Trad Gang
Topic Archives => How To - Resources => Topic started by: Mike Vines on September 09, 2013, 01:04:00 PM
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I told myself last year that the next deer I get, I was going to teach myself how to do a European Mount on the shull. Little did I know it would be on my biggest deer to date.
I'm back at work right now (on my lunch 1/2 hour), and contaced Tradgang's Webmaster, Rob, and he said it would be fine to do a Euro Mount How-to on here.
Below is a picture of my completed mount (NOT screwed to the plaque yet, and I'll explain why later). I shot the deer Thursday in Wyoming, got home Saturday, started the process at Noon on Sunday then took this picture at 5:30 right before we ate dinner Sunday evening.
So, who is interested in saving around $100 and doing it yourself??? I'll put it all together on this thread this evening once I get home and get daily life taken care of first.
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/Tradgang/0908131736.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/Tradgang/0908131736.jpg.html)
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That would be much appreciated Mike
DDave
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i would for sure!
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Looking forward to it and thank you for the effort!
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Count me in!
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Heck yeah, especially if it looks that good after 5 hours or so...
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I'd give it a read.
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:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Yep, always willing to learn.
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That sounds good, how did you get the skull cleaned in 3 days?
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All ears.
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hoping you have some nice tips, thanks for sharing.
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I've read some conflicting reports on a taxidermist forum so I'd love to know which route you went with this one!
Thom
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Yes sir,thank-you.
Leland
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Very well done Mike. A lot of people don't cut the skull correctly or break the nose bones. Looks very professional.
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I've done one but I'm in for an easier/quicker way.
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I'm planning on doing one on my next buck. This will be great.
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Alright, Deer blinds have been constructed with the help of my boys, homework finished and dinner stuff put away.
Now let's get to what this thread is all about, Doing your own European Mount.
You need to start with a deer head (sorry, this one has no ears. My boys woke me up Sunday and asked "if they could each have an ear"? I was so tired, I said "Sure", thinking they would wait till I got up. Lesson learned. PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS :biglaugh:
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/0908130926b.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/0908130926b.jpg.html)
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Then you need the essentials. A turkey deep fryer, a deep pot that you would cook a turkey in and some borax. A knife is a given tool. I used to deep fry turkeys and even a few roasts a year till I realized how bad it was for our health, I'm sure glad I didn't throw it away...
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/Tradgang/0909131706-1.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/Tradgang/0909131706-1.jpg.html)
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:thumbsup:
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Your goal in this step is to remove every bit of anything you can with your knife. Keep a sharpener handy, the bone, fat and gristle will wear on a knife. You also need to stick something in the brain cavity to scramble the brains. Use anything you have available, I used my finger. It was right there. Notice the plastic bag on the ground. You will want one handy to throw all that is cut off into. This is after about 20 minutes of knife, and finger work...
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/0908131001a.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/0908131001a.jpg.html)
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This tool was AMAZINGLY helpful. It is a nozzle that gets screwed onto your garden hose to fill up water balloons. It also works perfect as a low pressure power washer. Make sure you have eye protection, because it splashes everywhere. Remember when you scrambled the brains? Here is where you can flush them out now...
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/Tradgang/0908132014b.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/Tradgang/0908132014b.jpg.html)
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Mike in your list of essentials you forgot to include the "understanding wife" :bigsmyl:
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Not to hijack the thread Mike but I did all of mine in the winter, so as not to offend the neighbors.
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Take your pot, fill it with water and add 1-2 cups of borax (I did 2 cups). Mix it up well, and now your ready to put your deer head into the pot. Remember you DO NOT want any part of the antlers in the water. They WILL turn white from the Borax...
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/0908131131.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/0908131131.jpg.html)
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To answer both your questions, I will get to the understanding wife in a few minutes Rick, and I honestly want my neighbors to see me doing this stuff. That's why I did it in the front yard. Notice the old grill that I converted to a work bench? I leave it behind the house in the swamp, till I need it, then wheel it to the front to do my work. The Neighbors tend to leave me alone. :bigsmyl:
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A piece of coat hanger mounted in a cordless drill makes a good brain scrambler.
