Thinking of doing my own euro on aoudad

[BIG_B]

Never done it before but would like to learn to save money down the road. I have the pot and burner just don't know were to start. Guessing I get all the hair, meat, eyes etc...off. Was thinking about getting a bleaching kit. Would suggest them if so which one? I don't need one with a plaque cause I wanna do that on my own as well. Thanks for any in put. Is there a web page or something that I could use as a reference? Also I hear that on rams and stuff you have to get the shell of the horn off? How would I go about this?

[Blue Tick]

Find someone with beetles in your area to help you out if possible. Boiling the skulls damages the bone. If that's the only way you have, lower the temp from a boil to a simmer. It will take a little longer, but less damage to the skull.

You will need to get all the hair off and as much meat as possible. Speeds the process up for you. When you have all the meat off, you can start the degreasing process. That can take several weeks to complete to get it all out. If you don't, over time your mount will develop yellow spots. After degreasing, you can whiten with 3% peroxide or higher level peroxide from beauty supply store or pool store.

To remove the sheaths from the cores. Put them in warm water to loosen them up. You may have to cut the membrane at the base of the sheath and they should pop right off. Once you get them off, rinse them out really good and pack them with borax!

[jesterdoc]

I know nothing of rams or aoudad, but I do know that google has a seemingly endless wealth of info on doing Euro's. I scoured the web last year when decided we were gonna try a euro.

I know it sounds like the smart-A "let me google that for ya" answer, I don't mean for it to be, but google is a good place to start.
I don't have my laptop with me today, I'll look and see if I can find the tutorials that I found the most helpful.

Good luck, I've always thought euro rams looked pretty dang cool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk and my big fat gorilla thumbs.

[buck_wild]

if you boil sheep, the horns will get really dark as the grease will soak into them !!!

If you can stand it, rot them off then boil the skull seperately but this isn't for the faint at heart. Get a heavy trash bag, add one cup of water, put in head and seal up. Horns should break in 2-3 weeks. You can test them by grabbing horns inside the bag by holding outside bag. If they slip, open outside in a strong breeze. Once the original burst of odor leaves it won't be too bad

[Hills of Texas]

I put a grate over the boiling water, then the skull and cover with another pot. The steam will take them off the skull in no time and will not damage the horn or bone. Fast and easy!

[whitetailslayer]

Here is what I would do.

1. Remove as much flesh, eyes, meat & brain from the head using a knife. This is where most of the grease comes from. If your not planning on using the bottom jaw, remove at this time.
2. Bring your pot of water to a simmer @ 200 degrees. Submerge just the horn for about 30 minutes. Remove from pot and take a rubber mallet and give the base a few taps (not forceful hits). Pull apart. If it doesn't come off, submerge for another 20 minutes. Repeat the steps for the other side.
3. Clean out your water, refill and reheat. I add a little Arm & Hammer & Dawn dish soap to the mix. Bring water up again to @ 200-225 degrees.
Follow these steps that I did on how I do a whitetail European Mount to finish up the skull.

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175971

While your skull is simmering, you'll need to clean out the inside of the sheath. I pour borax inside and shake it around to coat the inner rim. Let sit for a couple of hours upright. Then, shake out the old and reapply again.
Once your skull is completely finished, reattach the sheaths using bondo. If you find that the sheaths will not completely slide down on the skull, use a saw zaw and cut about half of the horn bone off. You'll still have adequate amount of horn bone to attach the sheath with bondo. If bondo runs out of the bottom of the sheath, let is start to kick before trying to remove it. Take an xacto or sharp knife and cut away the bondo.
If you have any questions, please holler.

[rbljack]

Boiling can and does work, but too much of it and you damage the skull, and they dont come out as good as using the beatles or another method which is called masceration. If you do a search on it, you will find lots of info. But I gotta warn you ahead of time, its the nastiest smell of rotting flesh in water. And doing it properly takes time. My advice would be to find someone with beatles, and get them to do the inital cleaning. From there, you can find a posting I did on here called DIY euros, and finish it from there.

[D-rex28]

I did mine in a european mount, turned out real nice. But the taxidermist screwed it up, for lack of a better term, and now it's falling off the plaque. I may just redo it myself.