My grandparents live on a few hundred acres near Placedo, TX. There isn't much out that way except cows and hay fields....occasionally, I'll see a doe out there but never any bucks of size.
I hadn't been out to their place in a while so while visiting over Christmas he had this to show me. He's not a big hunter, but he does appreciate wildlife so I'm going to do a euro mount for him. I think I'll leave them locked as is and make a table pedestal out of them.
I measured the bucks last night. One scored 147" and change, while the other scored 121" on the dot....totaling 268" of antler. It stinks to see this happen, but it was a cool find nonetheless.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-E4sYvgjQ_ck/Tvks6Bzfw0I/AAAAAAAADAI/i3QUEQk8IYY/s640/IMG-20111225-00160.jpg)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1ik9qPzjFaQ/Tvks5rvzTdI/AAAAAAAADAI/uUBjUYn3d2k/s640/IMG-20111225-00155.jpg)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0-AUnvg0hfM/Tvks6X3KX2I/AAAAAAAADAI/d6Va8wjRdHw/s640/IMG-20111225-00156.jpg)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kxnHImXzxT0/Tvks66ctFxI/AAAAAAAADAI/NXprfx5nM5E/s640/IMG-20111225-00158.jpg)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-y_wogZJsD5g/Tvks7I4MqPI/AAAAAAAADAI/iYtue5ML_yQ/s640/IMG-20111225-00159.jpg)
Your right Stinks to see it happen. But quite a find!!!
I would definitely leave them locked up. It would be an injustice to both after having died that way to break them apart.
Bisch
Thats going to be a cool euro! Hate you got them this way!
X2 on leaving them locked. Great pics, thanks for the post.
Definitely show pics of the finished product, I love Euro mounts.
Will make a great, and unusual Euro mount.
ttt
Cool! Thanks for sharing!
I got a Skull Hooker mouting device for christmas. That would look awesome on the Skull Hooker!
(I think the wife is trying to tell me we don't have room for any more shoulder mounts)
That make an awesome mount!
Fantastic trophy. It's sad those two bucks had to go like that.
Awesome pic's TxAg.... Nice Trophy
Too cool! Great pics and thanks for sharing!
Kenny
What a way to go...wonder how long before they finally fell....
Should be a great mount when done!
Will be a cool pedistal mount!
I finally got around to finishing. Not the greatest work I've ever done, but it's good enough. These bucks oughta look good sitting on a table in my office/man room.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ehn2e6UsaVc/UA3pyJcFFbI/AAAAAAAADQQ/0Ep5gjEdnwQ/s800/IMG_0734.JPG)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-msz8CfY5NQs/UA3pyQ2mdhI/AAAAAAAADQc/LKAuuO7rUwc/s800/IMG_0741.JPG)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EqgwQl_pIlo/UA3pyVwwl0I/AAAAAAAADQU/RSHp_ixTwzU/s800/IMG_0736.JPG)
very cool!!
Now that is neat looking :clapper:
Schafer
wow that is AWESOME!!!!!!
Wow, that looks great! What did you use to boil them in? I've got a set of mulie's that died in battle but I can't figure out what to boil them in they're to big for my normal pot and there's no way I could get them apart without damaging them and even if I could I would never get them back.
Wow thats cool.
Looks cool. My dad ran across two bucks locked up like that. Not quite that nice but interesting. One was dead and hd been eaten mostly away by coyotes. The other was weak but still would not let my dad try to help. I am trying to locate pics. Sad story and can you imagine being the live one with the coyotes on the other one. We now have a similar mount on the way.
QuoteOriginally posted by stykbow67:
Wow, that looks great! What did you use to boil them in? I've got a set of mulie's that died in battle but I can't figure out what to boil them in they're to big for my normal pot and there's no way I could get them apart without damaging them and even if I could I would never get them back.
The flesh had mostly rotted away since they'd been sitting out a while. I got water boiling hot and poured in an ice chest with soap and a touch of bleach. Let soak til water was cool and commenced to scraping skin and gunk. Had to do this a few times. It was pretty tedious since there were two to contend with.
Eventually i got most of it off and then covered the skulls with salt and let sit for a couple weeks. The salt drew out the remaining moisture.
I will admit this want the best way to clean up a skull. I dont think it is completely degreased. It's good enough for now though. This was my first attempt at a DIY euro.
After it was cleaned up, i used some peroxide from the beauty store and some light oak stain from the harware store.
Cool! :thumbsup:
I like that cooler idea! Thanks I'll give that a try, it sounds like these are in about the same condition as ours were. :)
I think they look great!
I like what you've done...very nice
Takes a while for a cooler to get over that!
Nice preservation, though.
Killdeer
Look's great!
Looks like you did a good job based on what you started with. Holler at me next time if you need help on euro's. I do them with beetles, but could give you some help on making the process much easier on you.
Anyone ever done a study as to antler shape/size most prone to locking up? May be non-feasible, but would be interesting to look into.
Are any other antlered game as apt to lock-up as whitetails? Seems you see them most often.
Cool mount. We cut two apart last fall. One was dead but the other was alive and lived thru the winter. Found the shed off the side we didn't cut. I would post some pic's but can't figure out how to get them off my phone to this site.