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Now to get back on track. Bring your pot to a boil using the turkey fryer. Once the water starts to boil, reduce the heat to a nice simmer. You DO NOT want your water to be at a rolling boil. Think of it as making a nice stew (albeit a stinky one). Your set up will look something like this...
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/0908131238.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/0908131238.jpg.html)
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I guess a coat hanger would work, but I'm not afraid to get a little dirty. It washes off, plus you get to do everything by hand and not OVER DO something with power tools. Remember, it is not about how fast something can get done, it's about getting it done with minimal amout of damage.
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Now, find yourself something to do for 1 1/2 hrs while your "Stew" is simmering. I actually did a rare thing for me. I grabbed a chair and a few cups of coffee and enjoyed the day, and some time with my little guys. They got to tell me all kinds of stories and explained to me what and how they wanted to go hunting for.
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After the 1 1/2 hrs have passed, turn your fuel source off, and prepare to remove the head from the water. I don't have any pictures of this process, but it is pretty self explanatory. I placed the head on the grill/work station after letting all the water drain from the cavities. Just start peeling all the stuff you can away from the skull with your fingers. Get as much as you can, then go and grab your water balloon filler that's still attached to the hose and give the skull a good soaking, trying to remove as much material as possible. Be careful, the nose pieces are brittle, and thin. they WILL break easily.
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Now, after you are done rinsing, it's time to go back in the pot. Same water, same scenario as last time, you might need to add more water to get it up to the correct height. You want to rig it up so the antlers are not in the water (same reason as before). Bring the water to a boil, and reduce to a simmer again. Once again, find yourself something to do for 1 1/2 hrs while the "Stew" continues to cook. This time I played a little baseball with the boys... (Same pic as before, because it's the exact same process)
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/0908131238.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/0908131238.jpg.html)
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Then, once the 1 1/2 hrs has passed, turn the fuel off to the heat source, and remove the head from the pot once again. BE CAREFUL, the 2 nose bones in the front will have either boiled off, or be loose enough to pull out (I'll cover what to do with this later). Once again, set it on your work station and pick the rest of the stuff off, use a gentle hand if using a knife. The bone has started to soften and can be easily scarred. Go back out to the water balloon filler nozzle and rinse off the skull one more time. Most everything will be completely gone by now. If not, use what ever tools you can muster to get the job done. Remember to go slow, or you WILL ruin all your efforts because you rushed at the end, and it's NOT worth it. The cartilage in the center of the nose will pull right out. Just grab it with your fingers and pull it out. My boys thought that was really cool.
Get all the pieces gathered up. If your lucky, there will be only 1 piece. At most, you will have the skull and the 2 front nose pieces.
Now here is where the VERY understanding wife comes in handy...
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Here is where the VERY understanding wife comes in handy. Take all your stuff into the kitchen, yell at the kids for just putting there dishes into the sink instead of rinsing them and putting them in the dishwasher, so you wait while they do what they are told, then you put in the sink stopper and put your pieces into the sink and add the hottest water your tap water is capable of into the sink that has your deer head into it. Once the water is near the top, add some Dawn liquid dish soap. Yes, you MUST use Dawn. It is awesome at cutting the grease. now, let it sit for another 1 1/2 hrs in the soapy bath. This time, I used my time to play around online on Trad Gang, to answer some questions, and see what all the other hunters were up to...
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/0908131511.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/0908131511.jpg.html)
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Once the correct time has passed, let the water drain from the sink and rinse the head with hot water. If the 2 nose pieces have fell off now (probably did), it's no big deal. Get some paper towel and let the head sit on them to drain all the moisture out.
Get yourself some Elmer's glue (white school stuff). Test fit the 2 nose pieces so you can see how they are supposed to go to gether. Once you have that figured out, spread some Elmer's glue on 1 piece at a time and insert the nose bones back into place.
