Deer head? best way to get the skull and antlers

[Sea_Slueth]

I have had an 8 pointer in my chest freezer for over 5 years. multiple taxidermists have told me that they doubted they could get a good mount out of it.

I have several cases of bait being delivered this week and need to make a decision asap.

I've seen deer skulls with the anlters bleached and they look pretty cool.

Some people have told me that in the warmer weather, you can take the head and place it on an ant hill and cover it securely. Come back in a week or two and all the meat is gone.

I've also heard you can boil it.

Any other options that may work best at this time of year?

I live near the river, can I put it in a cage and throw it in the water for the fish? Crabs are not in the rivers now, are they?

[cskiff]

Hope this helps, my buddy put one in his compost pile and buried it but it was summer, didnt take long to get all the meat off, once you bleach the skull, I took a light stain and rubbed it on the antlers to bring a little shine back on them and then made a wall mount for a European mount, turned out really nice, you could boil it but then you have the fun of cutting all the yuck out of it, if it was summer you could load up on the crabs while they do the work for you, my opinion find a friend with a bait cooler and wait till it warms up. let the bugs or the crabs have at it.

[cuhollow]

I think no matter what you do you are going to have some work cleaning up the skull. This time of the year I think you better boil it and clean up what’s left.

[nalley1952]

they charge about $125 or less for a european mount. Don't boil it as it will soften the bones and membranes. Best way is to find someone who's got dermestid beetle colony to clean it up if you want to do it your self.

[jjj]

if you have the time, let the bugs do it. just make sure to cover the antlers so they dont bleach out in the sun. i use heavy duty aluminum foil. also you can get a fake skull from a taxidermy suppy co. and mount the rack to that. you need to do a little work to it ,but it will last forever

[Albemarle24]

http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/product/01007504/



Hope this helps

Eric

[erikharwell]

it could be mounted, there are new chemicals out there that take care of freezer burn, and stuff like that, if that fails it could be mounted with another cape.

[Old-Grady]

You can buy a quality hide off some enternet sites for about thirty dollors. Also most taxidermist know where to get a hide if they need or want one. So if you really want to mount go ahead and do it. You can also buy a euro mount kit fram Cabela's I believe they are about fifty bucks. They come with everything needed to bleach and mount.

[rock n crab]

I've done several boar skulls.... I skin it and place it in a 5 gal bucket... Tie a rope to the bucket and run it up a tree, far away from the house..... Let it sit in there the several month, the beetles and insects will clen it up........ You'll need some water in the bucket or it will dry the meat to the skull and you'll have a mess.... Onlce it's clean by the beetles soak it in bleach/water changing the mixture several times..... I had to glue the teeth back in...... Then go to a hair saloon and get the peroxid they use on hair, soak it in that stuff and it will turn ut bone white..... Then a light clear coat on it finishes the job.... Very easy to do.....

[nchaput]

If you want to mount it and don't have a quality hide just wait til next season and shoot a doe. My father shot a nice buck in the next and they couldn't fix the hole so he shot a doe for the freezer and the taxidermist used the doe hide.