Problem 1: both spike bucks (my kids' first deer) were capped. I put them in ziplocs. I thought I froze them. I did not. When (if) I open the bags, it will punch me in the face. There is still flesh on them.

Is it worth trying to preserve anything? We are on a lease, so these are hopefully the first of many deer harvested.

The caps aren't cut very clean, so maybe the best option is just cut the small antlers off at the base? Should I just boil them and then clean with soap and water? Any other tips? If I boil the antlers, will that discolor anything?

I'm thinking my best option may be throw them in the trash and frame the pictures.

Slit the bags and put them on a red ant mound.
Because they are small, you may want to tie them to something or put them in a cage to keep a critter from carrying them off. If you plan to leave them for several months, I would wrap the antler part in something UV resistant to keep them from bleaching out.

The worst part of the stench will be gone sooner than you think.

What he said. I still have my tiny spike from 8 years old. 20 years later...

Boil outside with moderate heat. Season water with the dry carpet fresh product that has the dog on the box. Since you only have the skull cap it shouldn't take more than a couple hours. Use a knife or gasket scraper around the bases and/or an old toothbrush or similar sized wire brush to remove bits n pieces. Let dry and paint cap with flat white primer.

Everything he said but if you don't want to spray paint, you can get concentrated Hydrogen peroxide at like a beauty store or online, that's 40%. Soak in that and wet a sponge or towel to lay over the gap between main beams on the crown of the skull.

How "ripe" are they? Is the flesh still soft? If so, hold your nose and skin them out. Then boil with some Dawn detergent to cut the grease and dirt, and then scrape off the flesh once they are done.

If they are dried out, you can try maceration. Google it.

I square all of my skull plates up with a belt sander, then mount them on barn wood. Did all of my spikes one one piece after last season.

Don't boil them. You want to get the water just under boiling but not bubbling and let it slowly leach out the fats and oils. If you boil them it'll make the bone brittle and weak. Then hit them with the peroxide paste.

Just cut that skull base by the horns (leaving horns attached to skull bone).

Then either mount them like Log has you can try something like what I do:

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/2583901

One thing my dad did with my "memorable" deer was to always write a simple paragraph about the hunt and as many details as possible. I'd recommed doing that for sure! The date, time, temp, my age, distance of the shot, where I hit the deer, if it ran or dropped in its tracks, etc. just as much as he could jot down. Then he gave me the files/print outs later in life when I was old enough to keep up with them. Also we printed out the paragraph and covered it with packing tape (like laminating it) and put it on the back of the horn plaque. And he usually save the empty shell.

Yeah, I sorta misspoke. Simmer on medium... Avoid boiling as it will degrade the integrity of the skull/cap.