Finally got around to cleaning up some deer heads.....

[ShootnMathews]

So I had a bunch of decent bucks in freezers. Some are from as long as 4 years ago. They are all nice bucks, but not "mounting" nice. So I finally learned to do European mounts myself after a little reading and Youtubing. I did 6 whitetails bucks all together. An 8 point, four 9 points and a 10 point. After cleaning all the heads ( which my wife greatly appreciated since she now can use her deep freeze for food and such) I had deer heads laying everywhere which is just a good way to break one. I really like the way the "Skull Hooker" device holds you mount upright in a natural position , but being a little apprehensive about dropping the cash for 6 of them. I decided to do what I always do under similar circumstances, make them myself. Took all of 5 minutes a hook to cut and weld myself and cost me a whopping $2 a hook. A piece of rough cut barn wood later and I have, in my opinion, a sharp looking display.

In the picture of the display board,the buck on the far left is not bleached. I just harvested him 9 days ago. One 9 point buck, due to lack of freezer space had been hanging in a tree for 11 months. I won't go into how disgusting that was to clean, but it still had a very pungent odor to it. So I needed another solution. My wife found a tutorial on how to make your own hydro dipping paint and apply. I figured that would at least minimize the stinch. And it worked beautifully in my opinion.

So tell me what you all think?
If any of you have any questions about how I made the hooks or did the paint, just hit me with them.

Jared

 

[ShootnMathews]

The board....

 

[skandlus]

pretty cool board Matthews!! can you post up a pic of the mount you have attaching the skull to the board?

 

[ShootnMathews]

pretty cool board Matthews!! can you post up a pic of the mount you have attaching the skull to the board?

Sure. As I stated above, I made these myself out of 3" corner brackets and a stick of 1/4" steel rod. The diamond spacer blocks of wood behind the bracket aren't just for show. I actually needed them to get the right degree of tilt I wanted to the heads without the antlers touching the wall. The steel rod I curved by beating it with a hammer before welding it to the bracket. In the back of the skull is a dime sized depression that the rod curves into which locks the head in place. The skulls must be tilted back ( another reason for the spacer) before picking them up to remove them from the hooks. And I wanted to be able to move them around as I see fit with no fuss.

One day I'll clean up the welds and paint these. I literally just zapped these together and slapped it on the wall. Didn't even knock the slag off.

 

[ShootnMathews]

Well the pic isn't going. One more try. Still not working. I'll try to post pic tomorrow again

 

[ShootnMathews]

Ok. Looks like the pic is going to post this time. Maybe I didn't have enough service at the farm. This was the easiest to take a pic of. The first couple I made I used some huge nails I had. The switched to the 1/4" steel rod which was much easier to bend.