Antler Flocking from RGS Wildlife Taxidermy in Wall, NJAntler Velveting from RGS Wildlife Taxidermy in Wall, NJAntler Velvet from RGS Wildlife Taxidermy in Wall, NJ
Velvet Antler Service from RGS Wildlife Taxidermy in Wall, NJ The Antler Velveting Process from RGS Wildlife Taxidermy in Wall, NJ Velveting of Antlers from RGS Wildlife Taxidermy in Wall, NJ Antler Velvet Pricing from RGS Wildlife Taxidermy in Wall, NJ Antler velveting Colors from RGS Wildlife Taxidermy in Wall, NJ Contact RGS Wildlife Taxidermy in Wall, NJ Quality Links from RGS Wildlife Taxidermy in Wall, NJ
Definition of Antlers:
Antlers are the usually large and complex horn-like appendages of most deer species, mostly worn by males only, for some species such as caribou by both sexes. They consist of bony outgrowths from the head with no covering of keratin as is found in true horns. Each antler grows from an attachment point on the skull called a pedicle. While an antler is growing it is covered with highly vascular skin called velvet, which supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone; once the antler has achieved its proper size, the velvet is lost and the antler's bone dies. This dead bone structure is the mature antler. Antlers shed after each mating season.

My Artificial Velvet-Antler service can replace the velvet that falls off the antlers or I can add velvet to any antlers that you may like to make into a special taxidermy piece. Taxidermists have always had a very hard time saving the velvet on antlers with any normal taxidermy processes. But with a special flocking machine I can make the velvet horns look better than they would in real life. The colors available are Chocolate; Silver Gray, and Tan, special mixes are also available. These colors are mixed at the plant that supplies the companies that offer this service.

Some of the other methods are using a freeze-drying service but if you add into this the shipping cost, this can be very costly, and take up to a year. The other method that I use was only available to the other side of the USA. But the cost of shipping both ways across the USA makes it cost foolish for anybody east of the Mississippi river to use other company?s service. If any body wants to stop by my shop, and look at the mounts I have done using the Artificial-Velvet process, you are more than welcome. I am also posting photos of antlers and mounts on this web page as they are completed. This service is also available to any taxidermist or people who practice taxidermy in business or for there own pleasure.

Antlers:
Antlers are a kind of ornamentation present on the front of the heads of mammals. Antlers consist of pure bone tissue and are shed and regrown annually. These growths were first seen in fossils from about 25 million years ago. 

Most even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyls) have head ornaments, such as deer, reindeer, elk, and moose.  In most species, only males have antler growth.  Antlers stem from the upper part of the frontal bone processes, called burrs. They grow by the accumulation of a cartilage -like bone matrix. The development of antlers begins in the spring with small nubs covered with "velvet," a layer of skin with oil and scent glands and nerves, as well as the sparse coating of hair that gives the velvet its name. Nutrients are supplied from the diet to the underlying bone through the velvet, and the antlers grow quickly throughout the summer. 

Toward the end of the velvet stage, growth slows and the antler begins to harden off. The velvet begins in spring and ends in the fall. During this period the interior of the bone becomes denser, increasing the final weight from the beginning of hardening off process by about 70 percent. The velvet dies in the fall, and the animal rubs its antlers against tree trunks and branches to get the dead velvet off. 

My Artificial Velvet-Antler service can replace the velvet that falls off the antlers. Mating occurs later in the fall and in early winter when the antlers are at their peak size and weight, afterward the antlers are shed. 

Antlers can be used as a defense against predators, but scientists believe that their primary function is to establish an individual's ranking within its species.  Antlers are also used in ritual fights among individuals of the same species. Their size and scent indicate to other members of the same species an individual's rank and maturity, and this information often avoids the need to fight to establish the same ranking.


WILDLIFE TAXIDERMY BY RICHARD G. SANTOMAURO
1732 Highway #71 
Wall, NJ 07719 
Phone # 732-449-5950 
E-mail rgswildlife@yahoo.com

Be sure to visit my taxidermy website at
www.rgswildlifetaxidermy.com


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*DISCLAIMER: SOME OF THE LIVE ACTION PHOTOS OF DEER WITH VELVET HAVE BEEN CONTRIBUTED BY MANY, THANK YOU FOR THEIR USE.
IF YOU FIND YOUR PHOTO IN ERROR, PLEASE CONTACT US SO WE CAN FIX THE ERROR.
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