Trophy Care

[Dewey]

We spend plenty of time talking about trophies so I thought it would be nice to hear what everybody does to take care of their mounts they currently have.

Every few months I use a Trophy Duster http://www.lunkers.com/store/duster.htm to remove any dust and it seems to do a pretty good job but I feel like there is more I should do. We have a few great taxidermists here and I was wondering what they would recommend. My taxidermist actually mentioned spraying a little Pledge Furniture Polish on a rag and lightly wipe the hair in the direction it lays and this keeps the natural shine of the hair and aids in the prevention of dust sticking to the hair.

Any other tips??

[Bucky]

I'm interested to hear as well.... Mt Man should have some good insight... mine are dusty!

[Mountain Man]

Just wanted to let you guys know I saw this but I won't be able to answer for probably at least a few days. I have a major problem with a virus on my home computer and I'm at work right now just checking in on the Beast.
MM

[Haus86]

Great question Dewey. I've been wondering the same thing for quite some time. I look forward to seeing what Mountain Man has to say.

[muddy]

I use a microfiber extendable duster, looks like this...


It's extremely soft and doubles as a cobweb duster as well as tripling as a humping stick for our cat, who LOVES it in all the wrong ways if you leave it laying around.

After the duster I use a slightly damp piece of cloth on to do a 2nd dusting. If I'm feeling really ambitious I use slightly damp q tips on the eyes and nose.

[Mountain Man]

While my computer was being fixed I thought about this topic and remembered that a while ago I saw a nice tutorial about trophy care on Taxidermy.net. The tutorial was done by an excellent taxidermist named John Bellucci. I believe he won a Best In World title years ago and he has some manikins, videos and a book (Art of the Big Cat) to his name. Instead of reinventing the wheel I thought I would just post a link to his tutorial on mammal trophy care. The only I comment I have is to be very careful with cleaners like Windex around the eyes or any other area that may have been painted. The Windex (or other cleaners) can strip the paint if you're not careful.

http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php/topic,203678.0.html

[Dewey]

Thanks for the info Mountain Man!! Very much appreciated!

[Spysar]

I don't like the idea of putting pledge on a mount. That dosen't seem like it would clean a mount..... But I'm no expert............

[Bucky]

I don't like the idea of putting pledge on a mount. That dosen't seem like it would clean a mount..... But I'm no expert............

X2 - Not sure on the pledge part

[muddy]

Doesn't pledge used to repel dust? It can't be any worse than the chemicals they use to tan a hide to be honest. A very light spray on a clean cloth and lightly wipe down the hair shouldn't hurt it. Just about every taxidermist I've talked to says pledge won't hurt the cape unless you use too much.

[Dewey]

Doesn't pledge used to repel dust? It can't be any worse than the chemicals they use to tan a hide to be honest. A very light spray on a clean cloth and lightly wipe down the hair shouldn't hurt it. Just about every taxidermist I've talked to says pledge won't hurt the cape unless you use too much.

My taxidermist has been recommending using Pledge on a rag for over 20 years on every mount that goes out his door and he does over 200 mounts /year. If this did do any damage I'm sure he would have a lot of unhappy customers over the years by now and would stop suggesting it. My oldest mount is only 9 years old and it looks as good as the day I picked it up. I tried this on one of my dads mounts from 1996 and immediately it looked much better. I agree that as long as you don't go crazy with excess spray you won't have a problem.

[Bucky]

Sounds good, I will give it a try

[DropTyne]

My taxidermist also recommends pledge or liquid gold for both the cape and antlers. Repels the dust, gives the antlers a nice even shine that will diminish with time but makes the mount look great! I purposely avoid the eyes and nose areas as they are more delicate and I would hate to knock whiskers or eyelashes lose by accident.

[ Post made via iPad ]

[Stanley]

I use a rag with mineral spirits. Wipe them down, gets dust/dirt off and not much muss or fuss. Pledge may be a good alternative though.