$50 bucks for a beetle cleaned skull? My guy wants a few hundred for the same service. Anyone used them before? The website is european-skull-mounts.com seems too good to be true.
Anyone used european-skull-mounts.com
salts
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6,206 Posts
[eek] yeah I know a guy.lol call catfish hunter..Euro/skull mount taxidermy,Edison nj 08817,deer,bear,fox,museum quality South side skulls euro/skull mount taxidermy
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4,165 Posts
By the time you pack it up and pay shipping Both ways, you would be better off with a local guy. Personally even if its a little more, I like keeping it local.
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820 Posts
Great point. Need someone in southern NY or northern NJ
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3,549 Posts
Good Luck, they may be good, but have fun shipping. Keep it local is a good idea.[up]
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158 Posts
Boil it yourself. Just bring water to a boil then turn it down to a simmer I always take measurements and never had a problem with shrinkage or bone seperation.
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Ringwood Boy aren't you in Northern Jersey?
just did my first one. remove hide, lower jaw, eyes, and as much meat&fat as possible. i removed the grates on my propane grill,set a large pot of water to boil. boiled skull for 4 hrs. removed skull,took of any additional tissue& brain matter(as much as possible), then added dishwashing detergent to the water& boiled for another hour. let cool, remove nasal tissue & clean out brain cavity as much as you can. paint on somew#40 hair peroxide. then covered skull with paper towels paint more peroxide on paper towels let sit overnight. came out great also there are numerous videos on you tube showing exactly how to do it the whole thing takes about 8 hrs total 5 of which are spent making sure your waterstays at a simmer. def worth saving 200 unless you dont have the time.....
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6,206 Posts
Almost done with a bear,$9 and change at sally's..Sally Beauty Supply has hair products, salon supplies, spa supplies, cosmetics, and more!
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Jersey Fresh recommended a bucket heater to do this task, so I got one on Amazon for forty bucks. You farm guys might know this, but I didn't: a bucket heater is used to keep the water buckets and troughs from freezing over for livestock. You plug it in, put it in the bucket, and it heats up the water. Easy.
I removed the skin from skull--not so easy, a bit tedious, but not impossible; removed the eyes and brain--again, a bit harder than you might think, a tad grisly, but nothing a hunter with a sharp knife can't handle; and I put the head in a plastic 8 gallon water bucket (the kind available at Home Depot or anywhere), along with the bucket heater. Filled with about 9 inches of water.
Worked like a charm. The water never boils but it gets plenty hot; tie the skull so the antlers are out of the water; periodically refill as the water evaporates over time. Neither the water nor the bucket heater got anywhere too hot for a plastic bucket, it was fine, I thought I might need a metal bucket but I didn't. You're essentially doing a slow, soup-like cook of the meat on the skull--smell is kinda funky, do NOT do any of this indoors. Your wife will kill you.
Process took longer than most guys said it would, here and elsewhere in the Internet--it was late November and cold out, so maybe that contributed--but I had my deer skull in the water for at least 9 hours over two days. Still, I was in no rush. Even with the hot tub bath, you still have to do a fair amount of scraping. And be careful, those deer teeth are sharp!
Re removing the brain, lots of Internet nonsense out there in my view, but this worked for me: I cut the skull, at an angle, from behind, using a simple coping saw; removed a small portion of skull (maybe 2 inches by 3 inches) that you wouldn't see anyway from the front, but it opened up the brain cavity so it could be more easily scrambled and removed. I used an wire hanger then a hose, but be careful--you don't want to use too much water pressure because deer brains all over everything is not only messy, but potentially dangerous. Be aware of CWD and prions and what they can do to you; clean everything afterwards using a Clorox-water mix of 1 to 4 or, better yet, toss out the saw blade, they're cheap.
Didn't use peroxide to whiten--a good tip, and one I've used on turkey spurs; instead, I hung it on the garage wall, where it's been for the better part of a year. White enough, really cool looking. And cheaper than a taxidermist; a great technique for a deer that's just not worth hanging on a wall. Mine was a 4 pointer.
Oh, I looked into The Buck Boiler for a hundred bucks; it's a plastic bucket with built-in heating element and auto shut off. I was not impressed with some reviews; the auto shut off for some guys was too easily triggered. And the bucket heater was 40% of the price, so what the heck. I essentially did the same thing with a bucket and bucket heater.
Hope this helps; I know Jersey Fresh's comments last year were a big help to me.
I removed the skin from skull--not so easy, a bit tedious, but not impossible; removed the eyes and brain--again, a bit harder than you might think, a tad grisly, but nothing a hunter with a sharp knife can't handle; and I put the head in a plastic 8 gallon water bucket (the kind available at Home Depot or anywhere), along with the bucket heater. Filled with about 9 inches of water.
Worked like a charm. The water never boils but it gets plenty hot; tie the skull so the antlers are out of the water; periodically refill as the water evaporates over time. Neither the water nor the bucket heater got anywhere too hot for a plastic bucket, it was fine, I thought I might need a metal bucket but I didn't. You're essentially doing a slow, soup-like cook of the meat on the skull--smell is kinda funky, do NOT do any of this indoors. Your wife will kill you.
Process took longer than most guys said it would, here and elsewhere in the Internet--it was late November and cold out, so maybe that contributed--but I had my deer skull in the water for at least 9 hours over two days. Still, I was in no rush. Even with the hot tub bath, you still have to do a fair amount of scraping. And be careful, those deer teeth are sharp!
Re removing the brain, lots of Internet nonsense out there in my view, but this worked for me: I cut the skull, at an angle, from behind, using a simple coping saw; removed a small portion of skull (maybe 2 inches by 3 inches) that you wouldn't see anyway from the front, but it opened up the brain cavity so it could be more easily scrambled and removed. I used an wire hanger then a hose, but be careful--you don't want to use too much water pressure because deer brains all over everything is not only messy, but potentially dangerous. Be aware of CWD and prions and what they can do to you; clean everything afterwards using a Clorox-water mix of 1 to 4 or, better yet, toss out the saw blade, they're cheap.
Didn't use peroxide to whiten--a good tip, and one I've used on turkey spurs; instead, I hung it on the garage wall, where it's been for the better part of a year. White enough, really cool looking. And cheaper than a taxidermist; a great technique for a deer that's just not worth hanging on a wall. Mine was a 4 pointer.
Oh, I looked into The Buck Boiler for a hundred bucks; it's a plastic bucket with built-in heating element and auto shut off. I was not impressed with some reviews; the auto shut off for some guys was too easily triggered. And the bucket heater was 40% of the price, so what the heck. I essentially did the same thing with a bucket and bucket heater.
Hope this helps; I know Jersey Fresh's comments last year were a big help to me.
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820 Posts
Don't want to DIY, I want to pay someone to do it haha. I travel a lot and I simply don't have a place to keep a deer head frozen for the new few weeks or months until I have time to do it. If there's someone local I can drop it off w/ perfect.
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3,549 Posts
Give me a call, (973) 841-3185, Charlie. Located in Wanaque. Do a search on me and you will see enough skull pics to make you crosseyed.
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17,254 Posts
Ringwood boy is north,,I'm central both use bugs
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624 Posts
Catfish I have a frozen buck head that I shot last Feb, been frozen ever since, have the tag also. Do you take them frozen or should I thaw it a couple days before bringing it?
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17,254 Posts
Frozen is fine,give me a call tomorrow if you want to arrange drop off
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