European mounts

Honestly Joe, I would say do it yourself. I've done antelope, elk, and now a deer this year and I had them done boiling/cleaned in one day, bleached another day and mounted a third day. You will have it done quicker and it is cheap to do.

I have no idea what a taxidermist would cost. A friend had a bear skull cleaned with dermastid beetles and it cost him $65 just for the skull to be cleaned and bleached. A deer or elk would be over a hundy and even more with a plaque. Good luck on the euro mount. They are definitely nice to look at when done.

Yes, do it yourself its pretty easy and will save you $100.

agreed do it yourself. was downtown at the butcher shop the other day looking for some pork fat, and they were charging up to $250.00 for a european with a plaque.

Do to the fact I can't afford a taxidermist all mine are european that I done myself.

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Those look great guys thank you. Now for the really dumb question. How do you do it?

I tried it this year. It was a disaster!

The taxidermist that I take mine to charges $100. In my opinion it's well worth the money. The last thing I want to do is spend a day and a half trying to get the thing clean when I could be at work making more than that. I've learned that just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. For me, time is money.

All you need to do is cut the head off and take it to the txidermist. They'll know what to do from there. Better yet, practice caping out the head and face so when you get one you want to have mounted you'll be more comfortable with what to do.

I found a guy this year that cleans with beetles for $75, well worth the cost of not wasting a day and having it turn out right. From the research I've done, the do-it-yourself projects often involve boiling which weakens the fusion plates in the skull, bleaching which will lead to flaking of the surfaces of the bone for years to come, and insufficient degreasing which may not affect the mount right away, but down the road it may start to turn yellow. If it's a good buck, have it done professionally, then try it yourself down the road if you shoot something small which you don't care as much about the outcome.

I have done 2 elk and 1 deer myself.
It involves allot of time. Next year im going to have someone else do it. I would rather spend $100 and have it done by a pro, with out the headache and look better too.

Mine turned out alright but was disappointed in that it was not the perfect white like I had hoped.

What I did:
Cut all the meat off the best you can. I boiled the skull in a steel barrel that I had cut so that the water would hit the base of the antler.
The key is to change the water every 20 min. When the fat liquefies it will absorb in the bone.
Take the skull out and scrape more flesh off the best you can. And boil again in clean water.
I would boil the skull in the water with dawn dish soap. Dawn cuts grease and will help clean the skull better.
I did this about 6 times for 2 hours. I bought skull bleaching kit off Vandyke’s taxidermy website. It involved mixing 30 percent peroxide and a bleaching agent and pasteing it on the skull. I was not impressed with the $40.00 kit. It did not bleach the skull at all. It stayed a yellowish color.

Very time consuming and a bit messy. My option take it some one else and have it done, It would be worth it.

I can post a pict if you want.
Hope this helps. CA

I have done a bunch myself or when I get lazy I send them to this gent that does a great job and is only $50 including plaque. He has a upgrade plaque for another $15. Very nice people to deal with too. I think it is normally two week turn around. It is kind of funny though because I have sent him several antelope and they always come back with the horns on backwards which is no big deal to pull off and flip them right.

http://www.european-skull-mounts.com/

I do some myself and some I have done by a pro, I have done 4 this year and had one done by a pro wich cost $75.00 but that was on the muzzle loader hunt and I still havent got it back yet. another tip dont get it to hot for to long or the skull will split down the middle and if you have a pressure washer to blow off some of the meat its a lot faster than scrapping and cutting.

great info folks!

One question though, why do they call it a "european" mount?