How to Dust & Clean Feathered & Furred Taxidermy Animal Mounts?

Taxidemying animals and mounting them on the walls or placing them somewhere in the room is one of the ways hunting enthusiasts display their hunting trophies and bring them memories of spending good days in the woods and having a great time with their buddies. But like preserving and cleaning old oil paintings on canvas, keeping taxidermy animals and trophies as beautiful as their first day requires proper and regular cleaning and maintenance.

In this article, we’ll discuss how to correctly dust, clean and maintain furred and feathered taxidermy animal mounts.

How Often Should You Dust & Clean Taxidermy Mounts?

First of all, let’s discuss the frequency of dusting, cleaning and deep cleaning taxidermy mounts. It’s important to know when to clean and maintain animal mounts and trophies to ensure they retain their beauty and sparkle.

• Dusting: once a week or every two weeks
• Surface-level Cleaning: once every month
• Deep Cleaning: once every year
• Detailing: only when required

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Things to Avoid When Cleaning Taxidermy Mounts

Taxidermy animals, whether furred, feathered or otherwise, are delicate and sensitive. Therefore, keep the following tips in mind when cleaning your hunting and fishing trophies:

• Do not use commercially available home cleaning solutions. Most cleaning chemicals damage taxidermy mounts and leave oily and sud residues.
• When cleaning, avoid too much water as moisture can damage animal mounts and cause mould to grow on the mount. Only wipe animal mounts with slightly dampened cleaning cloths or cotton buds.
• Blowing taxidermy animal mounts with a hair dryer is a common practice for dusting taxidermy mounts. Just make sure to set in on the lowest speed and coolest temperature setting and keep it at an arm’s length away from the mount.

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Dusting Taxidermy Animal Mounts

Dusting taxidermy animals is an easy task. Dusting hunting or fishing trophies every week or every other week prevents dust and debris buildup, which can save you a lot of time when cleaning them afterwards.

Regardless of the type of taxidermy animal, use a very soft bristle duster or a feather duster. You can also use a soft and dry microfibre cloth to dust your hunting trophies. When dusting, start from the top and finish at the bottom and always go along the natural direction of features and furs on the animal mount.

For taxidermy animals with longer furs and hairs, you can use a hair dryer. Set it on the lowest speed and the coolest setting. Then, keep it at least an arm’s length away from the mount and start blowing the trophy. Keep the blowing in the same direction as the fur. This not only helps with removing dust but also keeps the fur fluffy and puffed.

Surface-level Cleaning Taxidermy Animals

Surface-level cleaning of a taxidermy mount involves restoring the natural shine and beauty of trophies that can’t be achieved with simple dusting. This involves cleaning hard parts of taxidermy animals or cleaning taxidermy fish mounts.

To do this, soak a soft microfibre cloth in water and squeeze it to remove as much excess water as possible until the cloth is slightly dampened. Then, start wiping down harder parts of animal mounts like antlers, hoofs and beaks.

You can use this dampened cloth to clean fish mounts as well but be careful not to damage their thinner and more delicate parts like fins.

You can also clean and restore the shine on furred taxidermy animals with a dampened cloth. Wipe their furs and hair with a dampened cloth and within the natural direction of the furs. Then, blow them in the same direction with a hair dryer on low speed and coolest setting.

Remember while using dampened cloth to clean furred animals or fish is fine, you should never use this technique to clean birds and feathered taxidermy mounts. Only clean feathered trophies with soft and dry cloths or a soft duster.

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Deep Cleaning & Detailing

Deep cleaning and detailing are only required once a year or when there is a noticeable stain or issue on the animal mount.

For example, taxidermy animal eyes are prone to fading and looking dull after some time. When this happens, you can dip a cotton bud in warm water, squeeze it slightly and start cleaning the eye gently. Keep the wiping direction in a circular motion until the original shine and sparkle are back.

In addition, stains and marks may appear on trophy mounts over time as the result of environment and external factors. If you notice them early, you can easily clean them. Otherwise, deep cleaning taxidermy mounts once a year can prevent most of these stains and marks.

To deep-clean animal mounts, mix a few drops of mild dish soap in a large bucket of warm water. Mix the solution until it is about to form suds or foam. You should avoid too much suds and foam when creating this solution.

Next, dip a soft microfibre cloth in the solution and wring it to remove excess water as much as possible. Then, start gently wiping the animal mount in the direction of furs and hairs. Afterwards, use a hair dryer to dry and form the fur and hair on the taxidermy mount. Remember not to clean feathered taxidermy animals and birds with dampened cloth. Just use a dry cloth or use special cleaning solutions for cleaning featured trophies.

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How to Maintain Taxidermy Animal Mounts?

While regular dusting and cleaning of your taxidermy animal mounts can keep them beautiful and sparkling like their first day, there are external factors that can affect their quality. The following tips help you maintain your hunting and fishing trophies and prevent external factors from degrading your taxidermy mounts.

• Don’t touch, handle or replace your trophies too much as the oil on the skin can leave stains and marks on taxidermy animals that are hard and often impossible to clean.
• Place your taxidermy trophies in a room that is dry and cool. Extreme heat and moisture can damage and degrade taxidermy animals very fast.
• Don’t expose taxidermy animals to direct sunlight as the sunlight’s UV can fade and degrade the mount over time.
• Don’t keep trophies in a room with a wood-burning fireplace. Avoid exposing taxidermy mount to wood fire smoke or cigar/cigarette smoke. Smoke can quickly discolour hunting trophy mounts.
• If possible, keep taxidermy animals inside a glass dome or glass display case to preserve them for a very long time. This also makes cleaning and dusting very easy as you only need to clean the glass rather than the mount.

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Conclusion

Displaying taxidermy animal trophies is one of the hobbies of hunting enthusiasts. While they are beautiful and shiny at first, if you don’t regularly clean and maintain them, they may lose their beauty and degrade over time. In this article, we explored how to properly dust, clean, deep clean and detail furred and feathered taxidermy animal mounts without damaging them. We also discussed how often they need cleaning, what to avoid when cleaning them and how to maintain and keep them safe from external factors.

The information provided by this article can help you properly maintain, dust, clean and deep clean your taxidermy animal trophies regardless they are furred, feathered or otherwise.