My first Euro mount

[Carnivorous]

Thought I would give this a go with some free time to-day. I have an eight point soaking in the degreaser that I will post when done. This one needs a bit more peroxide on the forehead.

[bob1961]

that don't look too bad at all with the grey there .........bob

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[one shot scott]

I kinda like the "shade" too. It almost gives it an antique look. I find if they are too white they look fake

[j.krug]

Looks good Jeff.
I like it the way it is too. Looks more natural than if it's too white. Was it very difficult to do? I have a bear skull I've been thinking of doing.

[LondonDave]

Looks good. What process did you use to get it like that? I've got my 9 pointer hanging outside on the back of my shed letting it go au naturel.

Dave

[Big58cal]

Not too bad. Looks pretty good that way. I'd leave it like that if I were you.

Did you soak it or boil it?

[Carnivorous]

Looks good Jeff.
I like it the way it is too. Looks more natural than if it's too white. Was it very difficult to do? I have a bear skull I've been thinking of doing.

Here is the process I used. Was a fair bit of work but worth it all the same.

Placed frozen head fur & all in a big pot outside. Brought the water temp to a simmer not a boil with the propane burner.

After 1hr removed the head & skinned it getting as much meat & fat off.

Seperated lower jaw & cut neck off @ skull base.

Back in the simmering water for another 2hr period.

Removed it & picked off the remaining meat & cleaned out all the other internal meat & brain using a garden hose & air compressor.

Once it looks as clean as possible I soked it in paint thinner for 3 days. This removes any remaining grease so the skull does not yellow over time.

Removed from paint thinner another spray with the hose.

When dry apply with a small brush 40% peroxide paste mixture (can be bought @ your local beauty supply store).

One thing to watch is to try to keep all the chemicals & hot water off the base of the antlers.

Not too bad of a process if you have the time to do it...

I have read you do bears the same way except the soaking in the thinner takes almost 30 days to remove all the grease.

[agingcrossbower]

turned out real nice. That little bit of grey does look good.

[bob1961]

i have a guy bout an 1.5 hour drive that uses beetles to clean the skulls before whitening them....worth the drive instead of postage sending a meaty skull through the mail ....most places that do beetles have you skin and clean your skull as best as you can....soon as i get a bear i will have the skull done, i had a nice 8 point i wanted to do....after skinning it and trying to clean everything off and out of the skull i was like whew, this is a lot of work....once done as much as i could i just hung the skull in the back yard and all the little song birds were all over it that hang around the late fall/winter time....it was neat watching them for hours pecking the rest of the meat off....kinda was neat knowing i was feeding the local birds with the meat, but i still had lots of work to finish it..........bob

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[Sandman]

Looks great

[VixChix]

NICE!!!!!

I'm impressed!

Euros take time and I applaud you for tackling the job!!!

I agree with the others about the shade of white. If its too white it doesn't look like bone anymore. Personally prefer a bit yellow-ish or grey - more "real".

Congrats on a great job!

[gerald strine]

Well done looks good.

[JohnDoeHunter]

Looks good Jeff.
I like it the way it is too. Looks more natural than if it's too white. Was it very difficult to do? I have a bear skull I've been thinking of doing.

For bear I flesh out the skull. Get it as clean as possible. If you boil it with the flesh on it will stain. I use a turkey fryer and an old pot. Place the fleshed skull in the pot and cover it with water, about 3" over the top of the skull. Add one cup of borax and a tablespoon of Joy, the original joy. Bring it to a boil and let it boil for 30 minutes. Let it cool, remove skull and check to see if any teeth fell out. If not dump water, if so, find them and dump water. Clean skull again, getting as much flesh off as possible but and repeat. Once it is completely clean let it dry out. If you want it more white boil it again with same mix adding one cup of bleach. DO NOT do this work on your deck or sidewalk or patio. Your wife will be pissed because where it boils over will be super clean looking but will have a grease slick there as well. Trust me on that I thought I would never hear the end of it!

[JohnDoeHunter]

Forgot about the teeth. Save them and glue them back with Elmer's glue after the skull is done.

[Carnivorous]

Thanks for all the great comments.

Here is a pic of my 8 point taken with my Ibex in Early November. I just pulled it out of the paint thinner soak.This is before applying the bleaching agent. It looks pretty white already.