Duplicating antlers

[gd357]

Here's a question for those of you who are knowledgable of such things: How difficult is it to duplicate shed antlers? We've got a set from a buck my friend killed last year, and we're thinking of playing a trick on him:D ;) Get duplicates made, then file down the brows and basically turn them into a set of rattling antlers. I spoke with a taxidermist this weekend, and his method seemed a bit too time consuming, not to mention difficult. Just wondering if any of you know a reasonably easy method to copy the sheds. Thanks for any info.

gd

[grayghost]

gd; although I made many molds during my career, I've never tried casting antlers. There are a number of Taxidermists doing this currently, and judging from what they charge for repro antlers, it must be time consuming and costly. I would say you would need a least a two piece mold; if not more. If anyone is selling a DVD/VHS on how to do this, I'm not aware of it. However, you can visit Taxidermy.net and most likely find out. Good luck with your trick, sounds like it would be a $10,000 winner on America's Funniest Video's if you can capture the expression on your friends face :D