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11-26-2008, 04:07 PM
| | Scrub Buck | | Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 1
| |  Cleaning a deer rack ???
I'm a pretty new hunter, and I just killed a 9 point buck. I didn't get the full head mounted, just kept the rack. Now, I just want to find out what I need to do to take care of it. Cause, it's starting to smell pretty bad. Couldnt find anything on the internet about what I needed to do to take care of it.
Anyone have any advice or tips on what I need to do to keep it looking good and not just smelling like butt and whatnot? Preciate it.
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11-26-2008, 05:25 PM
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: western new york
Posts: 3,800
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Welcome aboard buddy, glad to have you here. I had some of my antlers saved for an antler plaque mount and my old man did it for me, I think that he boiled the bottom part and bleached it or something. I'll check and get back to you.
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11-26-2008, 05:32 PM
| | B&C 100 Class | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: upstate ny
Posts: 41
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yeah just boil it get all the meat off it use bleach to kill bactera
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11-26-2008, 05:36 PM
| | B&C 120 Class | | Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 100
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Boil some water with a little household bleach and salt in it. Then continually pour this boiling water over the skull plate to loosen any soft meat or tissue that can't be removed from it dry. If you try to boil it all together you take a chance at over softening the skull plate and it may wind up bowing or breaking in the middle. Take your time and clean as well as possible. When your done spray it down with Lysol to kill any germs or bacteria and mount it to your board of choice or one of the inexpensive mounts sold at Wal-Mart and such.
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If you don't understand the technology which you depend on, you will soon be a victim of that technology.  |
11-26-2008, 06:45 PM
|  | B&C 140 Class | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Montana
Posts: 774
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Ok, buddy, I was a professional taxidermist for 20 years so maybe I can help. First, if you just lopped off the head and did nothing to it, you probably have a smelly mess like you described - depending on how long you've had it and how warm the temps have been. If you've done nothing to it by now, it would be best to just get a saw and cut off the top of the skull with the antlers attached and clean it up the best you can.
In the future, if you want to do a European mount (skull), you should always start by skinning the skull and removing the lower jaw. Then cut as much meat away from the skull as possible. Also remove the eye balls from the skull and tongue from the jaw if you plan to kjeep the jaw. Next, get some sal soda (it's also called soda ash) from a taxidermy supply house or you might be able to get it at a pharmacy. Put about 1/2 cup of the powder into a pot that's big enough to immerse the skull and get it boiling. Do this outdoors if you can 'cause it's going to smell. Every 5 miuntes take the skull out and try to scape the remainig flesh off the bone. It will get like jelly eventually, and come right off. It will get so soft that you can use the pressure of water from a garden hose to get most of the flesh off. You have to check it every few minutes because you don't want to over boil it as the bone itelf will get too soft. Then get a wire coat hanger and stick it into the hole at the base of the skull, and keep twisting it around until you get ALL of the brain matter out. Wash the whole thing in a bucket with a TINY bit of dish detergent to get any fat or grease off the bone, and rinse it off really well. Good luck.
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11-27-2008, 04:55 AM
|  | B&C 180 Class | | Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY
Posts: 3,608
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 Excellent post
__________________
Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison.
Genesis 27:3 "The thinking deer hunter should mature through three phases during his hunting life. First phase, "I need to kill a deer." Second phase, I want to harvest a nice deer. And last phase, we must manage this resource so our children and their children can experience the grand tradition of good deer hunting." - Jim Slinsky
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11-27-2008, 07:23 AM
|  | B&C 100 Class | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Seguin, TX
Posts: 142
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Great post Onehorse! That'll definatley come in handy (if i ever bag a deer that is!)
BTW 'Bout how much does it cost to get a full head mount? Anyone?
__________________
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
-John Stewart Mill |
11-27-2008, 07:30 AM
| | B&C 160 Class | | Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Maryland
Posts: 790
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For a good one starting at $500 and up. A top of the line mount can be over a thousand dollars----museum quality. A lot of things can be done that unless you have two side by side most would not notice but once you know what to look for really good mounts stand out. |
11-27-2008, 10:20 PM
| | B&C 100 Class | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Seguin, TX
Posts: 142
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 Holy John Browning!! at least $500??? I only see antler mounts and MAAAYBE skull mounts in my future. For a while anyway.
__________________
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
-John Stewart Mill |
11-27-2008, 11:55 PM
| | B&C 180 Class | | Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY
Posts: 3,608
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that is why i do my own skull mounts 
__________________
Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison.
Genesis 27:3 "The thinking deer hunter should mature through three phases during his hunting life. First phase, "I need to kill a deer." Second phase, I want to harvest a nice deer. And last phase, we must manage this resource so our children and their children can experience the grand tradition of good deer hunting." - Jim Slinsky
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