European Mounts

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

After a busy holiday season I had some time to work on a few European mounts for myself and my brother.  Both of us took nice bucks in November and we both had the week off work between Christmas and New Years, so it was the perfect time to get these deer ready for the wall.

I had already skinned the skulls off a few days after they were harvested.  First to prepare the skull I wrapped the antlers with aluminum foil and duct tape to protect the antlers from getting discolored while boiling.  I like to boil the skull with a turkey fryer and a canning pot.

Boiling the deer skull

I boiled the skull at a simmer adding baking soda every once in a while to help cut through the grease and meat on the skull.  At the four hour mark I took the skull out and scrapped as much of the meat off the skull as I could and then repeated for the next few hours.  The most important thing to remember when boiling out a deer skull is to get all the brain and junk in the nasal cavity out.  For the brain I use a flat head screw driver to "scramble" the brain and then use water to flush it out.  For the nasal cavity a hose works well to flush it out.

Below is a picture of the finished skull (I'll talk about the piece of driftwood later).

Deer skull after boiling

Now that all the meat has been completely removed from the skull, it is time to make it white.  You can tell from the picture above that the color of the skull is an off white, even yellowish color.  There are many different ways to make the skull white.  I have used a bleach and water mix in the past, which works well, but not as well as I would have hoped.  After a lot of research I decided to go a different route.  I went to Sally's Beauty Supply and picked up some 40 Volume creme......make sure you get the creme if you decide to use 40 volume.

Supplies used for whitening skull

I took an old cool whip bowl and paint brush to use to apply the 40 Volume on the skull.  I then took a box and lined it with cling wrap.

Cling wrap box

I poured some of the 40 Volume in the box and then set the skull inside.  Then I brushed the skull until it was covered.  Once the skull was covered, I pulled the cling wrap around the entire skull.  The last step was to put a lamp over the skull to help speed up the whitening process.

Skull getting white

I let the skull sit for 2-3 hours in the box with the light on it.  Then I rinsed the skull off with a hose (remember to make sure the antlers are covered to ensure the bleaching agent does not get on the antlers).  After the skull is completely rinsed off, I applied some wood stain to the base of the antlers. 

Staining the antlers

The bases are usually dark on deer but after a deer sits the antlers start to lighten up.  Applying some stain on the antlers adds a little extra to the mount.  Below is a picture that shows the right antler (stained) and the left antler is not.

Half stained, half not

Now that the skull is white and the antlers are stained it is time to mount the deer.  I found a guy on eBay that sells a driftwood mounting kit for European mounts.  These kits are $40 (which is much cheaper than other kits) and are very unique.  These kits come with instructions and all the hardware to mount the deer.  Below are pictures of the mounting process.


Supplies required

The driftwood kit comes with the driftwood, two mounting plates, and all the hardware required.  First off a small hole must be drilled in the back of the skull.

Drilling hole

Then a plate is screwed into the back of the skull.

After the first plate is screwed into the back of the skull, then the second plate is added that attaches to the driftwood.

Adding the second plate

Adding the driftwood

Now that the diftwood has been added the mount is ready to be hung on the wall for everyone to enjoy.

Above is the finished product.  The skull turned out awesome and the driftwood allows the mount to be uniquely displayed. 

I hope this blog helps the next time you are trying to decide how to show off your trophy.

Muddyhunter

Hit list buck down

The first Iowa gun season has claimed one of the bucks I had on my hit list this year.  I got a call around noon on Saturday from Chad Lathrop and he let me know that the drop tine buck I called Upright got shot on a groups opening drive on the farm just south of where I hunt.

This is a buck I only got a few pictures of throughout the season so I had a good feeling he was just passing through; but this buck did live close.

Here are the pictures I got of Upright.

Here is the picture of Upright after he was taken.

I wish the hunter that took this great buck would have taken a little better picture of this buck.  This great stud deserves a little more than a picture like this.  Upright has a lot more mass than I oringally thought and has a cool kicker off his drop tine that I could not see in the trail cam pictures.

There are plenty more bucks out there to kill, but Upright was one of those "once in a lifetime deer."

Muddyhunter