Thanks guys. Your replies and suggestions are appreciated. My understanding is that it is the larvae not the adult beetles that can attack things like wool and animal hair and cause damage to wildlife mounts. The adult beetles eat things like meat and dead insects and, as Bushmaster mentioned, unpreserved hides. Bushmaster, you are absolutely correct. The only permanent solution is to remove the food source. Sadly, in our case this will likely be expensive. I think the food source is an accumulation of dead flies which have built up under the vinyl siding on our house.(Sounds disgusting, doesn't it?). We may have to remove it and replace it with something which is not so easy for flies to get behind in the fall, possibly stucco.
My advice to anyone living in the country or contemplating a move to the country would be to avoid vinyl siding if at all possible.
I don't think my trophies are heavily infested at this point so I'll probably just keep an eye on them and vacuum them frequently. If I see many of the pests on my mounts, I'll have to get more aggressive.
Thanks again.
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