Fall is my husband’s favorite time of year; for him, fall means football, Thanksgiving dinner and deer hunting. This year, my husband lucked out and got a buck on the first day of his hunt. He was luckier than he realized, as he had forgotten his entire coffee supply on the kitchen counter (hunting under the fog of a decaffeinated brain and body sounds terrible!).
My husband asked me if I could make him a small mount for the antlers. I started looking around the internet for ideas and saw a lot of what I consider to be the typical antler mount – a wooden plaque with a felt cap over the center of the antlers. But I don’t really know how to attach antlers to wood and I didn’t feel like trying to form something out of felt.
Then, I came across “The Deer Stand” Antler Mount by The Taxidermists’ Woodshop. This seemed like such a clever idea! No felt, no mounting! You just drop the antlers in behind the plaque after hanging it on the wall!
The Deer Stand 
The Deer Stand
All I needed was some scrap wood (I used some walnut from a failed cheese board) and a little wood glue!
I used the template/router approach for this project. This was for a couple of reasons, with the biggest factor being the super smooth results I get from using my compression cut flush trim bit from Bits And Bits. Every time I use this thing, I am pleasantly surprised at the smooth finish it leaves behind! It’s amazing!
To start, I drew my template. I took inspiration from “The Deer Stand” and just used various round objects laying around (rolls of tape, stain cans, etc.) to make a shape I thought looked nice. I first drew it on paper, so I could fold it in half when I cut it out, keeping the shape symmetrical. Then, I transferred the shape to a 1/4″ plywood scrap, and cut this out at the band saw.
Once I finished cutting out the pattern, I sanded it, until all the band saw marks were gone and all the curves were smooth.
After transferring the pattern to the walnut, I went to the band saw and cut it out, taking care to stay on the waste-side of my very thick line (pencil doesn’t show up well on walnut, so I had to trace it a few times).
I used double-sided tape to attach the template to the work piece. I clamped it to my workbench and took a spin around the edges with my compression cut router bit, riding the bearings along the plywood. I also used a Roman Ogee bit to put a decorative edge on the antler mount.
Now, it was time to figure out how to create a hanger for the antler mount. I decided to use a french cleat system. For those unfamiliar, a french cleat consists of two strips of wood, both cut at a 45 degree angle along their length. Then, you mount one strip to the wall, the other to the object. To hang, you just stack the two strips!
French cleats are my favorite way to hang stuff. I love them for a few reasons:
- They can be used for pictures, cabinets, floating headboards and even an antler mount!
- It is much easier to level and hang a strip of wood than the object itself (imagine supporting an entire cabinet while you try to level, find studs and drill!)
- It is much easier to level and hang a strip of wood than try to precisely locate and measure two tiny keyhole slots on the back of a picture frame!
- French cleats give you flexibility on lateral location on a wall. Studs don’t line up with the center of your picture? No problem! Just hang the cleat on the stud and shift your object as needed to center it.
- Because you have this lateral flexibility, you almost never have to set drywall anchors!
After settling on the french cleat, I headed over to the table saw. There, I used my cross cut sled to cut the two side pieces of the mount. Then I set my blade to 45 degrees, and ripped the piece I would use for the french cleat. I made sure that all the pieces formed a box deep and wide enough to fit the base of the antlers.
I glued the cleat together and set it in clamps to dry, checking to make sure the angle on the cleat was facing the right direction. I temporarily slid the other piece of the cleat towards the top, just to make sure the sides stayed square while the glue was drying.
Checking that the cleats line up 
using the wall cleat for support during clamping
Then, I took a few measurements to make sure the hanger was level to the mount, and glued the hanger on.
After that, the last thing to do was drop the antlers in behind the plaque and hang it!
All in, this took me about an hour and a half, and I didn’t have to purchase anything to make it. Not bad! My husband felt the plaque was a bit too large for the rack, but the great thing about this design is the ease with which you can swap out the antlers! Next year, when he gets his monster buck, he can just change out the rack. 😉
Great idea for some antlers I have laying around from previous hunts.