# European Mount??



## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

I think it's called European mount? The kind where you take the head & end up with an all white skull & antlers? Dh wants to do it at home & if I get a nice Buck this year that's what I want to do with mine. Anyone know how to do it at home without paying lots of money at a taxidermist?


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

Dig a hole large enough to fit the skull in...invert a metal trash can over dirt covered skull ( leaving antlers uncovered by dirt) and set a good heavy brick or something on it. Let nature take it's course.


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## Highground (Jan 22, 2003)

Dig that hole near an ant hill if you can.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

yeah, use your friendly neighborhood ants. they are also good for cleaning out soup cans and such before you recycle them.


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## whistler (Apr 20, 2005)

suzyhomemaker09 said:


> Dig a hole large enough to fit the skull in...invert a metal trash can over dirt covered skull ( leaving antlers uncovered by dirt) and set a good heavy brick or something on it. Let nature take it's course.


You don't need to dig the hole. In fact you might want to consider setting the skull on a cookie sheet or something similar underneath that can. 
The beetles or ants will readily crawl up the side of the skull and eat the flesh. 

Burying it underground may take less time but you will have a dirtier skull (more time and chemicals spent whitening it). Moreover, it is not good for the skull to be in contact with the ground where it is constantly wet.

Whistler


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## onthespot (Oct 7, 2007)

I tried it when I found a roadkilled deer that had been largely eaten up by coyotes already. I didn't know what I was doing, so I dug the brains out with a pencil and put the head in a bucket of bleach, propping the antlers up so they were just level and above the bleach. Came back to look in the afternoon and the antlers had shifted and were now an inch into the bleach. Ruined it, but I still hung it up anyhow. Not a helpful post, unless it is an example of what NOT to do...


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

let the ants and beetles do their job and let the sun bleach it.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

If you bury bones, the minerals in the soil will leech into the bone and stain it. If you use bleach on the bone, it will deteriorate the bone and make it brittle, weak and chalky. A skull has many small thin parts that will deteriorate and break or rot when buried or put in contact with bleach. 

Leaving the skull out for the bugs is definitely your best D.I.Y. option. Some taxidermists keep a colony of meat-eating beetles called dermestids to clean skulls. 

You might want to tie the skull to a tree by its antlers, where it will be safer from larger critters that would try to drag it off or gnaw on the it.

If you have access to a large ant pile, maybe set it there during the daylight hours when people will be around, and then hang it from a tree branch for the night.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Also, don't boil the bones. This damages the thinner, finer bones and also draws the fat into the bone, causing the bone to be greasy and yellow.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

jennigrey brings up a good issue...varmints. i know about 75% of all antler sheds i have found in the woods have been chewed on by rodents.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

i was talking with a guy at an art fair not sure if he was selling them or they wer just a part of the decoration for the jewlery he an his wife sold to give caricter to thier tent he explained how he does it , beatles are great there is some special kind i guess that are perfect for cleaning skulls and meat off bones but they need to be fed year round and he is very low volume 1 to 2 skulls a year

he cleans them as best he can of meat and hide and such with his knife then puts then in a pail of water or tub and puts a lid on and check it in a few moths i think he siad by may or june a november dear would be ready everything just washes away at that point i guess then he lets the dry and vanishes then i think


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

Backfourty said:


> I think it's called European mount? The kind where you take the head & end up with an all white skull & antlers? Dh wants to do it at home & if I get a nice Buck this year that's what I want to do with mine. Anyone know how to do it at home without paying lots of money at a taxidermist?


I've got 5 European mounts, 2 elk, 2 Chamois (European mountain goat) and a whitetail. I had all mine down at a taxidermist, the Chamois were down in Austria and shipped to me. It really wasnât all that expensive, probably the cheapest mounts Iâve had done. 

The typical European mount isnât the entire skull; itâs a cross section of the skull cap, through the eye sockets, to the upper portion of the nose.

Chuck


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

GREENCOUNTYPETE, I must not be reading your post right, but does the guy from the art fair put the beetles in the bucket of water or is it just water alone?


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## TheDoubleD (Nov 21, 2007)

Try this website to for the correct way to do it http://www.wildlifeartistry.com/hints-european.htm


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

I done a European mount. I bought a powdered formula from a taxidermy supply cataloge. You put so much of this powder in boiling water and place your deer skull in the water up to the antlers and this stuff will boil the meat and brains off quickly. Then you take some strong peroxide that you buy from a beauty supply house and use it to whiten the skull with. I mounted it on a table platform that I also bought from the taxidermy cataloge. It turned out real good. 

Wished it had been my deer so I could show you a picture of, but it belonged to someone else who paid me to do it. I keep hoping that I'll catch me a real nice buck so I can do it for myself.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

The way I do it is clean as much as possible off the skull, and remove the brains, then put it in a pot of water and bring it to a boil, then turn off the heat.
Then set it outside, where dogs cant get to it, and let it sit a few days. Then youll have to do a lot of scraping to remove whatever is left. Repeat the process until it's clean.
Next, heat a pot of soapy water and degrease it, and then brush on either peroxide or bleach and let it sit in the sun to dry.
It's a lot of work, but the results are worth it.

Just dont boil it for long, or it can come apart


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Thanks DoubleD that website is very helpful. really All of you have been great trying to help me out, DH is pretty tight so I know he doesn't want a taxidermist but he's not afraid of a little hard work. He cleaned out & up a big snapping turtle shell before that now sits by our fireplace.
Nice mount Bearfootfarm, you did a good job.
I also hope I get a nice buck that I can mount this way too, hopefully mine will be bigger than my DH's. hahahaha!


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## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

Keep up with "DIRTY JOBS" on tv and they might run this show again. Scroll on down the page to find it http://www.tv.com/dirty-jobs/skull-cleaner/episode/814614/recap.html


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> I also hope I get a nice buck that I can mount this way too, hopefully mine will be bigger than my DH's. hahahaha!


Thank you, Ma'am!

My wife got that one with a muzzleloader


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

The boiling/bleaching methods do get the skulls clean and white but I have run into too many skulls that were done that way that have gone "chalky" or are still greasy. 

There is a top layer to bone that is slick and shiny, similar to the way that our teeth have a top layer of enamel. The slick and shiny layer gets cooked/dissolved by being put in hot water too long or coming into contact with harsh chemicals for too long. 

I don't know that there are any issues with removing the slick outer layer of the bone, long term. I don't know if it makes the skull more likely to fall apart or anything. For me it's more of an aesthetic issue. I think it looks more natural to have the bones slick.

The bug-cleaning/sun bleaching method is time consuming but not as labor intensive nor do you run the risk of damaging your skull with chemicals. I do always worry that something is going to nibble it, though. I suppose it's kind of six of one, half-dozen of the other. Maybe call around to taxidermists and see if anyone has a dermestid colony; see how much they'd charge you just to have the bugs eat the skull clean.

Hope you get your buck!


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## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

MELOC said:


> let the ants and beetles do their job and let the sun bleach it.


Bah.. ants let me down 

I put this leg on a huge ant hill in April, and went back for it in July. It looked almost the same...










After that I put it in a dog crate with a bunch of other legs and put that out in the woods for the beetles. Not much action there either.

Finally about a month ago I pulled the crate out into the field to sit in the sun. Immediately the flies moved in and everything is well on it's way now....GO flies!!! (Well maggots anyway )


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## onthespot (Oct 7, 2007)

if you live where it is warm and don't want to keep a colony of dermestid beetles, I think those are the beetles you find under dog poop piles when you are out cleaning up the piles you missed behind the tool shed from two weeks ago.


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