Re: staining dropped horns??
Ive stained quite a few. Walnut, maple, even mix a bit of cherry stain to emulate that fresh velvet shed phase. Its quick to do and turns out ok.
However......
If you want a truly "fresh" appearance to them....ya gotta go about it the same way the buck did. Ive done a few sets this way, it takes longer but yields much better results.
Basically, just go out, cut some various species of saplings local to your area, and start scrubbing, and scrubbing, and scrubbing, and scrubbing and.....well, you get the point. You can mix in rubbing lightly with some dirt, or just weeds every now and than too. The oils from the bark and wood will gradually stain the bone, you'll polish the bone up just like a ruttin buck does (ever notice how bleached antler feels rough?, you want to get rid of that) and end up with a real good looking set of antlers.