Got my 2012 mule deer buck all cleaned up and mounted on a stand. My beetles did a great job of cleaning him up. I did all the work myself except cutting out the wood stand. I did do all the finish and assembly work on the stand though. I'm happy with how it all came together. Not everyone likes skull mounts but I think they are pretty cool. Thought some of the rest of you might enjoy seeing the final product.

That looks great! I've got an elk head for you when you're ready...grin

Dober

Been after the yotes?

Dober

Looks good. I am beginning to like skull mounts more and more as a change of pace.

Mark, heading out the door for yotes in about a 1/2 hour. Sitting here recharging the batteries before I head out. Pretty cold so I want the batteries at full charge. Can do elk, but draw the line at moose and buffalo. Dang things are too big and heavy for me to want to deal with them. Keep an eye out I will be posting a really cool B+C black bear head/skull some time next week. He's a DANDY!

Sounds good, look forward to it. Recharging batteries for your sox...grin

I spect it's about rodeo and calving time your way so it's gotta be about the coldest of the year.

Dober

Looks great Troy! What kind of wood is that? Appears to have some blue to it - I like it a lot!

Well done sir....on all accounts..


X-VERMINATOR

Looks great!

I like that alot!

I've got a few skull mounts myself.

Ranger1, it's Blue Pine and I think it's purty stuff. In fact I've used some of it to finish my basement.

Nice rack, nice mount!

Very nice buck and skull mount, do you seal the skull with anything?

That looks great!

Can't beat that. Nice work, really nice buck!

That is very nice. Nice work. I am very excited to see my Dads bear skull.

Toby Joe

Looks good. Nice buck as well!

Very nice buck and mount.

Big Sky;
Thanks for sharing the photo of your project, it's a grand buck and your mount absolutely accents it nicely.

As I understand it, the blue in the pine would indicate it's been bug killed.

Our local Ponderosa will not have any blue in it unless it's bug killed and I've been told by sawmill people that's the case with other coniferous woods as well.

At first there was resistance by the buying public to accepting blue tinged wood, but happily that trend seems to be changing nowadays.

Thanks again for showing off your mount, I like it a lot. All the best to you and yours in 2013 Big Sky.

Regards,
Dwayne

What was that about beetles cleaning him up?

postoak;
This is a supposition on my part sir and nothing more, but taxidermists up here use similar beetles to these to clean up skulls.

http://www.skulltaxidermy.com/kits.html

While the European mount is seen up here a bit, from what I've seen the beetles are used more for bear, cougar and wolf skulls.

Hopefully I'm not too far off in my guess and that was some use to someone out there this cold January morning.

All the best to you in 2013 postoak.

Regards,
Dwayne

That sure did turn out looking great. The buck is a dandy and that mount likes really nice.

Congrats!

That is just a great mount. A couple questions: Isn't it tough to keep beetles in that cold climate, and did you guy the pedestal from a taxidermy supply place? I have a few beetle'd skulls that need finishing.

Very nice work. Artistic, almost ...

That is a heck of a nice buck, and nice mount. I really like the European mounts as well. How wide is that buck by the way?

Troy, that looks really cool. Do yo do beetle work for anyone?

Talus in Arizona. First, yes it is a somewhat difficult to keep beetles in this cold climate as they have to stay at around 80 degrees year' round. As for the wood mount I have them made locally by a friend of mine.

CHell, he is 26" inside.

CLD, yes I do, but only non-antlered/horned animals ie...coyotes, bobcats, bears, mt. lions and such. The only deer I do are for locals. Too much of a hassle to try and ship antlered game in the mail. I do have a website if you want to see some of my other work. http://www.bestskullcleaning.com/

That's a nice website Troy! Those skulls look great, if I wasn't such a cheap azz that would be the only way to go. Really, when I think about the time I have to put into boiling and cleaning a skull, it's not that expensive to just send it off and have a better finished product.

Nate,
I used to boil skulls. In fact I did about 50 deer, a dozen or so antelope, and a couple bears. I finally decided there had to be a better way. That and I hate the smell of boiled meat. Anyway, boiling skulls is what motivated me to use beetles. No regrets and it is less time consuming. The really cool part is while they are working I can be off doing something else...like coyote hunting.

There's a guy in the west valley that runs a beetle shop called Western Skulls. He does great work. My boiled ones suck in comparison. I paid $125 for my last Coue's skull. The owner, who also guides in Alaska, actually delivered it to me. Great service for all those Phoenix area folks. Hope to get him a pig skull this Feb ...

I asked him once how hard it was to keep beetles. His challenge comes in the summer when he's got to keep them cool. And I guess right now, when it's headed for the 4th night of mid twenties temps in a row.

Nice buck and mount. I like the blue pine... looks great!!

Eric