Had a buck I killed years ago that I wanted to get euro mounted, just never did. Skinned it and stuck it in a bucket of water for a few months. Eventually I just hung it up in the barn on a nail and it's been sitting there ever since. After studying up on this site I realized it wasn't as hard as I thought to do your own euro, so I decided to give it a whirl. I'm by no means a taxidermist, and can't promise you what this will look like years from now, but I'm plenty satisfied with it and can't believe people pay $100 to have this done. Hopefully this helps another Newby down the road like I learned from you guys!
1. Old skull hanging in the barn (still has dried flesh)
2. Found an old pot, fired up the side burner on my gas grill, and added some dawn dishwashing soap to degrease the skull. I Covered the entire skull up to base of antlers, Turned it on low heat and let it simmer for an hour or so till all the gunk softened up.
3. Scrubbed it with a wire brush trying to get the gunk off. Wasn't very effective, so I threw it back in the pot with new water and soap for a while, then pressure washed the rest of the gunk off. (Pressure washer was much easier and more effective)
4. Went to Sally's beauty supply and bought some 40 cream peroxide and bleaching powder. Mixed together to make a paste, then wiped liberally all over skull. (Use gloves)
5. Let it sit in the peroxide overnight, was much whiter the next day, but still not as white as I wanted. Rinsed off and applied more peroxide. Let it sit out in the sun all afternoon. This seemed to help whiten it better.
6. Accidentally broke nose off so I used elmers white all purpose glue and a Q tip to glue it back on.
7. Restored the antlers. Really debated on min wax vs brown shoe polish. Saw another tbhers thread on using brown shoe polish and I really liked it. Plus this buck had chocolate colored horns so I wanted to get back as close as possible. Applied with toothbrush and wiped off excess with damp rag. really liked the way it turned out.
Easy process, can do the job at almost no cost, and proud to say from the field to the table to the wall I did it all myself. Thanks to you TBH guys! Hope this helps someone!
1. Old skull hanging in the barn (still has dried flesh)
2. Found an old pot, fired up the side burner on my gas grill, and added some dawn dishwashing soap to degrease the skull. I Covered the entire skull up to base of antlers, Turned it on low heat and let it simmer for an hour or so till all the gunk softened up.
3. Scrubbed it with a wire brush trying to get the gunk off. Wasn't very effective, so I threw it back in the pot with new water and soap for a while, then pressure washed the rest of the gunk off. (Pressure washer was much easier and more effective)
4. Went to Sally's beauty supply and bought some 40 cream peroxide and bleaching powder. Mixed together to make a paste, then wiped liberally all over skull. (Use gloves)
5. Let it sit in the peroxide overnight, was much whiter the next day, but still not as white as I wanted. Rinsed off and applied more peroxide. Let it sit out in the sun all afternoon. This seemed to help whiten it better.
6. Accidentally broke nose off so I used elmers white all purpose glue and a Q tip to glue it back on.
7. Restored the antlers. Really debated on min wax vs brown shoe polish. Saw another tbhers thread on using brown shoe polish and I really liked it. Plus this buck had chocolate colored horns so I wanted to get back as close as possible. Applied with toothbrush and wiped off excess with damp rag. really liked the way it turned out.
Easy process, can do the job at almost no cost, and proud to say from the field to the table to the wall I did it all myself. Thanks to you TBH guys! Hope this helps someone!
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