I want to do a european mount. I don't want to do the boiling because I don't think my stomach or my neighbours could handle the smell. I have heard a few alternatives that I have never tried but sound like they may be worth a try. Reviews also say n

[IanS]

They were all domestic raised. Friend saw the bear I did and asked me to do a few for him. The bear was road kill

[FirstBubba]

Alberta Canada

Far out and groovy, dude!
Are the skulls "finds" or "kills"?

[IanS]

Alberta Canada

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Here's the moose euro completed.

[FirstBubba]

Finally done

Ian, finished product looks good mi amigo!
You never said. What state are you in?

[IanS]

Finally done

[FirstBubba]

Looking good!

[IanS]

2 bison
3 goats
2 pigs

Finished 1 goat today.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Finishing up a mission impossible moose euro today. The guy stripped most of the meat off the skull and then threw it on top of a shed ... two years ago this fall! What a mess. All tissue is dried up to leather. Pulling the hair strips left around the antlers was not fun. Finally resorted to vice grips and peeled it loose that way. I bought a metal trash can, sealed up the handle pivots with hi-temp silicone, and cut notches so the skull would drop low enough that the lid could be replaced. Left the skull to soak for a week then put it on the propane burner and boiled it for at least an hour. Front half from antlers down to nose has cleaned up fairly well. Today I'll tackle the back half of skull and finish cleaning off some of the gristle around eye sockets. This has been an awful project and we were reluctant to take it on but client was willing to pay the extra bucks for us to give it a go. It's not a fantastic rack but an unusual one with some stray points hooked backwards. Not sure we can bleach the skull enough to cover up grease stains. May have to paint this one. We'll see. And yes, it was quite the smelly job but not anything the neighbours next door noticed. Pouring the goo down the toilet in the house was a real gagger. One tooth fell out during the boiling when I was scrubbing the skull with steel brush. Foolishly, I should have pulled the skull away from the pot. Tooth fell to the bottom. It cracked during the boiling and we lost part of it (disintigrated?). Chalk it up to learning curve. When the tooth is replaced and skull attached to plaque, the missing cap won't be noticeable.

Use plastic ties to pull the nose septum back together for gluing. We use super glue. Let it set overnight before removing the ties. You may need to clean/brush up excess with steel wool as the glue is quite shiny. Glue gun works well for putting the horns back on. Super glue is too thin and leaves too many gaps. Hard to get it to hold. The African taxidermist used window glazing putty to reattach most of my skulls' horns. Kinda messy though.

[bowhunter75richard]

Today I scrubbed them with an SOS pad and dishwasher soap. All the hairs came off. So now I need to glue up the cracks, varnish and glue on the horns and I’ll be done

Hair does not grow on bone. If there was still hair anywhere, it was because of tissue that was left remaining on the skull and was not completely removed ! If all tissue is removed, you should now be good to go ! Good luck !

[FirstBubba]

What are we looking at?
2 bison skulls
Are the three small skulls goats?
The two medium sized skulls, are they pig skulls?

They're looking good.

BTW! What state are you in?

[IanS]

Today I scrubbed them with an SOS pad and dishwasher soap. All the hairs came off. So now I need to glue up the cracks, varnish and glue on the horns and I’ll be done

[IanS]

I put the skulls out in the sun and sprayed them with peroxide. It is definitely helping to whiten them up and I won’t have to do any other soaking. Has anyone ever had any hairs stuck to the skull after cleaning. I’m hoping that scrubbing with soapy water and a stiff brush will get rid of them. Perhaps something rough like that Resolve powder again or pumice hand cleaner?

[FirstBubba]

There is no more flesh on the skulls and they no longer stink after using the Resolve in water. I started this almost 2 years ago so thinking they may be too deeply stained to get them nice and white. If so I’m ok with the more “leathery” look. Now I have them soaking in plain water just trying to get the dead bugs out of the crevices. Especially the bison heads, every time I blow them out and think I got all the dead bugs out I soak them again and more float to the top and when I blow out with air hose they swarm out like flies. May take a while but hopefully soon!

Far out and groovy dude! Keep us updated.

[IanS]

There is no more flesh on the skulls and they no longer stink after using the Resolve in water. I started this almost 2 years ago so thinking they may be too deeply stained to get them nice and white. If so I’m ok with the more “leathery” look. Now I have them soaking in plain water just trying to get the dead bugs out of the crevices. Especially the bison heads, every time I blow them out and think I got all the dead bugs out I soak them again and more float to the top and when I blow out with air hose they swarm out like flies. May take a while but hopefully soon!