Hi!

One of my hunting buddies went up to Canada last year and shot a big ol' bull elk. He had it taxidermied up there and brought it back when he went up to hunt again this year. Upon getting it in his house, he's noticed that it really smells like dead animal. I told him that is a value added realistic effect, but he's not buying that and neither is his wife. Is there something he can do to "de-stink" this shoulder mount without ruining it? Thanks!

hang some of those car pine tree things from his horns.

Febreeze it! Wish i could help, but I can't think of a solution. Maybe he should call the place that did it and ask?

All depends on how the mount was tanned! Look around the mount smell around the animal and find the source if it is rotten theres no way to save it . Take it into a garage and let it air out .You can use air fresheners,it may work depending on the condition of the hide. you will notice slip spots where the hide is rotton. Take it back and tell them to start over.. also depends on moisture levels in the house.All mounts need to be in a controlled environment.. And yes i'm a taxidermist

thats what id do

I would take it to a local taxidermist that you trust and let them take a look at it. I'm betting its probably going to need a replacement cape and if so, you need to contact the taxidermist that did it originally and tell them what is going on.

sounds like to me he (the taxi ) used a dry preserve and not a tann , I dont think a tanned cape would have a rotten oder . if dry preserve was used sounds like he dident flesh the cape very well, if thats the case you will need a new cape , last years kill and stinks Id say bad fleshing job for sure . IMHO !!

what was the outcome? I had a whitetail mount that had a slight odor to it as well, but not too bad. It had mold inside the ears so I know the taxidermist slipped up a little. When I moved I left that mount at a buddies house. it's in his office. ha!

Contact the Flagg group in Dallas. Dont know who did your mount, but prime reason you dont judge your taxi off price.

sounds like a poor fleshing job. you should deff. contact the taxidermist and let him know he didnt do a good job and try to get him to remount it. good luck.

UPDATE:

My buddy isolated the smell to the antler area of the mount. He got in touch with the taxi up north and asked him about the smell and he said that it's pretty common for elk mounts to have smelly antlers because of all of the crap that they rub their horns on/in during the rut. He also said that you just have to wait for it to go away unless you want to risk discoloring the antlers.

so after a year it still smells? yeah right. that taxi is full of crap.

well at least its the antlers and not the cape.

i would try frebreeze, that might work...either that or be carefull and give the horns a good rubdown with soap and a cloth. i doubt very seriously that it would discolor the antlers

if the smell is around the hornes, they may not have cleaned the skull plate very good. Take it to taxidermist and he may be able to soke the hide and cut the threds and take the hornes off and re clean them. All depinds on what type of tan.

there is alot of meat on the skull, but i dont think that it would still stink after a yeah. i think if u had to take the horns off it would ruin the cape. is any of the hair sliping at all? if the hair slips it means there is meat rotting under that area.

you can wet down the area between the horns with a wet rag and let sit all day, when the hide rehydrates it will allow you to cut the sewing out. Taking the horns off isnt a big deal and will not ruin the cape. But once the hide is loose enough take the rag off, it will start slipping eventually. There is not a smell to properly cared for elk horns so the Taxi is wrong. good luck. " Dont let the sweetness of low price, outweigh the bitterness of poor quality"

Sounds like they left a Steak in it.

Smells like DP was used probably..

find a local taxidermist to look at it.. probably didnt get cured correctly.

i think hes full of it, they dont rub their antlers on anything much different than deer im sure, and ive never had that problem.. like i said in the previous post, id check with a local taxi, they may be able to help you out. where do yall live?