Help with 'euro' mounting deer skull

Go to a taxidermy supply store and get the proper chemicals.Boil skull in a metal container with a cup of soda ash.To preserve the natural color of the horns put plastic bags wrapped over them and duct tape the bases before boiling.After the prescribed boiling ,take a high pressure washer and literally blow the brains out of it.Insert hose in brainstem and the pulp will fly out the nose. Car washes is where I go discretely. A old turkey roaster outside on the BBQ burner is where I boil mine.industrial strength peroxide is mixed with magnesium carbonate to a pancake batter consistency and applied with a paintbrush.Wear gloves and eye protection ,it will eat flesh.I will post a pic of the proper angle to cut a skull.after it is white enough and dries fill brain cavity with automotive bondo with a small piece 2"x2" or so plywood pushed in flush for the mounting screws to bite into .Careful not to get the bondo anywhere you dont want it. It will get hot as it cures.Clean up the back of the skull with a sander to get it flat for mounting.Add plaque and two screws...........done...I've done many bear skulls and a wolf as well ..........don't overboil unless you like puzzles and re-installing a handfull of teeth
For cutting the skull use a hand back cutting mitre saw like the square bladed type for cutting baseboards as it won't flex all over the place. Harold
 
Last edited:
image.jpg

I skinned out this guy before heading home, I wrapped the skull in a garbage bag and it sat around for about two weeks in the early October weather,
The bag was "alive" with maggots and when the boiling part came there wasn't much left!
A garbage can simmer with soapy water helped get the grease off and I used the blue powder mixed with 50% peroxide paste from a hair dresser.
As you can see it works very well
It the weather is warm enough let the maggots do the work for you, however if it's all dried out they don't seem to go at it as good so a dunk in a pail of water for a day or two should hydrate things and then stick it in a shady out of the way place and the bugs will help you out
Have fun!
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    43.8 KB · Views: 145
I have done up a couple deer skulls and been happy with the results, as have the family and friends that I did skulls for.

Cheap and simple. Slow simmer, and soapy water, with several changes of water along the way, to get the fat away from the end product.

Stinks when starting out, smells like someone sharted a Christmas tree. After the first change of water, a going over with a sharp knife and some bamboo skewers, will loosen up much of the remaining membranes and such, as well as the brains, which can be broken up and rinsed out. A small bottle brush is pretty handy, in through the brain stem.

I like the look of the sinus bones so try to leave them as perfect as possible. Others are pretty happy to just ream the whole lot out. Can usually work the tissue out after it has cooked a while.

Taxidermy Supply store? Yeah, I see those everywhere! /sarcasm. Hairdresser. Good to talk to about Peroxide. Chances are pretty good, if you live in anyplace that even resemble civilization, that there is at least one woman doing hair for the others around. Talk to her, and make a deal on some of her supplies. If you really want that paper white look, anyways.

Cheers
Trev
 
redneckchris, that is a beautiful job on that moose. Did you intend all along to remove those long nasal bones, or was that one of those "Oops...let's make this work!" situations? :) Whichever, it is a great look; I'm gonna try that on the next skull I do. Did you need to re-stain/re-colour the antlers, or did you just exercise extreme caution when boiling to preserve the colour?

I've done a bunch of skulls, from weasels to caribou and beat, and I am hopeful to do my first moose skull this year. Three ingredients: peroxide, dish soap (only for degreasing with a short, gentle simmer or two), and time/patience. Oh, and a few coats of heavily-watered-down white glue after it's thoroughly dry and white, which preserves and strengthens the bone nicely.
 
On this moose the nasal bones are still there,
Moose have a high nose but when you skin it out you will find it's all soft cartilage and has to come out
For deer it can be a tedious task getting the cartilage and membrane off these spiral nasal bones but is well worth the effort leaving them in... I use a long skinny knife that has been ground down and dental picks to remove this stuff
I have found if left in will turn yellow and takes away from the look of the finished product
 
redneckchris said:
On this moose the nasal bones are still there,
Moose have a high nose but when you skin it out you will find it's all soft cartilage and has to come out
For deer it can be a tedious task getting the cartilage and membrane off these spiral nasal bones but is well worth the effort leaving them in... I use a long skinny knife that has been ground down and dental picks to remove this stuff
I have found if left in will turn yellow and takes away from the look of the finished product
Click to expand...

Well, there you go; like I said, I've never done a moose! Thanks for the clarification; I can see the interior nasal bones are still there, but I thought at first glance that the pair of long, narrow bones that cover them were missing from your moose skull. On closer inspection I see that they are there...they just don't extend nearly as far towards the tip as they do on deer and other skulls. In any case, it's beautiful work. :)
 
Major Sights said:
Funny this topic has come up. Just the other day I was back at my folks house and was informed that my deer head in the shed was starting to stink (SH!T, I forgot all about it.). I went out to the shed and found the box that it was in just full of maggots and a bad stink. So I quickly washed it off, and cut the cap of the skull off (wasn't man enough to clean the whole thing). I brought it home today and put it to boil (it had the flesh and fur still on as well). I boiled for about 45min with some TSP de-greaser, pulled the flesh off, and gave it a scrub, continued to boil (more like simmer), gave it a scrub. Then I changed the water and added more TSP, and boiled for another half hour. Just about to put the peroxide creme to it. I really wish I had cleaned the whole skull now. I think it will come out great.
Click to expand...

There you go. Perfect setup. Avoid boiling it indoors for sure.
 
A high pressure hose /carwash saves hours of dicking around with a knife scrapping.A rolling boil for an hour cooks the flesh and it blasts right off.{hot H2O soapy setting}Easier to puree the brain from the base of the skull with a piece of coathanger in a cordless drill before flushing it out the nasal passages.Did mine on the kitchen stove as it was too cold for the BBQ burner to even boil water outside.Harold
 
I would be very careful using a rolling boil especially for a hour, the nose will fall apart and the teeth come out,
Major sights said he found his head covered in maggots... This can be a really good thing! They do a nice job getting into the hard to reach places and eat up the flesh making clean up so much easier
Good luck guys! Lets see some more pictures!
 
What i do in the summertime is the best, you just throw it in a pot of water out in the sun. This process is called maceration. Bacteria will eat away the meat and basically turns it into a mush. If you live in a warmer area this will be done in about two weeks. Just for antlered animals you have to be careful for discoloration of the antlers in the sun. Then when you take the head out of the bacterial water (it stinks really bad) you can wash it down, de-grease it with dawn, and whiten with peroxide. If you don't want to wait until summer to clean it then bring it to a low boil then let the head simmer for a while, like 3 hours, then pressure wash it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom