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Member
Posts: 163
Location: Oshkosh | Glad to hear that some of you guys had a decent season!
I shot the biggest buck of my life (it isn't too impressive, but until recently I haven't had access to good hunting land). I've thought about getting a head mount, but since there are way bigger bucks running around on the farm I hunt, I figure I'll save the money when I get a truly big bruiser. However, I don't want to settle for a "plain-Jane" plaque mount of just the antlers. Then it occurred to me that my old Polish grandpa used to just nail the heads on an old telephone pole and let them rot down to the skull, and how cool they looked, just with the skull and antlers. I was telling this to a friend and he said, "oh, you mean a European mount?"
Do any of you know how to do this? My wife would have not just one, but two cows if I left the head around my house to rot like the old days...
By the way, I will attach a picture of it when I get them back.
Mark | |
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Member
Posts: 540
Location: Milw, WI | You need to strip all the flesh off the skull as you can.
You must take out all the inner stuff, brain, eye balls and any thing that is not bone.
Then you rub the rest off with 20 mule team borax.(boric acid ware rubber gloves)
Then when you think you have it all off, rub it off again.
Now boil the skull in water, 20 mule team borax, and salt.
The horns will be out of the water.
We did this in a metal five gallon bucket, over a propane burner out side.
Boil it for like six hours.( add water as needed)
Pick out any thing left,(should be clean) and rinse.
The skull should now be bleached white and clean of all flesh and blood.
Let air dry.
Your done.
Been Awhile since I worked for the Taxidermist but I think I have it all here.
Edited by Richfish 12/1/2004 9:37 PM
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Member
Posts: 1406
| Otis, I use the turkey fryer (old pot of course) and boil the skull for about 4 hours and the meat falls off quite well, its best to skin the hide away first! The brains are kind of a pain to get out but if you have astrong stomach it aint so bad, Add bleach to the water to whiten the skull if you wish but too much bleach could ruin the bone!
Good Luck
Tyee | |
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Member
Posts: 540
Location: Milw, WI | This is from A supply place.
WASCO Sal Soda
This useful product is helpful in dissolving meat, fat and grease when boiling skulls and antler plates. If meat, membrane, and grease are not removed, the decaying tissue will attract insects to the mount in the future. To use, simply add a small amount of Sal Soda to salt water in a non-aluminum pan, bring to a boil and immerse the skull or antler plate in the solution. Check the progress occasionally and remove when the flesh turns into a jelly-like substance (within about a half-hour -- no longer). The tissue can then be easily removed by scraping off. Repeat if necessary for an additional 15 minutes. After rinsing, the cleaned antler plate is ready for mounting. To bleach out a skull after boiling and removing the meat, soak the skull in hydrogen peroxide (available at pharmacies) overnight, rinse, and allow the skull to bleach out white in the sun. Re-attach any loose teeth with Zap-a-Gap.
That gives you 3 ways to do it.
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Location: Rhinelander | I have a couple Euro Mule Deer mounts, they look just fine! | |
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Member
Posts: 714
| Keep it in a freezer till spring, then chain it to a tree that nobody can cut down and let the ants and other insects do the work for you. When they are done, boil it in some bleach water and clean the rack lightly and mount it on a board. Be carefull of the squirrels though, because they will want to knaw at the rack if they get the chance. | |
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Location: Midland, MI 48642 | Can't you just see you wife when she walks in the kitchen and sees you boiling the head in the turkey roaster? She will have another cow. lolol | |
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Member
Posts: 201
Location: Jackson, Wisconsin 53037 | Otis,
I'm a taxidermist, don't boil it. That weakens the bone, especially if you do it for 4-6 hours. Get as much meat as you can off. Then do the maceration process. That is, place it in a bucket of water with the whole head submerged. If you can keep the water warm the bacteria will eat at the meat, and it will be very easy to get the rest off. At this time of year you will need to use a aquarium heater to keep the water warm. It only takes about a week or two for it to be done. Be prepared it will smell, bad. After that you will need some40% hydrogen peroxide to put on it.
If you take care of the maceration process, I will take care of the degreasing and whitening for you(no charge) since your'e a user here. Just message me and let me know if you want to do that.
Eric
Woodland & Wetlands TAxidermy | |
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Member
Posts: 163
Location: Oshkosh | Thanks for all of the responses! I'm as of yet undecided as to what avenue I will take, but I am leaning towards mother nature, since most of the responses may well lead to my wife having several cows and various other barnyard animals. | |
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Deer mounts