Im going to have a european mount made out of the buck I shot last saturday and wanted to know how far down the neck should I cut the head off. I heard right behind the ears is enough, but when I take it in I want to make sure I have it done right so my taxidermist doesnt have too much extra work. Ill post in the taxidermy thread as well.

Behind the ears will be all he needs. Cut the spine right where it joins the skull. I do euro mounts for others and that is all he needs. Get it to him fast as the longer it sits around the more the skull can get discolored and that can make it hard to whiten.

Camokenny is correct on both accounts, where to cut and the discoloration factor. I never used to like Euro mounts, but now i've got two of them! Great for deer that around't big enough to do a shoulder on, but still nice ones that I want around.

How much does it cost to get done at the taxidermist I know you can buy a kit from cabelas and would probably be a lot cheaper to do yourself. At least that's what I do. $60 for the kit comes with chemicals and a nice solid oak panel to put the skull on and instructions just a thought.

This is my rendition of the Euro mount with this year's little 9pt. I do this with EVERY buck that doesn't get mounted, and that's been every one except one.

cut it as close to the skull as you can...you can feel the back of the skull...thats the end of the euro mount...cut anywhere behind there and your fine..just dont cut the skull..cut a few inches back if you want...

if you really wanna save your taxi time, and probably save some cash, you can then start the work of the process...easy, just a little time consuming...you can start by skinning the head...start by making a slice straight down the top of the neck, between the antlers, down the center of the snout to the nose...have your knife or razor blade with the edge up..a good pointy SHARP knife works great to get between the bone and skin..next i make a slice the same way inbetween the antlers from that main cut...

then you just skin it like any other critter..slice and pull off the hide...cut the ears off as close as you can when you get to them just like anything else...VERY easy to skin if done that day...

after its skinned, you can trim all the meat off you can...you can also cut inside each bottom jaw bone to remove the tounge..theres a big mass of meat there...then just trim anything you can...your taxi can do it all for you but its time and money im sure...even if he feeds the skull to beetles to clean it, its going to take them longer to eat more meat...and the longer the meat and fat sits on the skull the harder it is to make it look nice..it will be spotty with different shades...



start of the process..


after skinning...



buddy boiled and whitened that one for me last year (one of the right..got a little whitener on the antlers and i didnt touch them up yet...


the one i did myself this year...

very simple to do yourself...i got some time into mine this year..its a bit time consuming, but not bad...and VERY cheap...i might have 15$ into mine...made the plaque myself...and although it might not be GREAT, its cheap and looks good IMO...so im happy...