Antler shrinkage on Moose

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mad max78

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Good afternoon. I hope everyone is staying warm....
Just curious to know what others have experienced in shrinkage on your euro mounts. When I dropped my moose in mid November last year, we measured a 48" spread. Towards the end of January, I measured again and to my surprise got a measurement of 45".
Is that the norm that one should assume to see?
 
mad max78 said:
Good afternoon. I hope everyone is staying warm....
Just curious to know what others have experienced in shrinkage on your euro mounts. When I dropped my moose in mid November last year, we measured a 48" spread. Towards the end of January, I measured again and to my surprise got a measurement of 45".
Is that the norm that one should assume to see?
Click to expand...
Yeup very normal.
 
Agree 2-3” on a good sized moose is normal.
I shot an elk this year that nets out just under 375”, was probably well over Boone and Crocket minimum before the euro treatment. If I shot a critter that was close to world record size I’d be renting freezer space and wedging beams for the drying period. One can dream haha.
 
mad max78 said:
Good afternoon. I hope everyone is staying warm....
Just curious to know what others have experienced in shrinkage on your euro mounts. When I dropped my moose in mid November last year, we measured a 48" spread. Towards the end of January, I measured again and to my surprise got a measurement of 45".
Is that the norm that one should assume to see?
Click to expand...
Yup and there is a reason guys will place a straight strong stick between the antlers to retain shape and width in places.
 
6-1/4 % reduction seems alot shrinkage depends on moisture content & processing.

https://www.boone-crockett.org/do-a...ne and Crockett Club,one trophy to the next.”

Didn't think there was much if any shrinkage from the field on my 52" mount.

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The record keeping organizations such as Boone & Crockett, have a 60 day drying period (IIRC) before taking official measurements of trophies for the book. Someone with more knowledge should be able to share if Rowland Ward, P&Y and SCI have the same drying period...
 
Crazy they they shrink that much. Still, I am very happy with the hunt and how things turned out.
To add to the question, what is the shrinkage when it comes to a ram. My guess is that horns wouldn't shrink as much as antlers.
 
Not sure myself...but in talking to those that carve antler and horn for crafting (knife making, carving, making buttons or belt buckles, pens, etc.), they do talk about the variation in density of antler and horn, and that this determines which species they want for varied purposes.

This leads me to think that shrinkage will vary by species based on the density of the antler or horn.
Perhaps someone with more knowledge in this area can answer.
 
They are likely to curve inwards a fair bit if the palms are thin. Even the really thick palms will curve inwards if the spongy inner material is really thick. I think it really depends on the density of the solid outer layer of antler.
 
yeh so you got to take into considration how long since velvet was it killed.

fresh out velvet, will shrink more... than a 3 week from casting , set of antlers...
 
The horn itself will shrink very minimal, it is the cartilage between the skull joins that dries & shrinks together and this only pulls the horns together and changes the inside spread credit to a head...that is why a "spreader" bar works to retain that scoring point.
 
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