2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

I just finished this mount and I thought that I would share a pic with you all. This buck was taken in brown county Illinois at Hunting Unlimited Inc. This buck was taken by my friend and guide and he is a big fan of turquoise if ya cant tell;)
It is done with deer leather, Sterling Silver, Turquoise, Turkey Feathers, Mink Fur, Carved Antler Base. Had a good time working on this nice buck:)

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Wow! That looks great. How you you clean the skull when it still has all the flesh on it? Any tips?

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Very nice ! I like it alot.

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Thanks for posting the pic Lady Forge, that really looks great. I don' t know if I can do nearly as good a job but, I have 4 racks at home(skull not with them). They were not big enough that I wanted to pay out to have them mounted(have 3 mounted already), but I might try to come up with something using your ideas.

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

I prefer to remove as much flesh and tissue as possible and then boil the skull to remove all remaining flesh and tissue from a fresh skull, and a thin bladed fillet knife into the skull cavity to cut up the brain tissue so it will then just fall out of the opening in the back of the skull.
As for some of the not so fresh skulls I prefer to bury them and let mother nature and her bugs clean it, then wash and soak in a solution of water and a small amount of bleach, dont let the antlers come in contact with the water or the bleach will BLEACH OUT WHERE IT TOUCHED THE ANTLERS , AND NOT TO MUCH BLEACH OR IT WILL BEGIN TO EAT AT THE BONE AND I ONLY SOAK OVERNIGHT AT A TIME.
I dont use beetles at this time because I also do some hide tanning and Im afraid that if even one beetle was to escape it could make a meal out of the hides or capes.
Now this skull when I recieved it had been left out in the sun and the flesh that was left on it had dried like petrified Rawhide and it took alot of soaking and pulling to remove all the mummified skin, had to soak and pull, soak and pull etc over and over again. This is how it looked when I got it. Sometimes it takes alot of elbow grease;)

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Cougar Mag ; You should take a look at some of the skull mounts that Bowdascious has done they could also give you some great ideas, he does some really nice skull mounts [8D]

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Nice job, thanks for sharing

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Thanks for the play by play Lady Forge. I think I might try to do a skull mount with the buck I took last week. I better get after that head before it starts to smell.

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Nice job! I believe European sportsman prefer to mount their trophies this way.

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Very Cool [8D] I think I will do that to mine when I get one this year.

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

I have a big one that is just cleaned.Have not been able to find anyone around here that will even work on such a thing. I wanted mine painted with nature scenes and a Indian theme.
http://community.webshots.com/user/midnight250
Click on the muzzy album it is on there Ideas please

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

What a great mount! Nice job, Lady Forge.

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

That sure is nice! I' ll have to think about something like that if I ever get a nice buck.....

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

All dressed up and no where to go.[:o][:-]

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Lady Forge.
I clean skulls with dermistid beetles and they work really well but I understand your concerns with the hides. For bleaching the skulls go to a beauty products store and get some 40 volume hydrogen peroxide, and a powder called simple white. Mix them together to make a paste and brush it on the skull, it eliminates soaking in bleach and you can get the whole top of the skull white without worrying about bleaching the antler burrs. Let it sit for a couple days and rinse it off. Id like to try painting a few but dont have any artistic ability at all. Those look really nice.

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Cardeer; Is that the same skull that you spoke of before, I thought you were gonna do an American Flag theme on it?
Anyways thats a great buck with a nice rack, Congrats on him.
I am thinking of the picture of the indian sitting on the horses back with his spear and the horses head is hung low, You know the one its just a black siloutte , done with a wonderful background sunset of oranges, reds and pinks with a light brush of black gray and levender to show a few whisping clouds.... paint that on the skull forehead and add an American Flag in color to the indians spear with a arrow painted black down the bridge of the nose of the skull maybe give the arrow vanes Red White and Blue, set the colors off by painting the teeth of the skull with the same colors as the sunset , my sinature for skulls is I always put dream catchers or medicine wheels in the eye sockets. And if you decide you like the dream catcher idea for the eye sockets just let me know and I' ll send you some.
Make sure you show us it when finished I' d love to see what you decide to do with it .:)

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Lady I will eventually get around to it.Yep thats the same one. Excuse me ,but I,m not always up on things of the world. What is a dream catcher??? I was going to use small marker reflectors off a vehile ,then put 2 little light bulbs behind them. I thought it would be cool to be able to light it up in a dark room.

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RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Cardeer ; Here is a photo of a dream catcher I did, I know its not the best photo quality but oh well

Its an indian thing,The web is supposed to catch the bad dreams in the web and allow the good dreams to pass through the web. I make smaller ones without all the things dangling from them to insert in the skull eyesockets.
I like the reflector idea with the lights for the eye sockets, that would look great with the skull with the flag theme;)[8D]

RE: 2003 Buck Skull Mount
 

Last year I did my first skull mount and was very pleased with the results. I took a nice 8 pointer last saturday and plan to do the same to this one. I also make my own plaque which looks like an American Indian arrow head (of some tribe). I go as far as to create the flint shipped edges. This years will be done on Mesquite and I' ll be sure to post a pic when done. BTW, I use " developer" from a beauty supply store. Why women put stuff like that on their head get past me!

Nice job on your friends mount!