Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game DIY European mount.....First time

Last weekend I done my first Euro mount. I decided to do it myself. I had mixed results. Let me tell the story.

So I got back from a Mule deer hunt in Wyoming. I killed a average buck. I decided to Euro mount. In Missouri we aren't allowed to bring brain material back into the state due to caution over CWD. So in Wyoming I skinned the skull, and removed the lower jaw. I took the skull to the local butcher shop where they injected boiling water into the brain cavity and blew the brains out of the skull. Don't ask me how it worked, I wasn't allowed to go back and watch. So we drove home over the next two days with my skull in the back of the truck in a garbage bag. We got home on Friday where I promptly unloaded my horns into the garage and sat on the coach that evening and next day. So by Sunday the skull was stinkin up the garage and my wife told me to do something with it.

I went out into the garage and picked up the garbage bag. I ripped a small opening in the bag and the smell about made me hurl. "yep, gotta do something with this" I got my Fish cooker out, a fresh bottle of propane and a pan I didn't care if I ruined. I placed the skull in the pan, added water and a little Cascade dishwashing powder. Let the burner and walked off.

About an hour later my wife screamed bloody murder at me. I walked in and asked: "WTF?" She said I was stinkin the whole house up. I told her it was outside. Needless to say she didn't care. So after about 3 hours of gently boiling the skull I decide to check it out. I pulled it out of the water and stuff was hanging everywhere. I took out the pressure washer and tried it out. The skull cleaned up excellently.

The only problem I had was that while pressure washing I blew the bone under the Nasal cavity lose. So I pulled it lose, and noticed the bridge of the nose was lose. So after drying a while I super glued those pieces back on. Then I noticed the "seam" on the roof of his mouth was coming apart.... More super glue. Anyway after peroxiding with my wifes Hair care suff it looks pretty good.

I'll post pics later.

You just boiled it to long. put it in a squirrel proof cage next time and hang it on a tree limb for a couple months.

You can however bring brain and spinal cord into Missouri. You just have to call the 1-800# and record it. It's what I did.

Sounds like you still brought it home with a good bit of flesh on board.

Next trip, pack a saw to gain access to the brain cavity. With about 1/2 hrs work, one can have the brains out and 95% of the flesh removed with a good sharp pocket knife. After doing 1 or two, one gets the lay of the land and it's pretty easy to pop things apart and remove most of the flesh. When I work one over, the remaining detritus is completely dried before I get home.

One trick I came up with for sawing deer/elk heads is to find a smallish tree around camp and lash the head face first against the tree with some rope. Get it good and snug, and one can then saw good straight consistent lines. Trying to hold a skull with hands and feet while sawing can be done, but it's a real PIA.

On younger animals (deer, elk, pronghorn etc) especially, the frontal nasal bones and hard palate areas are near paper thin and easily decompose or crush. Older animals will have significantly more bone in all portions of their skulls.

Or,..one more option. You can wrap the whole thing up and mail it to [b][color:#000099]Skulls Inc.[/color][/b] In a few months they'll be finished and you will have a museum quality skull at a fair price. You might have seen them on the show "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe.

OK,this is the way we do it.

Skin out the head. With a SHARP small tooth wood saw (not a hack saw)lay the head on its side on the edge of a table or something so the antlers are vertical,then make your cut in one slow and steady fashion, (this is a one shot deal so know what you want first, I like 3/4 eye socket cuts and good nose) all of the above should take about 20mins.

now for boiling.
get a steel pan with soda crystals (google it, to find what the American version is, but its usually some kind of drain cleaner/de greaser) suspend the head so that with a gentle rolling boil the water solution just comes upto the pedicules,whilst the head is fully submerged,this should take about 1/2Hr.
once its boiled out then you have to pick out the meat, jet washing sounds like it might work but well,its a case of just getting on with it, the more you do the easier it gets,but it also depends on the type of cut you make,I like the 3/4 cut euro but it can be a pain to get all the meat out of the nasal cavity, if you just want a skull cut then its a 2 minute job. Then its just a case of bleaching, I use what ever peroxide I can get hold of cheaply, get a peyrex roasting dish,fill all the cavities with cotton wool lay cotton wool out under the skull and place ontop,pour the peroxide into the dish,then dipping more cotton wool in the peroxide lay ontop of the skull so it is completly covered, depending on the strength leave until you start to see a change in colour,this will usually happen within 1/2Hr-1hr,then just rinse of the peroxide and leave to dry.

The hardest part i find is what cut to have!! and the rest is really very simple.

Hope this helps

I do it more or less like Dave mentions, but one point re "soda crystals" in that they are not the drain clearer variety!...

Drain cleaner is otherwise known as caustic soda and is way more corrisive than ordinary soda crystals. It works for degreasing skulls, but you only need a small amount and you risk causing pitting to the bones..(don't ask me how I know this!)

It will also corrode an aluminium pan, so you need to use stainless steel for your boiling pot..

Soda crystals are a much milder chemical, and used to be used for a variety of household cleaning functions, hence their common name: "washing soda"..I am fairly certain this is also the stuff Taxidermists are refering to when they refer to "sal soda"..

Regards,

Peter

Sodium Carbonate not Sodium Hydroxide.

You don't want to be around boiling NaOH!!!

I do several deer Euros every year. I use 1 cup of dishwashing detergent per 10qt of water. Bring it to a slow boil, drop the heads in and let them sit for about 45 min, power wash the junk off, and back into the water. Repeat one more time and power wash clean. I then let them dry/air out in the garage for about 3 weeks. Like you, if you blow off the nose with the pressure washer, just super glue it back in place. I usually do 3 heads at a time in a 30qt pot.

I did an elk and 7pt whitetail a few weeks back. Had to have a 50qt for the elk. Took around 2 hrs from start to finish. That was my first euro on an elk and must say it was actually easier than deer.

I did 2 deer and an antelope about 2 months ago and the antelope was a neat experience. Pretty easy, but alittle different than a deer since you have to clean out the sheaths.

loder