Relive - South Africa

The "black treatment" is generally from boiling. It takes some work to restore them to a natural appearance.
 
Mounts look good. Im sure you cant wait for them to arrive now that you have received the tease pics. :D
 
Tim those mounts look great that relive did and loodt at tootabi got you on some great animals.

I knew you could not wait till they got home without seeing pictures. I laughed to myself when you said you would wait to see then when home.
 
Tim those mounts look great that relive did and loodt at tootabi got you on some great animals.

I knew you could not wait till they got home without seeing pictures. I laughed to myself when you said you would wait to see then when home.


Yeah, yeah...you just go ahead and pat yourself on the back for being right...again! :A Yell:

Yes, Loodt did a good job and things worked out well for us on that trip. The animals are going to be constant reminders. I think about the hunts every day now...I can only imagine how it will be once they are in the house!
 
Good looking trophies Tarbe.
 
The "black treatment" is generally from boiling. It takes some work to restore them to a natural appearance.

It would be nice to hear from a taxidermist or those knowledgeable about the "black treatment". I too like the au-natural look on most trophies, especially those with ribbed horns like waterbuck and oryx. It looks ok on the spiral slam group. What is this black stuff anyway? Maybe it can be added later at home if desired.
 
It would be nice to hear from a taxidermist...

You just did Lol

...What is this black stuff anyway? Maybe it can be added later at home if desired.

It is mostly grease and fat residue released from the skull and tissue while preparing the horns for export, plus even shielded from the grease, boiling tends to darken horns on its own. Also boiling removes any dirt, bark and debris from the horns that make up a lot of the color as well.

There is a lot of work involved in restoring them to look as they did when you shot them, some taxis charge more to do this (generally included in their price) while others simply mount them as is (easier for them, cheaper for you). This is just one reason African mounts cost more than north american trophies and top taxis charge more than run of the mill ones.
 
You just did Lol
It is mostly grease and fat residue released from the skull and tissue while preparing the horns for export, plus even shielded from the grease, boiling tends to darken horns on its own. Also boiling removes any dirt, bark and debris from the horns that make up a lot of the color as well.

Ya learn something new every day. Is this process of boiling and cleaning of horns similar to what is done to pronghorn antelope. I've done a few of those but they don't come out uniformly black and shiny like what I see in most photos. What other plains game animals require this treatment? Obviously a "first timers" questions here.
 
Sorry, got my response in the wrong place. 2nd paragraph above is my response to Diamondhitch.
 
The whole point of boiling them is to remove the layer of skin and flesh between the horn and core, all horned animals need to have this removed or it will rot stink and eventually darken them as the stinking rotten ooze leaches out. Several factors such as how often the water is changed, how many critters are being boiled at once, duration of boiling, temp, etc will influence how much darkening the horns receive.

The best choice, which unfortunately does not meet import standards, is maceration. Wrapping the horns and skull in plastic or setting the skull in some warm water, just the skull not horns, and bagging the whole thing up then waiting for the horns to rot and popping them off and cleaning the horn sheaths as soon as they do then boiling the skull separately will preserve natural color and ideally should be done. This cannot be done to African trophies for a couple reasons, some horns such as black wildebeest cannot be removed from the core and the rotten mess would be trapped inside. The other reason and most important is that import requirements state that animal parts must be boiled, treated with gamma radiation salted dry with all flesh and fat removed or tanned, boiling is the only practical treatment for horns from these choices.

As a side note "boiling" horns to remove them is a lot harder on them than "simmering" them, far more collagen, glue holding them together, is removed. Unfortunately African trophies tend to have the hell boiled out of them, often to the point of damaging the horn.

Any way you look at it boiling horns is hard on them.
 
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Wonderful explanation Diamondhitch. I've been curious how the Kudu horn differs from the others. I've seen displays of their inner horn. What's that all about?
 
Just a note to all , THE best way to remove horns is microwave, I know 99% won't fit in it.... LOL
Pronghorns do....2 minutes and they are off....no horn damage, no discoloration from the natural. Someday I'm going to get a BIG MICROWAVE.

Horns are made mostly out of Keratin a protein cell , burn it and you'll smell it's sulfur based organic portion and smells like sulfer when burned.

Boiling or simmering the horn turns it black from the oils deep inside the keratin cells rising the the surface as the oil expands and escapes to the surface. No amount of cleaning will get it back to original color. Try a test spray some clear lacquer on a horn. it will darken it as the lacquer soaks into the surface cells. It will hold it just as the surface cells hold the oil moving to the surface from boiling.

You can tell a novice taxidermy job especially on North American sheep. Those horns if boiled and not macerated they turn a dark golden deep brown not natural on sheep.

Every African horn can be restored to the original color, if you choose to pay for the time to restore it, each one is a custom paint job.
 
Yeah, yeah...you just go ahead and pat yourself on the back for being right...again! :A Yell:

Yes, Loodt did a good job and things worked out well for us on that trip. The animals are going to be constant reminders. I think about the hunts every day now...I can only imagine how it will be once they are in the house!

hearing you on that one tarbe , every time I look at our mounts , I relive the hunt , the stalk and the carry out .
 
Wonderful explanation Diamondhitch. I've been curious how the Kudu horn differs from the others. I've seen displays of their inner horn. What's that all about?

Every horn has a bone core

Anatomy_and_physiology_of_animals_A_horn.jpg


These are bone cores from some Kudu. They are no different.

.
SetWidth500-Kudu-cores.jpg
 
Thanks Brickburn. A man of few words, but the pictures speak 1000's. Looks like solid core bone. Can the horn be mounted on say a shoulder mount without the core? I'm probably not on point with this thread, but at least I'm learning something. Are there any plains game with antlers like deer, elk, etc.?
 
I would say that all the mounts are done without the cores in them. The kudu in my avatar is now missing his cores and they are sitting on my coffee table until I figure out how I want to display them, they are a great trophy in themselves. The skull plate for him still has a couple of stubs about 3" in length that the outer horns will be glued to for the shoulder mount.

As far as plains game with antlers that drop them like deer, the answer is no unless you are hunting in a area that has exotics that have been brought in such as fallow deer.
 
Thanks Brickburn. A man of few words, but the pictures speak 1000's. Looks like solid core bone. Can the horn be mounted on say a shoulder mount without the core? I'm probably not on point with this thread, but at least I'm learning something. Are there any plains game with antlers like deer, elk, etc.?

Since Brickburn didn't answer, I will say not that I know of? There are fallow deer in RSA but they are not plain game. All of the horns grow and then they decline with age and wear. You will see pictures of eland, nyala, oryx, springbok, nyala, cape buffalo, bushbuck...etc. on AH with worn down horns.
 
BillC goat...always saving the best for last! View attachment 52133
Lovely trophies and very well finished.. life like/ authentic. A lot of taxidermists get the eyes wrong which then throws the whole thing out of synch..
 
I do taxidermy and agree with most above and yes the boiling does thing to horns that aren't natural and I hate to speculate on Relive's procedures BUT I think they are doing something in addition to boiling to make the horns darker. On a previous thread about Relive someone mentioned you could ask to not receive the darker treatment which inferred to me that they are staining or painting them on purpose. Maybe it's to cover the darker color already caused by the boiling. Other reason I think they are doing something is that most horns get dark near the bottoms from boiling based on proximity to the water, grease etc but are generally lighter on top especially like kudu that are further from the crud in the water, yet the Relive kudu on this thread is dark to the top.
On that note if Relive happens to stop by this thread- PLEASE come up with a US distributor for your forms ;) I read on taxidermy.next back several years this was in the works ??
 

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