Antelope Length measurement?

[The Hedgehog]

Why would you want to deflate them? So you could pretend that she was a man? You need help.

 

[schmalts]

Why would you want to deflate them? So you could pretend that she was a man? You need help.

Yea, so i can imagine she is you.....

 

[The Hedgehog]

You've been watching that video of my @#)(# again haven't you?

 

[The Hedgehog]

Bryce, the white line is correct. I got the following information out of the Boone and Crockett records book, Edition #21, page 345 on Caring for your Pronghorn Horns...

...Cook the horns long enough for the sheaths to detach from the bone core. At this point, the black sheaths should be flexible due to the heat and water used to remove them, otherwise soak them in water for approximately 30 minutes. Once flexible, roll a section of newspaper up and insert into the sheath, ensuring a tight fit and a slight pressure on all sides of the sheath. Use caution to not push too firmly on the bottom edge of the core, as a noticeable bell can result, causing cracks in the sheath and an unnatural appearance to the horn. Freeze the horns (with the rolled newspapers still inserted) while the skull and bone cores are being cleaned, whitened and dried. Once the skull is ready to have the horns permanently re-attached, remove the horns from the freezer and allow to dry with the newspapers still inserted in the sheaths. Mix up some Bondo auto body putty in preparation to re-attach the horns. Quickly remove the newspaper roll from a horn and cake the inside of the sheath with Bondo. Position the horn on the bone core in a natural appearing way, with enough room (approximately 3/4 of an inch) between the horn base and the top of the eye socket for taxidermy work, if ever desired. Try to fill the entire sheath with Bondo to provide a permanent fit. Carefully trim off excess Bondo below the base of the horn before drying as the completely dry Bondo body putty can be a real bitch to get off.

 

[schmalts]

You've been watching that video of my @#)(# again haven't you?

Hard not too, the wife has it on the big screen every day

 

[EliAGrimmett]

Whatever you do...don't cook the horns.

Kinda funny how B&C has this rule that you can't use bondo and have a bigger base measurement than the next measurement, yet they tell you to use bondo to reattach the horns.

Things that make you go, hm...

 

[EliAGrimmett]

Okay, so I'll be the first to correct myself...P&Y is the only club that currently won't allow the base to exceed the first quarter if the buck is attached to the cores. B&C just requires that the scorer mention if the buck is attached - they probably go through them one by one and use their discretion on which bucks they want rescored (or whatever it is they use the info for).

 

[Lv2hnt]

A "safer" way to loosen the horns from the cores is to tie the skull up in a black plastic bag and set outside in the sun for a couple of days. Make sure you place it up where the dog(s) can't get at it because it'll get pretty rank. Any comments, Eli?

 

[schmalts]

Whatever you do...don't cook the horns.

...

What do you mean about cooking them? I boiled mine off, i have mircowaved them off as well. Do you mean cooking as what I did or an oven? How much will they shrink from boiling or nuking?

 

[EliAGrimmett]

Apparently the B&C thing said to "cook" them. I have no idea what they're referring to, but anything involving heat without moisture will make the horns smaller. Now, what's allowed by B&C is probably up to interpretation because of how the rules are written, but I've heard of probably 50 different methods for doing the same thing. Are some of them against B&C's rules? Probably, I don't really know, but some definitely work better than others. Unfortunately, because there are so many, I can't say which ones are the best as I've heard of different results from different people trying different things and sometimes different results from people trying the same thing. I guess trial and error is the best way to figure it out - unfortunately G&F departments don't give out unlimited tags so it can be a bit time consuming ie: 30 or 40 years!

 

[The Hedgehog]

Eli.. you need to take things I type with a grain of salt.

 

[schmalts]

Thats what I thought. When I boiled them off I just put the lower couple inches in the water and cover the rest with heavy foil and they kind of get steam cooked with a lot of moisture. I wouldn't think that would shrink them any. Then, I clean them out and immediatly bondo them back on so they cannot shrink anymore where the bondo sits inside. Never bothered to measure any of them before and after, so no clue how much they change.

 

[EliAGrimmett]

Greenhorn...I always do.