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Post by scrub-buster on Nov 8, 2008 21:27:05 GMT -5
I got this buck on Thursday morning. He came walking by slow and steady at 10 yards. I made a double lung shot and he only went 40-50 yards. He left the biggest blood trail that I have ever seen. In some spots it was 6 feet wide. He was the 4th buck that I saw that morning. The first 3 were young ones. I tried to age him from a tooth wear chart, and it looks like he is 3 1/2 years old. He doesn't have the biggest rack in the woods, but he has lots of mass (6 inch bases), and split brow tines. I looks like he was a fighter, he has part of one tine broken off. I am trying to do a skull mount on it. I boiled the head for 3 hours today. Does anyone have any tips? Will the peroxide you can get from walmart work, or do you need something stronger? Here are some pictures.  I think I need a bigger trailer.  Here is my skinning pole.  Here was my boiling set up.  |
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Post by grey squirrel on Nov 8, 2008 22:00:30 GMT -5
Good buck scrub-buster!!
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Post by live2hunt on Nov 8, 2008 23:34:43 GMT -5
awesome buck congrats man
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Post by trapperdave on Nov 9, 2008 0:46:56 GMT -5
CONGRATS!
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Post by bsutravis on Nov 9, 2008 3:24:16 GMT -5
OH NO!!!!!!!!! NEVER boil your skulls for a Euro mount!!!!!! Slow simmer them but do not let the water come to a boil. That heat deteriorates the bone and it will become brittle and flaky and come off like sunburnt skin. There are also techniques such as maceration in which you don't "cook" the flesh off at all......... Too late now though...... For whitening go to Sally Beauty Supply and get 40 volume developer (you'll need at least a gallon to submerge the skull) and soak it in that to get a pure white. Simple peroxide will work, but it takes way longer and you wont get as white of a bleach. You shouldn't have to soak it in the developer for more than a day or two. Whatever you do.........DO NOT use bleach to bleach a skull!!!
PS. Don't get any developer on the antlers or antler bases or it will whiten them also!
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Post by scrub-buster on Nov 9, 2008 5:50:19 GMT -5
OH NO!!!!!!!!! NEVER boil your skulls for a Euro mount!!!!!! Slow simmer them but do not let the water come to a boil. That heat deteriorates the bone and it will become brittle and flaky and come off like sunburnt skin. Thanks. Hopefully I didn't mess anything up. It would boil for a few minutes and then I would add a little water and it would simmer for a little while before boiling again. The bone didn't seem brittle when I took it out. I was hosing it off with a garden hose and only some skin and meat came off. There are still some chunks left on it, would it help to simmer it again? This is my first try at this so I don't know how it will turn out. |
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Post by gillgrabber on Nov 9, 2008 8:36:47 GMT -5
A bruiser for sure! Nice Deer.
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Post by Sasquatch on Nov 9, 2008 9:40:01 GMT -5
Nice deer.
When you get the deer mostly fleshed out, use plastic knives ( picnic silverware) to scrape the myriad little pieces of stuff off. The plastic will not score the bone. I recommend using a thin, clear glue such as super glue to glue the nasal bones, wich are often loose, into position.
Keep a wet rag to catch any excess.
I also personally do not mess with bleaching. Go to the hardware store, get some quality flat white spraypaint and masking tape. Carefully mask the antler bases and wrap the antlers in paper towels or anything to protect from overspray. carefully spray the head with several thin coats.
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Post by jim1966 on Nov 9, 2008 18:16:03 GMT -5
Nice buck. Congrats.
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Post by dbd870 on Nov 9, 2008 18:18:00 GMT -5
Yeah, I really like the mass on him too - great work.
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Post by StingyRog on Nov 9, 2008 19:32:04 GMT -5
Nice buck!
There was a post on here months ago where they buried the head in the dirt and let the bugs eat the flesh off. It worked but it took a long time.
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Post by 10point on Nov 9, 2008 20:46:56 GMT -5
Congrats on the buck!
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Post by bsutravis on Nov 10, 2008 1:11:22 GMT -5
Scrub.... I forgot to mention also..... one of the things that boiling does is it locks the grease into the bone, so when you are done you'll have these areas that look "wet" against the nice white bone. If I were you if the skull doesn't have all the meat off you should put it in a 5 gallon bucket of water with an aquarium heater in the water. Keep the heater so the water stays around 85 degrees. Put a lid over the top but don't lock it down. Keep it like this for 3 weeks and the bacteria and heat will decay the flesh. You'll get tons of grease and scum at the top of the water, skim this gunk off and don't raise the skull back up through it because you'll just be putting that grease back onto the skull. Change the water every week. At the end of the time the remaining flesh should be able to be brushed away easily. After you are done getting all the flesh off, put the skull back into the bucket of clean water with 1 cup of clear Dawn dish detergent. You can use the blue, but I've heard of it giving the skulls a blue-tint so I always use the clear. Keep the skull in that water with the heater going and change the water every few days. It will keep giving off a cloudy/gray color.....the idea is to keep it in there until the water no longer gets cloudy or gray. After you get it so the water stays clear you are ready to whiten with developer. No guarantees since it's been boiled....but this should help get you where you are going with it.
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