Fix them or leave them as you shot them?

I’ve left the one I mounted with breaks and would again. If you know what he looked like I don’t care but if it’s a deer you don’t have history with I probably wouldn’t.

I’ve got two that are broken, most recent one I shot this season I’m
Considering fixing the antlers on him. The other I’m fine with.

If one breaks while you shoot him, by all means fix him, otherwise leave him as you saw him right prior to shooting him.

I’ve got no issue with fixing them, I’ve fixed some and left some broken.

I usually defer to how I picture them in my head. If a buck was clean the whole season while I was hunting it and then broke off a few inches the day or two before I killed I’ll fix it. That’s happened twice to me where a buck lost inches within 24 hours prior to killing him. If a deer has been broken most or all of the season I’ll leave it broken.

99% of the time, If a buck has lost more than a few inches I’ll just pass on him for that season and go after him the next year.

I leave them as is. That’s how they were when you shot them. You can’t recreate anything, accurately. If you try, it’s just vanity. It’s fake. Go ahead if it makes you feel better, but it’s not real.

I am in camp with the Sneakster.

^^^^^^

I had the same "dilemma" and chose to leave it as is. I only had a couple of pics and it was broke in the pics.

Agree with this. If broken b4 the shot. Chances are it twas broken in a fight.
& don't have the full antler. Leave it as is gives in character. If do have it,
i would have it off ta side. Just my it's your mount, do as you see fit.

Depends, I fixed my dad’s but he turned a 154” 10 pt and into a 5 pts. Never underestimate the ability of an elderly man to use the full capacity of a sporterized 1903

pretty much the way I feel about it.

I shot a deer Saturday that i knew had the tip of his beam broke and possibly some brow tines. Low light and distance made it a little hard to see. After he was down, his brows where intact and the beam was what I thought it was, but he also had a broken G-3 that I just thought was short, along with a G=4 that was broke in a way that made it impossible to see that it was broke. Basically a 4" tine was looking like a 2" tine


Probably was missing 10" of antler altogether.


No prior pics, so as you mentioned you are just guessing.


Gonna Euro mount him and hang him in the garage

Depends on the deer for me.

I'm in this group. I prefer them like I see em

Klappenbach had a big good one on camera. He went to feed one day and found a significant broken off point at the feed pen. The next photos he got of the buck displayed the missing G-1 which Klap now had in his possession. Letting it go another year, he chose not to harvest it. If he had, he would've had it repaired with the broken off piece - I do get that.

Pray for us - many aligning with Sneaky

I am leaving mine broken, I figured the old guy earned the cool character.

I've shot some big, old bucks. One in particular was in decline but still really wide and big bodied. His rack was busted up a little bit. I never considered having that rack repaired by a taxidermist. I didn't want to display a rack that wasn't what I shot.

This one that I killed this year changed all that for me. He was probably top 3 in age and body size that I've killed. I hunted him hard and made a great shot. His main beam is broke off. To me he's a great deer, wide, heavy and dark horns. I in no way want to pass this deer off as something that is different than what I killed. I just gotta see how good he would have been if not broke off. Anybody that ever sees it and comments on it will definitely hear about what he looked like before I had it restored. My taxidermist may be using a donor piece off of another buck I've shot in the past.

I have never even thought about fixing an antler. I wouldn't do it even if he broke it during the kill.

Fixing broken antlers on a deer you shot may present a better picture of what the deer looked like at one time, but that isn't the deer you shot.

Not to be crass, but it sounds like spending money to make your deer look better than it was. Would you have them color the hair to make it prettier as well?

Leave him as you shot him. That has its own story that is just as valid.

You get what you got and that's it for me

I've had similar thoughts to using a cape from one buck and the rack from another. I wouldn't do it, but I do get why some do.

I shot a 10 pointer years ago and a few weeks later shot another one that was a little bigger. Couldn’t swing two shoulder mounts so I antler mounted the first one. Always regretted it so years later I bought a cape and had it shoulder mounted. It’s not the same but honestly I was just wanting another shoulder mount for my collection at the time.

It never bothered me though.

Ive never understood why so many have such an issue with fixing them. In our case, we usually have pictures and/or sightings of them before they broke. Its easy to reproduce very closely what he grew.
To me the mount is about showing off the animal itself(not the hunter or the kill) and I feel that is best done by showing all that he grew. I can understand why some wouldnt do it on a small rack, but a large, magnificent rack I would want that to be shown intact. Another way to look at it is that God wanted that deer to look like when he was intact, so why display him forever as anything different. And a mount can usually be considered like artwork on a wall, and a broken deer rarely is more appealing. Certainly, to each his own, applies to this topic.

I'm not going to express my opinion on the matter, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have the ability to use the words "break," "broke," and most importantly, "broken" in the proper context.