Here's a pic of the 9-point European Mount, just back from T i n k e r ' s Taxidermy. He does such a good job! This buck was pre-rut crossbow kill (PSE Tac15i) on October 27 of last year. It's kinda hard to see the 9-th point. It's a little 1-1/8" crab claw on the deer's left beam just catching the light. I hadn't planned to put it on the wall there permanently, but I kinda like it next to the squirrel. Might move it up a little off the switch plates and leave it there for a while... if sweetness will allow.
Hi Twanger, You and I have shared many good tips on the How-To's covering many of the aspects of our crossbows customizations and too many other topics to recall, but I thought I'd offer a new one on an easy way to do the European Mounts that my brother and i have used several times. If you want to take a couple of minutes and do your own Euro Mount try the following methods. 1. Using either an 18 Volt Cordless Sawzall or a manual Hacksawcut the deers head off below the skull near the top of the neck vertebra. 2. Using a sharp knife cut up the back of the deers neck and around the base of each horn removing the hide and skin from around the horns and over the face. 3. Once all hide has been removed use your sawzall with a metal cutting blade to make a single cut angling from the base of the back of the skull forward to the back of the Jawbone. Remove the lower jawbone and then proceed to use your knife to remove as much of the remaining tongue or other fleshy parts as can easily be removed. 4. Take the remaining antlers and upper skull plate to an area where you can safely dig a shallow hole and place the antlers skull down in the hole. It should be deep so that when you place it in the hole and cover it with soil you only have half of the brow tines and the remainder of the rack showing above the ground. 5. This will now stay buried underground for the next 90 - 100 days. You are allowing mother nature to perform the cleaning and whiting process of the skull for you. After the specified period of time you can dig up your trophy and either bond it or screw it onto whatever mounting plate you choose. This is the traditional method used in Europe to perform the process. 6. If when you remove the rack from the ground it's not as white as you'd like, simply mix in a bucket a solution of Clorox and water. Two cups of Clorox should be plenty to the remainder of warm water. Allow to soak for a day and then remove and rinse with water repeatedly to remove all Clorox. You'll notice immediately that the skull is a bright white and the antlers are very clean. For those in a hurry; you can use steps 1 thru 3 and then you will require a large enough pot or container to hold the rack and enough water to cover the skull and rack. Step 4 will require that you can bring the water temperature to a very low boil for 8 to 10 consecutive hours. This will boil off any and all remaining flesh and it will also whiten the skull and rack. Step 5 will be to remove the rack after boiling has been completed. Examine and remove any remaining pieces of anything still attached and your trophy is again ready for mounting to your chosen mounting plate. Hope this saves you a few bucks with the Taxidermist so maybe you can buy a few more good broadheads...LOL! Jon
Thanks for the detailed instructions Jon. I have done one Euro mount using the "boil and scrape" method. A good friend walked me through the process. One good tip he gave me was to use a hoof knife (for trimming horse's hooves) for the clean up trimming. I'll have to try the burial method sometime. Do you buy the board or make your own? I've made them from red oak, and now have a mess of black walnut that has finished drying in the basement.
