It seems that the European mounts are all the rage.  Who wouldn’t consider it?  You can show off your kill in a cost efficient manner that is classy and timeless. How do you make one? Put your creative skill to use and create your European mount of a deer head in these three easy steps…

Gather tools needed before starting the actual process. Doing so will facilitate efficiency and save you time from looking for one tool after another.  The tools you need are: large pot to boil the deer skull, razor, knife, wire clothes hanger, pliers, 40% peroxide solution, and a brush.

The following three basic steps are all you need to do to produce a European mount of a deer head.

Skinning

Prepare the deer head by caping out its head and removing hair and hide from the skull.  Be careful when removing the eyes from sockets, tongue, vertebrae, lower jaw, and other meat as you possibly can.  Lastly, use a coat hanger wire or stick to remove the brains. This is easily the worst part of the DIY european deer mount process – but it cannot be avoided! Once the skull is cleaned and free of meat, hide, etc – place into the pot for boiling.

Place the skull and antlers into the pot so that as little of the antlers are in the water as possible. It is very helpful to use the wire coat hanger (previously used to poke and clean the skull) to hang the antlers and deer skull in this fashion.

Boiling

You can degrease by gently boiling the skull  in water mixed with 40% peroxide solution for a couple of  hours to clean off excess flesh. Change the boiling water if the spirit moves you – but it is not necessary. Check on the skull every half hour or so, and cut off anything  that has been loosened by the boiling water.

When done, place the boiled skull in a tub with hot soapy water.  Watch as the excess grease and oil junk is eliminated from the skull.  You can then either use a scrub or pressure washer to clean out the crevices, nasal passages, and other holes.  Make sure to remove all the grease to avoid discoloring the skull.

Finishing

Expose and dry the deer skull in the sun until dry to the touch.  Take the bottle of 40% hydrogen peroxide. I usually use a quarter bottle of peroxide and paint with the brush on a liberal coating – but DO NOT get this on the antlers. The antlers will turn white if the solution touches the antler…giving it an unnatural appearance. Be sure to paint all of the skull you can reach – even the inside (it is not necessary to put the peroxide on the teeth). Do this once a day, for a couple days.

Once this is done, examine the skull carefully.  If the deer skull looks spotlessly white then you’re done.  If you have any visible yellowish tint, relax all is not lost! Make sure it is air dried completely for another day, and add more peroxide.

This process will get you a very nice looking European deer mount – and you did it all by yourself! Your newly finished trophy will last a lifetime – as well as look stunning on your Skull Hooker. 🙂