These are the 2 nose pieces I'm talking about. They are the ones between my thumb and pointer fingers in this picture...
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/Tradgang/0909131710.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/Tradgang/0909131710.jpg.html)
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Here is the skull drip drying. I also did the lower jaw bone, and will be making it into a picture frame holder in the near future. Process is exactly the same, and I did it at the same time I was doing the skull. I Elmer's glued it together and held it together with a clothes pin till this morning...
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/Tradgang/0908131644.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/Tradgang/0908131644.jpg.html)
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Now, let it sit for a couple days to dry out. Hopefully no teeth have fallen out, but if they have, your able to glue them back in. Once you are completely satisfied the teeth are in there solid, and all the schmegma has been removed from the head, find a plaque that you would like to use to mount them to and secure with 2 drywall screws, then hang where ever you would like so that you are able to remember your hunt and also that you just saved yourself around $100 by doing something as simple as cooking. When it comes to just about anything, I will find a way to do it myself so I can save money to spend on hunting something, somewhere. It's been said that I'm cheaper than a Chinese toy...
(http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab28/miklvines/Tradgang/0908131736.jpg) (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/miklvines/media/Tradgang/0908131736.jpg.html)
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It's really as simple as that. Thank you all for following along.
For cleaning up the pot you used to boil the head, once again, use the kitchen sink, hot tap water and dawn dish soap.
Make sure to clean up your mess, so your wife will not mind you doing this next time.
Mike
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Now, with hunting season fast approaching, or already upon us. I would love to see everyone else do this, and post a picture of your "Trophy".
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Awesome job Mike looks great!
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Nice job. That was very informative. I hope to have reason to try this out a little later this year!
Ray
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Thanks Mike. Can't wait ti try it.
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Cool! Thanks for the how too. It turned out great.
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CHEAPER THAN A CHINESE TOY. I love it! I'm going to remember that one Mike. Awesome how-to you just did there. It was enjoyable,and informative. I thank you Mr. President. Hopeful to see you at a deer camp soon. rat'
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Thank you for taking the time to post this.
And also congrats on the harvest
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Thanks Mike very good!
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:thumbsup:
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Looks Great!!!!
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Excellent post! Very detailed! I also do all my own european mounts and other types of skull mounts. Nothing like taking the animal from standing on the hoof all the way to on the wall all by yourself. Congrats on a great hunt, great deer and a beautiful mount!
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:notworthy: :notworthy:
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Cool I hope to be able to try this some day :thumbsup:
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Great post Mike.Nice looking mount also.This is an elk from last year the barrel is a bit bigger,had to use a wheelbarrow as a wind block.
(http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm219/bighorncooch/DSC00722_zps7afdee95.jpg) (http://s297.photobucket.com/user/bighorncooch/media/DSC00722_zps7afdee95.jpg.html)
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Thanks Mike...hope to try that later this fall
DDave
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Excellent job on the buck and the mount! Thanks for the info.
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Nice tutorial Mike! I use a piece of coathanger with a small hook bent on one end to "scramble" the brains. This device is also helpful removing a lot of the cooked sinus cartilage and membrane in the nasal cavity.
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Good work, Mike.
I have about 10 "European" mounts and learned a few things from your tutorial. I'll be using the Borax and Dawn next time. I use Hydrogen Peroxide and cotton balls to get the skull very white. Maybe the Borax allows the skipping of that step, I'll see.
Thanks for taking the time to share.
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Turned out great and love the plaque! Good Lord willing I will try it out this fall!
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:thumbsup:
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Bumping to the top for the guys who might have missed it.
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Instead of using borax, use Sodium Carbonate AKA Arm and Hammer Washing Soda. Washing Soda is found in the laundry section of the big box stores. You could also use powdered laundry detergent or powdered dishwasher soap as they both contain Sodium Carbonate.