European Mount... anyone? Piebald?
 

Hubby wants to do a European mount of the deer he got Saturday. How is it done? He knows he needs to boil the skull, anything else he needs to know? He has skinned it and intends to boil it just as it is... right or wrong? Best way to do this?

RE: European Mount... anyone? Piebald?
 

Hey

I did this a few years back and had a lot of trouble. I skinned the hide as much as possible off the deer. I then boiled it for many hours and had tons of trouble getting it all cleaned out, so I barried the skull in durt for about 2 months witch helped and then used sulferic acid to get the scull white. I know that is not the best way to do this, so it will be interesting to hear some of the responses. The sulferic acid worked real nice to get the skull really white though. If you use it just make sure you have a hose handy--if you use too much--it will eat right through the bone.

Good luck

CB

RE: European Mount... anyone? Piebald?
 

I've done a few and unfortunately got a cousin hooked on em. He now does one for every deer he takes. There's really not much to it. I just skin the head and cut off as much meat/tissue as possible. Then boil it for quite a while. The more heat the better. I've tried using electric stoves, small camping stoves and the best has been the burner for turkey deep fryers. I got it done with the other heat sources, but the burner for the deep fryer worked the best. I even used the pot that came with it and no I didn't fry a turkey afterward. I bought a new pot from walmart. Boil the head for half hour to an hour then scrape as much off that will come. Just keep repeating until its clean. The apply peroxide with cottons balls to whiten the skull.

There are other ways to do it as well. You can buy kits where you get the bugs that a lot of taxidermist use that eat all the flesh off. Or you can leave it outside under a barrel or barry it and let nature do its thing. Boiling is the quickest way to go if you want it done fast. Hope this helps

RE: European Mount... anyone? Piebald?
 

Its a piece of cake. Ive done loads of them. I could type out all the instructions, or better yet, do a internet search. You will find tuns of good sights showing how. If you have any questions P.M. Me.

Here is one of several deer ive done




Here is what a hog looks like. Deer are much easier than a fat hog.

RE: European Mount... anyone? Piebald?
 

Yea, you dont want to simmer the antlers, but to get the base, you have to simmer a very small portion on the bottom.

Ill add just a few things since he has started. Put some baking soda in the water he is simmering the skull in. Do not try to force the meat or skin off, if it doesntpull off easily, simmer it more. Do not bring to a hard boil, you can damage the bones. Also, do not scrap the bones, simply simmer longer to get the tough cartilage and simue off. I use needle nose plyers and a dull knife to get meat, simue, and everything else off with. If it dont just come off, simmer more. Becareful around the nose, you can damage the thin bones easy. Use a coat hanger to scamble the brains and every now and then take it out side and hose out the foramen magnus (the hole where the spine enters the head) this will get the brains and crainial nerves out more easily. Once you get most all the meat off, soak it in 28 % peroxide, or simmer it in 3% peroxide. You do not have to simmer the stronger stuff. The peroxide will get ride of any cartilage, simue ect stuck in all the hard to reachcracks. Some thing else, ever time you pour out your water, check for teeth. They will fall out most of the time. Keep them because you can glue them back in. You can tell when it is done in the peroxide because when you take it out of the hot peroxide, it will dry bright white. If not, soak more. Most people try to wrape the base of the antlers with foil to try to prevent bleaching the antlers, I quit trying. I simply touch them up after words with brown and black shoe polish, and sharpies. Before you try to re-die the antlers, wash the whole thing with dish washing soap. It will get the fat film off the antlers and bones.

RE: European Mount... anyone? Piebald?
 

Dang it all! I *told* him to go the other house and get the turkey fryer!!! He said it would be too big, because he is under the impression you don't put the antlers under, right? Just the skull? He just went to wal-mart to buy a big pot... he is going to do it over open flame I guess. Our turkey fryer for some reason didn't have an ignitor in the box, but he could have at least used the pot so we didn't have to buy one... ***sigh***

He's a spontaneous person, doesn't like to wait on anything! lol

I will have him read these when he comes home, maybe he will get some ideas... any other input would be appreciated! Thanks so far guys!

RE: European Mount... anyone? Piebald?
 

I don't like to boil skulls. I think it does too much damage to the nasal cavity, which is really delicate. I have a small colony of dermestid beetles and they do a really good job of cleaning the skull.

RE: European Mount... anyone? Piebald?
 

Being a taxidermist... how did I *know* you were gonna say that? YUCK. LOL

Okay, that's what hubby wanted to do in the first place, but I put the axe on that. Where did you get them btw?

RE: European Mount... anyone? Piebald?
 

Also, Hubby has a couple of questions for you about those disgusting, flesh eating beetles [:'(][8D]

What do you keep them in and how long does it take them to clean off a skull? One more question, how many do you need to clean off a skull?

RE: European Mount... anyone? Piebald?
 

Yea, the beatles are the best by far, but most people do not care to do it that way. You can also use bacteria. Its a much nastier way. You can bag it and let the bacteria losen it up. Ive seen it done once and it was too nasty for me to do.