Has anyone in here done a skull mount and have any advice? I shot a decent swamp deer last week and thinking about doing a skull mount. I watched a couple you tube videos and other than "cooking" it for an entire day, it doesnt look too difficult.

Nice deer. I've done a couple myself but I have a local guy that charges 80 bucks and does a nice job. The worse part about boiling them is the smell! 9 times out of 10, the nose will break off, but you can super glue it back on. Call a salon to get the commercial bleach. This guy uses a horseshoe for the jaw support.

All my deer are European mounted. I just like the look better. I probably won't ever have a shoulder mount done unless I shoot a freakin moose one day. Lol

Has anyone ever seen a European mounted duck skull? I have seen some done and they're cool as hell. Thinking about taking one to the taxi just to see how it turns out.

Congrats on your kill!!!!!!!!!
I do all of my European mounts myself. I remove the hair and some meat. After removing that I boil it in a crawfish pot for a while until the remaining meat is loose. I then hit it with a pressure washer remove the rest of the meat. Just be careful around the nose. You can let the bone dry over time or you can use a form of acid to dry it out well. At this point you can use an industrial bleach cleaning solution and bleach the bone the way you want. I used a bone colored spray paint on a 7 point I killed last year. That looks great as well.

Boil it for about 2 to 2.5 hours then hit it with pressure washer

Ive heard about this being done a lot lately with good success.

Nice buck BoatDR congrats!

J, those horseshoe supports are cool as hell ive never seen that before

Thanks mike. Just got back my last bow kill from this season.

Stick the head in a 5 gal bucket and fill the bucket up with any piles you dig up, they will get the head spotless

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I've boiled some and I set a couple in ant beds.
If u put them in ant beds be sure to tie them to a tree with a good rope, damn dog or bear got a nice 10-pt I had working.

nice deer Andy! and I did my daughters one like this.
http://masterofskulls.com/

Thanks for all the advice. This is basically what I did, although all the videos I saw recomended not to bring the water to a boil, just simmer it. After the first hour and a half, 90% of the meat, eyes, nose, and all around the jaw, basically just fell off. Put it back into the pot (with fresh water) for another hour and after alot of scraping, blasting with the hose, and air compressor, got to where I am now. Still have a few little pieces of meat to get off, but looks like I can finish cleaning the rest of it pretty easy.


Still debating on what kind of bleach/peroxide to use to whiten it up, but here is what it looks like now.

Tape up the antlers, get you some bone colored paint mixed and go at it with an air brush until you get the look you want. I wouldn't worry with it with bleach etc.

Looks good man, I like a more natural bone look to painted white. Nice thing is you just finish it to your preference! Nice job

Here is one for y'all.

He has to be a string industrial brand. Do not let the chemical touch the horns

the one on the left I used the bone colored paint, the one on the right I used a chemical

this one is natural bone

I do taxidermy on the side and if you want the best possible skull mount you can get then maceration or dermested beetles are your only option. Maceration is basically just rotting all the flesh off in water. I have a big drum wrapped in insulation and 2 fish heaters in it. Take my dogs water bucket water and throw it in and fill the rest with a hose. The dog water introduces bacteria that speeds up the process. Change the water every 3 weeks or so and hose with LOW pressure. repeat until it'l all clean. this way is the absolute best because your sinus on the face and honeycomb in the nose stays intcact and really improves the mount. Next you would have to degrease in a higher temp water/ ammonia mix for a few weeks so it doesnt yellow. Only safe way to whiten is to use peroxide. I use clorixide 40 from a beauty supply store. Make sure if you use this high of a concentration you use glasses cause it will blind you. 3% regular peroxide works just as well just takes more time. Either brush on or soak but make sure the bases dont touch the peroxide. Bleach works really well but deteriorates the bone over time and will become very thin and brittle. Seems like a lot of work but this is the proper way to keep everything where it should be.

No, it doesnt slide. As you can see in the video, a significant effort is needed to pull it apart. He flew at speeds up to 90 mph with camera mounted and it didnt move a milimeter.

This fucking guy.

Lol

#CFFITR
#GhostBoat
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Don't go the route of boiling the skull. The fat, etc. will turn the skull yellow. You'll get better results if you take it to a taxidermist who has a colony of dermestid beetles. They completely clean the skull leaving every bone intact. Even the thin ones in the nasal cavity. Here's an 8 pointer my son shot last year in Wisconsin. We took it to Stehling's taxidermy (https://taxidermyplanet.com/) near Jefferson, WI.

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