Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters My elk mount has bugs! Now what?

While sitting at my couch yesterday, looking up at my latest elk mount(been here a year) I thought I saw larve or something like that coming out of the brisket area. I brushed the stuff away and noticed a small amount of hair come out with it. I then noticed a couple more, which I cleaned out and forgot about it...but I was a little concerned. Tonight I saw something like a smallish fly on the shoulder area and when I brushed it away, it flew off....Oh hell...what's going on???

I have had mounts in my house, deer, ducks, elk, fish, democrats, etc for 40 years now and this is the very first one that this happened to. I am at a loss...what can I spray?

Any suggestions sincerely appreciated. Thanks!

Probably too late. I would be contacting the taxidermist and asking for a refund or remount with a fresh cape.

You didn't happen to use a taxidermist from northern Utah did you?

MtnHtr

Same thing happened to me! You got moths baby! The white stuff you see on the hair is frass. Bug droppings! The bugs that are eating your mounts.

My taxidermist suggested PRO-CIDE, which is supposed to be specially formulated for use in homes, restaurants, motels, etc., etc. It contains .5% pyrethrins. Comes in an aerosol can. Just open the windows and doors of your house and hose em down. Probably any similar insecticide would work including Raid. Also I have been putting moth balls in the ears of all my mounts a couple of times a year.

Seems to have cleaned up the problem.

Good luck.

My deer birthed maggots soon after arrival, so I figure my first batch was a freebie from the taxidermist. I set up a small tent in the yard, put in Bucky, and set off a couple of cans of mist. Recovered dead worms on the floor.

I know that my home is well infested with dermestids and moths, so I have the family bomb the man-cave whenever I go on a long hunt- so at least twice each year.

And I always have something -a shelf, a bookcase, even just a small strip of wood attached to the wall for the purpose- below each head. I occasionally inspect them for frass or hair.

You might also try hanging a Shell pest strip in that room. (Read the directions about where and when you should do it, if food items can be exposed, etc.) They are very effective in killing bugs. Fumigants that can kill bugs which are not protected by being inside include PIC mosquito coil - which you can light and let burn for the 8 hour- or so- duration, or Buhach. Buhach is a powder which you light a small pile of and leave the room. It makes a oppressive smoke which kills any bug which gets exposed.

I work with USDA and am familiar with pyrethrins...they are in about all our pesticides...I have some at the house and will use ASAP. I might get a Shell no-pest strip too...they usually work like a charm for other applications...thanks for the help!

Those are dermestids,as someone said, I'd have the taxidermist re-do....at his expense. Spray them, No-pest them, whatever you have to do, they will infect many of your other mounts if you don't get rid of them ASAP. They eat the bases of the hairs( and other stuff) so the hair falls out, plus their larval shells, etc.
Ingwe

Well you could also use one of those fog bombs.
Just put the mount in a small room and fog away.
I just got rid of an indoor tick infestation this way caused by my Blue Heeler as she stays inside my humble abode and carried them in.

My personal take is that the dermestids did not come with the mount. I could be wrong but IIRC the life cycle would not prove that out IMHO... And all taxidermists I know have their shops sprayed all the time.

Which is what is required of the homeowner also.

That being said, google McKenzie Taxidermy supply and give them a call, they'll sell you the best insecticide for that bug. Then take it outside, put it in an large trash bag, spray and let sit for 24 hours... at this point you are really in danger of everything else in the house since you have em already...

BTW the shells look like mini rice crispies to me....

They eat protein.... that means horns, hooves, and skin, they don't eat the hair itself per say, but they eat what its attached to and as a result the hair is no longer attached and will come loose.

My thoughts are I'd fog each mount seperately in a bag and make sure the house is treated, and specify dermestids(larval stage of carpet beetle)

Jeff

Research says complete life cycle 3-4 months, and then you find the beetle, not a moth.... so I'd say if this is the first you've seen it ain't coming from the taxidermist. Of course if you shopped for price and got a cheap mount not tanned etc... there is a chance the taxidermist doesn't spray also...

Also says use a pesticide to get rid of, I"m assumign from that reading one could use just a good general one.

By all means the house has to be treated. And if you haven't been on a 3 month treatment cycle of the house spraying, then thats probably the answer as to where they came from, though I've heard some stronger chemicals may last 4-6 months.

Jeff

rost495; Good posts, great info, good tips on what to do...said it a bunch better than I did!
Ingwe

I'm dumb in this area, but aren't pyrethrins a repellent more or less? You don't need a repellent right now, you need to KILL the things. You can repell later...

I doubt if our taxidermist is responsible for a year old mount..Your mount has contacted the bugs fairly recently..Spray them with bug killer..I take the board off the back and spray the inside with a pecsticide of one kind or another...Life cycle of these bugs is about a couple of weeks as a rule, so you contacted them recently I suspect..

actually they are basically a nerve toxin to insects.....

yes, they are -cidal , not simply repellent, and are a neurotoxin (at higher doses to mammals too)

Thats good to know, correct dose will kill also, not simply repel.

Learn something every day!!

Thanks, Jeff

the only thing about pyrethrins is they dont seem to be terribly stable and they break down rather fast......though for me i tend to think of it as a plus cause than i dont have so much residue to worry about around the house or outside given the kids and the dogs.....UV from sunlight really degrades it quick.....

Agreed, they probably ain't comin' from the taxidermist.

They know more about these bugs than any of us and any taxidermist worth his weight in salt is constantly spraying their studios and workshops.

Most people's houses are full of moths, they just don't know it.

If you bought a dog and it got run over by a truck at your house 6 months later, you can't call the breeder and demand a new dog.

Moths just don't relate to dermestids....

Yep on the dog....

And I'd be the first to comment on bad taxidermy, and just did so in the elk forum, I hate to... but the fellow thinks its a great job and it ain't.....

Jeff

It's not actually the moths or dermestids or whatever you want to call them that are doing the damage. Been 24 years since I took entomology, so I might not be up on the lingo like I used to be.

It's the eggs they lay and the tiny maggots they hatch that are eating the mounts. And they attack the base of the hairs which makes the hairs fall out.

The pyrethrins are a nerve toxins and kill almost immediately on contact. If you have ever sprayed catapillars with them you can see them wiggling uncontrollably for a few seconds and then being still (dead).

If you live in a colder climate like I do, you can get a way with treating 2x a year. You southern boys may have to go 3x a year.

It's just a fact of life if you have a lot of mounts.

Ps. Try the moth balls in the ears...it really does help.