Head/Skull Mount Process

[Shotgun66]

Curious to hear how you guys go about cleaning and finishing your skull mounts. I’ve let them hang with hide on them till nature does the work. I’ve skinned the heads and soaked in chemicals. Let them soak in ponds until the turtles & fish clean them up. The attached pic is the nicest one I have. Taxidermist used Beatles to clean it up then soaked it in acetone & bacquicil. I’m doing one that way now but it’s expensive! Lookin for a relatively inexpensive, less time consuming DIY approach. I realize I can take them to a taxidermist for a few hundred bucks. I might start doin that more often if I can’t find a better way to do it. Thanks in advance for your help.





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[Reuben]

That one there is really nice...

I have done a few with my son on account he wants the better ones when he is able to go...Yesterday we got two good ones but one had a cutter broke...if he was down from the Dallas area we would have frozen one for making a Euro mount later...

Before you start;

Go to the beauty supply store and buy 2 gallons of  20 per volume hydrogen peroxide...which I think is another way of saying 20 percent hydrogen peroxide...

We skin the head and boil it outside until the meat is real tender...then take all the meat off by hand...I have tasted the cheek meat and it tasted better than any other meat from the hog...I came real close to making some tacos...lol

Once the meat is off by hand set the skull somewhere that if some teeth fall out you can find them quickly...might as well check for loose teeth and take those out and save...

With water hose and spray nozzle spray water in to the brain cavity until it is clean of brain matter...

Do the nostrils as well but be extra careful...use less water pressure and use more pressure around skull to get any meat off that has been missed...maybe 15 to 20 minutes worth hydro washing should get it...

Install teeth that fell out...

Once clean;

Set skull in container like a five gallon bucket and pour the peroxide into bucket until the skull is covered...leave at least 24 hours...if needed flip skull 180 to get both sides...I am pretty sure you can do several skull just leave the second one soaking in water until ready to put in peroxide...




Drop

[Shotgun66]

Thanks Reuben. I appreciate it.


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[Reuben]

Sure thing...

[Judge peel]

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[Judge peel]

Few I have down I just put them in a old cooler full of water and a gallon of bleach after two months I spat it off with water hose and do it again


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[Reuben]

Those are some good looking euro mounts Judge...came off of some good boar hogs...

Years ago I found a pretty nice javelina skull before euro mounts were popular...I took that  stinky skull home and put it in a cooler with Clorox and water...left it in that mix for a good while until I saw bone chipping off the teeth and skull...bleached out really nice...

[Shotgun66]

Few I have down I just put them in a old cooler full of water and a gallon of bleach after two months I spat it off with water hose and do it again


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Those look nice Judge. Good job man.


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[NLAhunter]

Some good looking skulls I have boiled couple and cleaned em up if I have one now I just tie up to something behind house leave it let it get clean that way

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[NLAhunter]

Couple I picked up couple weeks ago that I just left out one on left was sow we caught back in spring

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[Shotgun66]

Couple I picked up couple weeks ago that I just left out one on left was sow we caught back in spring

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Nice skulls NLA.


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[justincorbell]

I personally do over 100 euro mounts a year on deer and hogs as a side business, the easiest most cost effective way I have found is as follows

1) skin and get as much meat off the hog as possible

2) boil the head on low submerged in water with 2 scoops of oxyclean (turns the meat to jello to help in removing it)

3) pull head and pressure wash it getting as much as possible off of the skull

4) repeat steps 2 and 3 (it normally only takes 2 rounds to have the skull 100% clean of meat)

5) get 1 bottle of 40 volume peroxide from a beauty supply place and put it in a spray bottle. Set the head in the sun and spray it 2-3 times a day for 2-3 days, it will be white as a sheet of paper.

(Reuben, in the future give this a shot, I wasted 100s of dollars when I first started by buying tons of peroxide and boiling heads in it. The spray bottle way works just as good and you wont use near as much peroxide.)

6) after you have it as white as you want it wash it with fresh water and soap by hand to get the peroxide off of it so that it doesnt make the head flaky over time.

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[justincorbell]

A couple I've done

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[Rough curs]

My buddy is a taxidermist and thats exactly what he does...they come out clean.

[Shotgun66]

I personally do over 100 euro mounts a year on deer and hogs as a side business, the easiest most cost effective way I have found is as follows

1) skin and get as much meat off the hog as possible

2) boil the head on low submerged in water with 2 scoops of oxyclean (turns the meat to jello to help in removing it)

3) pull head and pressure wash it getting as much as possible off of the skull

4) repeat steps 2 and 3 (it normally only takes 2 rounds to have the skull 100% clean of meat)

5) get 1 bottle of 40 volume peroxide from a beauty supply place and put it in a spray bottle. Set the head in the sun and spray it 2-3 times a day for 2-3 days, it will be white as a sheet of paper.

(Reuben, in the future give this a shot, I wasted 100s of dollars when I first started by buying tons of peroxide and boiling heads in it. The spray bottle way works just as good and you wont use near as much peroxide.)

6) after you have it as white as you want it wash it with fresh water and soap by hand to get the peroxide off of it so that it doesnt make the head flaky over time.

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Thanks Justin. Appreciate you sharing your experience. Your mounts turn out nice.


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[Reuben]

Thank you Justin...I like saving money as well...

[justincorbell]

No problem fellas, hope it helps.

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