Spike Elk Velvet Euro Prep

[kitandace77]

I shot this spike elk in Idaho on Thursday. He took a couple hundred foot roll down a cliff and his velvet is beat to crap. His antlers seem solid, although a little black. Has anyone had success removing the velvet on antlers and doing a euro mount or will it not turn out because the antlers aren’t 100% developed? Should I be in a rush to remove the velvet?

 

[Pgohil]

Congratulations on the kill!!!
Yes you can take the velvet off it'll look a little funky but will still make a good euro.
I have a 6 point white tail buck they got hit by a car last summer and I went and got his deadhead couple months later all available was gone and left with hard horn.

 

[LongWayAround]

Velvet euro mounts look weird, in my opinion. Just strip it off and euro away.

 

[kitandace77]

Velvet euro mounts look weird, in my opinion. Just strip it off and euro away.

Agreed. I just noticed that the antlers appeared black where they had peeled away and wondered if the antlers were going to look weird if I removed all the velvet.

 

[LongWayAround]

The blackness is probably the membrane under the velvet with dried blood. It will clean up with the euro process.

 

[bergie]

Unless you like the color white I'd leave it as it is. I started to pull the velvet off this spike I shot years ago that the other side snapped in half as it rolled down a hill. I gave up peeling it because to me it looked much worse than raggedy velvet which helps tell the story of your hunt.

 

[jonesn3]

I did a spike elk euro in velvet. Not the biggest spike, but the velvet stayed intact which was a nice. I left it in the freezer for several months, honestly it was a long time, and I think that helped cure the velvet. I used the velvelok spray, then boiled/simmer the skull. I still need to whiten it but it turned okay better than expected.

TL;DR — I’d keep the velvet on and have a unique euro