kerr73

Here in Mo the rife season starts this saterday and just in case i get a buck what is the best way to mount the antlers? i heard that you can put the head in the ground and let the worm's eat the bones clean and make a nice skull mount but is that all i have too do ?.or just put the antlers on the wall with one of them self mounting kit's.My friend told me all i have too do is cut off the top of there head were the antlers are at and clean that strip of bone clean and then put it in the mount ?any info on this would help alot or any other idea would be great .

OntElk

I guess for me it depends on how big it is. If I don't want a full mount then I cut off the antlers across the top of the skull (I make small cut into the head just above the eyes and then saw straight down to this cut from the back of the head). I then clean all the skin and meat off around the antlers on the peice of skull I have. You can then salt this and leave it to dry and clean it off off so you have a nice clean skull plate OR boil the remaining meat off if your impatient like me. Just keep the antlers out of the boil so they don't lose color.

I then soak in water bleach combo and the skull part comes out looking nice and clean and white. Looks good on a wood plaque. Make sure you don't put the antlers in your bleach or they will turn white as well.

extreme1

There are alot of things you can do with the antlers if you had the moneyIf you are going to mount them yourself then make sure the hair,brain and excess meat and membrain is removed from the scull plate.Clean as much as you can with a knife and boil the rest off.You can have a european mount made up but if you havent done it before then the best bet would be to take the complete head into the taxidermist and have him do it,the majority will use beatles to eat the flesh.
And if he is a real big one or has alot of meaning to ya then get a head mount done

Buckfu

some info for ya if you mount the cape.
http://www.whitetails.com/prep.html

when I mounted mine, I just skun the deer up to the base of the skull then lopped off the head, and brought it like that to the taxidermist. He had it off the skull in like a minute.

gamehunter1269

The way your talking about is a Europein mount. The best way to do that is to decapotate the head. And you can tie it around a tree outside until everything has been eatin but i would not leave it on the ground because coyotes will get to it. Leave it in the tree tightly and it will not go anywhere. But leave it be until everything is gone. Then get a big pot and boil the skull for about 15-30 mins ( it will have a little bit of a stinch) and be carefull when removing not to chip any of the bone stuckure off. Then once it is out, cool it down and wipe it off with somekind of soft matteral. If the antlers do not keep there color then take a light stain and rub them down. There are a few kinds of acids you can buy from your local taxi, that can make your skull a little whiter. This is the best way. Any questions e-mail me [email protected]

Angus74

Id say your best bet is to have a full skull mount done,, a taxidermist can do it fairly cheap, or oyu can let it rot off yourself. But if you do that the sun will bleach your antlers, so you can wrap a black trash bag around the antlers to keep their color,, it will take a long time to do this,, probably till next spring or so, but if your on a budget and patient it may be the way for you. But id suggest the beetles at a taxidermist, i have them myself and they do a great job. If you just decide to cut the antlers off you can do like someone else said and cut right above the eyes and down behind the antler burrs.. Good luck,, where are you hunting in Missouri??