Euro's- how hard can they be

[Ham]

Just did one myself.

[Russ79]

Pretty much got it done....finally. Had to work on this in fits and starts. Here is how it turned out:




Here is a comparison of the one I just finished next to the one of the buck I killed in 2022 that the taxi did for me. Really like how mine turned out and saved myself a bunch of money.

[Russ79]

I was asked about my process. After watching Youtube videos until my eyes crossed, here is what I came up with. I skinned the head, removed the lower jaw, and cut off as much meat as I could. I expected that I would boil it twice, so for the first boil I dumped some Borax and a good squeeze of Dawn into the water. I never got the water above a percolating simmer and left it in for about 2-1/2 hours. I used a short piece of conduit I had across the top of the pot to hang the antlers on to hold as much of the antlers out of the water as possible. At completion of the first boil I took the skull out and washed it off real good, getting as much loose meat off as possible, with my water hose and nozzle (l didn't have a power washer at the time). I also removed the eyeballs and brain. Then used my knife to scrape off anything that wouldn't wash off. I then put clean water in my pot with a small scoop of Oxiclean. Second boil was about another 2-1/2 hours again, removed from pot, and sprayed real good again with the hose and by then all traces of meat and cartilage was gone. To whiten, I took an aluminum roasting pan big enough for the skull to sit in and mixed three scoops of the Clairol BW2 lightener powder with enough of the 40 volume peroxide (got both from Sally's) until I had a thin paste and using a nylon paint brush I basically slathered it all over the skull and into every nook and cranny of the skull, being careful not to get any on the antlers. I then wrapped the skull in Saran Wrap and let it sit for about three days before unwrapping, washing off, and letting dry. After that it was a matter of finding a plaque I wanted to mount it on (Amazon is your friend). It ended up taking me about a week and a half from beginning to end- life got in the way of staying on this until finished. In fact, it was two days between my two boils due to other things getting in the way. To keep the skull from drying out before I was done with all the boiling steps I submerged it in a bucket of water. I figure if I can stay on it, I can get this completely done in about four days. Got a buddy that likes how it turned out and said he has two he would like me to do for him. Steven mentioned using pool oxidizer to whiten so I may do one with this and the other the way I did mine to compare.

[Big_gun]

50 weeks for a euro is stupid long ... I got mine back in 3-4 weeks..

[Russ79]

I know there are taxidermists on here and not trying to offend- euro's are probably not a high priority when you make three to five times the amount on shoulder mounts. But after taking that long to get back and paying that amount I was "forced" to see if I could do it myself and am pretty satisfied with the results.

[Big_gun]

the shoulder mounts take longer time and more waiting in between the euros they can knock them out in between and probably more profitable since very little material cost and mainly labor.

[JMart76]

Looks great may have to try it on my next buck.

[bowhntrmatt]

I did my own for the first time this year as well. I followed a very similar process to you. Cleaned the head best I could, boiled in water with a squirt of dawn, took it out and pressure washed/picked the debris and repeat. The only thing I will do different next time is probably boil at least 3-4 hours before even trying to get the meat off. That and some good hemostats or something for getting up in the nasal cavity and down in the brain hole.