievable?
Click to expand...

Probably... Depending how jagged the break is, I probably wouldn't need a magnet or anything like that to make it detachable.. It might be a little tough to make a real smooth transition from fake to real though. Nothing that some apoxie-sculpt couldn't do.. It would be very fragile on the end that attaches to the real antler when you take it off because it would have to be verrry thin to create an un-noticeable transition.
 
I would leave it the way I shot it. I passed on a nice 8 point 2 years ago because he was busted up so bad. Both brow tines and 2 other points on one side. Hoped to see him next year but my buddy shot him during gun season.
 
I voted no, but I can't say I would vote the same if I were in the situation of having to actually chose to repair a trophy that I shot. If it broke when it crashed I might.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom