Anyone a taxidermist or taken apart a powder horn for a traditional muzzle loader? I am wondering how thick/long/big the horn cap is on a bison. I've looked and can't find much on the interweb on this topic. The reason I ask is, I was given the bison skull that my grandfather found in a dry river bed back in the 1930s in the SW part of the Northern Dakotah Territory. It had been there a while before he found it and the black horn caps had rotted or washed away. I am curious how much they would have added to the width and height of the "rack" beyond what the boney horn base that remains with the skull.
The black horn caps or whatever they are called would slide over those boney horn bases. You already know that. I got a bison skull with the black caps back in the 90's. Only it was from S.D. The caps slide on and off easily explaining why your skull was found without them in place. I have it at the cottage garage and as I remember, they don't add all that much (IMO) to the width/height of the skull. But, the skull you have pictured seems larger than the one I have.
The one I have must have been a teenager. I'll have to get some pics and measure it next week when I plow down there.
Posted this picture on a history of our state site and a reply came back that I did not expect. The person said they are a paleontologist working for the state and can't verify on the interweb but they said due to the horn shape, spread and bone structure of the skull that this may be older than I suspected...by a lot. They said possibly this may be an ancestor of modern bison and be a very intact 10,000 year old skull of a variety called bison antiquus. Hmmm???
I had noticed that the horns on my skull have more a curve to them where as that one is straighter. Kinda similar to that commercial on TV with all those different shaped peppers!
