European Mounts

[4ester]

Well just finished my 2016 Mule Deer.

Instead of doing the typical cook off the head, I made the plunge and bought some dermestid beetles this year. I built an enclosure out of an old chest freezer, added a heater, thermostat, and some ventilation.

After the beetles had completed the job, it was into a degreasing bucket @120 degrees for the next month with some water, dawn detergent, and Ammonia. Water was changed whenever it got pretty cloudy.

When the water stayed clear, it was on to the whitening step. Bought some Vol 40 Developer from the local beauty Solon. Put a good paste (with some gloves and a shield, this stuff will burn you) all over the head, put it under a heat lamp, and ignore it for the next 24-48 hours.

When whitening is complete, I dunked it in a hot water bath, scrubbing all the lose peroxide off. I then let the skull dry, put a little elmers glue on the teeth and loose bones, recolored the bases with some stain, clear coated with some acrylic and it turned out great.

Currently have a coyote, beaver, and a bobcat in the degreaser so should have some more finished specimens here in the next month or so.

Anyone else tackle these projects? Let's see your work!

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[elkguide]

Looking good.

I use "Mop N Glo" to seal my heads.

 

[AdamW]

Very nice work man. So do you have a full time beetle farm now that you can sip beer and watch the other 51 weeks of the year?

 

[4ester]

Very nice work man. So do you have a full time beetle farm now that you can sip beer and watch the other 51 weeks of the year?

Yeah that's it. It's been good so far with some coyotes, beaver, bobcats, etc. I have a few bears to do also. I saved all my elk trimmings to try and keep them fed up too, and might do some local work if I can put out consistent good work.

Beaver fresh out of the bugs.


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[realunlucky]

That's pretty cool to have your own beetles

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[kpk]

Here's one that I did several years ago using almost the exact same process. Where did you go about getting beetles?

 

[4ester]

Here's one that I did several years ago using almost the exact same process. Where did you go about getting beetles?

Kodiak Bugs and Bones. Highly recommend his bugs. Mite free and healthy. He also gives you great instructions and answers any questions you may have later. I'm still building my numbers but they will clean a small skull in 4-5 days, and a deer around 7 but they are getting faster.


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[unsuccessful]

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[Stid2677]

My best moose.

 

[pwsINC]

so I just hope someday to have an animals of caliber of anything above! I mean Does buying the beetles make you kill bigger animals perhaps?

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[Clarktar]

so I just hope someday to have an animals of caliber of anything above! I mean Does buying the beetles make you kill bigger animals perhaps?

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Yep, casual relationship between owning beetles and killing quality animals!

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[JP100]

That's a long process!! I usually just boil and a water blast. Takes about a day to complete one.

Few of my heads and a hummel that my mate shot and I cleaned for him

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[Stid2677]

Over the years I have done many skulls, started with boiling, works and is quick but it really does damage the bones. I have used elmers glue to to seal them after whitening with peroxide. One of the best results come from maceration, it takes a long time but saves all the fine nasal bones. I pull the teeth before I whiten them and them seal with acrylic.

 

[justin davis]

I take mine to a guy who has beetles. I really prefer the work of beetles

 

[missjordan]

I boiled ours this year but in the past I used a hotsy pressure washer and they turn out great but is super messy. Doesn't damage the bones like boiling them can. Then I use the 40wt peroxide and powdered bleach combo to whiten them. We bought a house this summer with a shop so this is how we've organized our best trophies.

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[bline]

This is the first mount I have done. I tried boiling but couldn't get all the stuff from the sinuses out so I tried filled a tub with water and put a heating pad underneath it and a sheet of plexiglass over it with a heat lamp shining on it for a couple weeks. That softened everything up nicely. Then I did the normal peroxide treatment and found a nice cedar snag to make a plaque out of.

 

[kestump]

What did you mix the developer with to make the paste? And what stain did you use on the base of the antlers? It looks great!

 

[4ester]

What did you mix the developer with to make the paste? And what stain did you use on the base of the antlers? It looks great!

I used the creme developer, but you can mix magnesium carbonate (rock climbing chalk) or basic white (another hair product).

For the stain I mixed Old English and Minwax Dark Walnut. It's not perfect, but you can play with the mix until you get the right color. Start light.


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[realunlucky]

I've use basic white paste with good results

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[Blazer0290]

I used to do Taxidermy as a part time business, I have tried every method known to man to clean and whiten skulls, my experience and its just that "mine". the best processes are Beetles or Maceration. I had at one time a colony I'd grown to over 30,000 dermestid beetles that would clean a deer size skull in under 24hrs, if you have the means to take on a colony that large, they are awesome. Stink to high heaven!! I had a bug shed built 80 Yds away from house! some of the ways I would degrease and whiten are the same ways people have posted, some things I did to speed up the process are, In degreasing I would add a small amount of biogaurds soft swim C ( found at pool supply stores) to my Dawn degreasing bath, this is 27.5% peroxide, be very careful with this as it will burn you bad. regular volume 40 from beauty supply houses are only about 16% this cuts the degreasing stage down considerably on deer size skulls, I had degreasing tubs with water heater elements set on thermostats to keep water temps consistent, Aquarium heaters were a pain in the ass and not consistent , good results at around 100-105 degrees. then placed the skulls in a separate bucket of water in the degrease tub full of water, this would heat both separate water sources to the same temp and I would only would have to change the water in the buckets containing the skull when they needed it.(hope that all made sense), another tip I used is on deer or Elk with burrs that have smoother or smaller nodules on their bases I would use clear 100% silicone caulk around the bases a few inches up to seal them off during the degreasing and whitening process and just peel it off after it was complete, this eliminated the need to restain the bases. In whitening process I would use the Soft swim C and whitener, mixed into paste after applying wrap the skull in sarawrap and place under a heat source. this speeds up the whitening process, sara wrap holds the moisture in and does let the paste dry out as fast. Just don't melt the sarawrap to the skull-ask me how I know. contrary to belief, Heat is what activates the peroxide to whiten, not Sunlight, sunlight degrades peroxide rapidly. hope these few tips might help some guys, just getting into Euro's.