HuntingNet.com Forums - Skull mount pic

Nice job on the mount. I've been doing them for three seasons now and though I'd chime in on my approach.

First off I think it is best to put the head in the refidgerator overnight to make skinning faster. Get off as much of the flesh and other membranes as you can before you start to boil the skull. The eyes and underside of the jaw and along the teeth gums need to be trimmed out and get all the hair along the bases of the antlers too. Time spent trimming is gained back when boiling and picking later.

I use my deep fryer burner (propane) and a pot that is about 14" in diameter and 5 inches deep. I rig up a way to suspend the skull in the water so that the base of the antlers are at the water level but not under water. I wrap them with some tinfoil to deflect the steam.

I bring the water to a boil and add some Dawn dish soap. My readings suggest that the soap brakes down the oils in the meat and bone and that is what you want to keep it from smelling like dead stuff on the wall. I'll let it boil/simmer for about an hour and pull it out and using a plastic scrub brush I'll give everything a good scrubbing to knock off the loose meat and stuff. I'll keep on doing this until the bones are clean and the cartledge in the nose will pull out.

I'll let it sit overnight and evaluate it again in the morning. You might do some more boiling but I usually don't stop once started and just get it done.

Once it had dried for a while I then apply a thick coating of 40% peroxide keeping it off the antlers with tin foil. I bought a gallon of the stuff at a beauty supply shop for about 12 bucks. I'll let it sit for an hour with a little brushing with a tooth bruch durning that time to get into the nooks and such. Give it a good rinse with the garden hose and let it dry.

Some folks will put a clear coat on the bone but I've read that over the years it will yellow.
I have even freshened up an old skull mount to like new condition with the peroxide.

I then make a mesquite plaque shaped like a flint shipped arrow head to mount it on.