Maggots-Antelope Horns

[Wiszard]

My Dad and I have had a problem in the past with bringing our antelope horns back from Wyoming and they begin to stink. It turns out that their horns (sheaths) get maggots inside the horns. They are then loose so we take them off and then clean them and dry them. From that time on the horns are loose unless we can glue them on or something. Anyone have this happen, and is there a propper way to treat antelope horns? We're leaving on Thurs, the 12th for Wyoming so The more quick info. the better! Thanks in advance.

 

[roger]

Wiszard,
I am a taxidermist and I use the maggots to release the antelope horns from the cores. The same technique is used on bighorn sheep. Other options like boiling the horns tend discolor the horns. From my experience it takes about 7 - 10 days before the horns release. You can also add a few cc's of water between the horn and the core to speed up the release caused by the maggots. Once the horns release you need to clean the inside of the horn and then coat the inside of the horns with Borax to dry the moisture and remove odor. Boil and scrape the skull plate and horn cores. Allow the horns to dry with the Borax for over a week. Once the horn has dried remove the Borax and use Bondo (auto body filler) as an adhesive to secure the horn back to the pedical.

Roger

 

[ricochet]

Once the head is skinned, I throw the skull plate in the microwave. I cook them in one minute increments until I can twist off the horns (Use oven mitts, of course). This is best done while the wife is out of the house as there is a smell but its not nearly as bad as the smell of maggots. Like Roger said heating sheep horns will darken them so the maggot method is preferable but I never cared for the smell of decomp so I always nuke antelope horns.

 

[studpile]

You bet your bottom dollar the wife is out of the house...lol
I had that same experience a few years back when taking a speedgoat with a bow in Nevada. I left the head in the back of my truck for a few days to show a few buddies. It wasn't really massive or anything. Anyway, I go to grab it and pull it out of the back of the truck and the horn sheath slides right off, followed by a nice pile of maggots. It kinda wierded me out, but I've since recovered. (jerk, wince, wiggle...)

 

[DougW]

ah maggots....my elk horns from Oct. 1 sat inside for the past week, with the skull sawed off about halfway down. I nearly puked last night when I had to clean the rest of the brains out. Then when I took a break and returned an hour later, the brain cavity was making squirmy noises you could hear from 25 feet away, like it was alive.

Nice. I'm lucky my wife doesn't kick me out with the rotting garbage.

 

[nmtaxi]

I nuke antelope myself, but you have to be careful. Slide your knife up between the core and the horns so the gases have a place to escape. Otherwise, you could end up with a bubble in the horns. For gemsbok, I put the horns in a large trash can with a few inches of water in it (just to the base of the horns), and seal it up. They pop off in a couple of days. It would work for antelope, also. Don't think I could handle the maggot thing, personally.

 

[Wiszard]

Thanks for the responses guys- it helps. I wasn't aware that it was a good thing to have the horns removed to allow the inside to dry. It makes sense though so they wont constantly stink! Maggots gross me out and I'm glad to read I'm not the only one. We can practically climb into a gut cavity but maggots nearly make us puke. Is that classic or what? Thanks again for the help!

 

[DougW]

Roger-thanks for the borax info. (I had forgotten after years of the Borax box sitting in the back corner of the basement closet). My wife also thanks you for helping get rid of the smell from my elk horns in the basement yesterday....it really works in terms of drying things out so you can trim up the skull easily.

Doug