Euro mount finishing

[Jeffrey Masters]

Finally got my trophies back from Namibia, and I feel tremendously lighter in the wallet area. The entire process has gotten crazy expensive compared with my first trip to SA several years ago. I am not complaining.......well actually I am complaining, but that is for another post. I have decided to do euro mounts of most of my animals because i am running out of wall space, and just because I think these skulls look incredibly cool. All of the skulls are clean and white, with no smell. Do I need to do anything to seal the skulls? Do I do anything to fill the space between the horns and the skull, like clay or some other filler and then paint, or just leave the space? I have never looked at a Euro mount that closely to notice. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[dchum]

Share some pictures

 

[KKF]

No, leave it as it is. Dry, white skulls are rarely treated further. If you want, you can seal the surface, but it's not necessary. Some of my trophy skulls have been hanging on the wall for up to 50 years; not a single one has been sealed, and they all still look very good.

 

[Jeffrey Masters]

No, leave it as it is. Dry, white skulls are rarely treated further. If you want, you can seal the surface, but it's not necessary. Some of my trophy skulls have been hanging on the wall for up to 50 years; not a single one has been sealed, and they all still look very good.

Skull information aside, I am very jealous of 50 years worth of hunting trophies. What a life well lived!
Thank you for the info too.

 

[KKF]

Some impressive roebuck trophies. Not shot by me, but by an uncle. None of the skulls were sealed.

 

[Sabre]

You can seal the skulls if you want, but it isn't necessary. If you do seal the skulls, And then down the road some grease bleeds out and yellows it a bit, you can't degrease it without removing whatever you used to seal it first. That's worth considering.

If you are asking how to attach the horns, you can epoxy them on to the horn bases. You don't have to fill the space with clay.

One thing you said can be used to sort of guide you here. You said you have never looked at a euro mount all that close. Neither will other people look at yours that closely. So, you can do as much or as little as makes you happy within reason. Don't leave them with stinky material on or in them.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I make my own mounting brackets. I prefer the naked look. Keep in mind that many species don't look that great mounted flat against the wall (e.g. waterbuck). And some are fine that way (e.g. impala and blue wildebeest). Don't paint them with anything. I attach horns to skull stumps with small wood screws. I drill a small hole through the bottom of horn on backside into horn stump. I could touch them up with paint but the screws are actually quite unnoticeable. Using the screws allow the skulls to be easily disassembled and repacked in pieces if I need to move or mail them etc.

 

[SafariCurious]

Hey, I have a similar question, I now have a total of three "euro mount" skulls from three different places here in the US.

One of them is completely odor free.

But two of them (one a mule deer and the other an antelope/pronghorn) have a nasty death smell, the smell is faint unless your nose is really close, like they won't stink up the whole house, but you will eventually notice the stench if you are close to either one for awhile.

I have them up on my balcony in the fresh air, getting partial sun and shade for now.

Any tips on how to speed up hopefully getting them odor free?

 

[Jeffrey Masters]

 

[Jeffrey Masters]

View attachment 744398Some impressive roebuck trophies. Not shot by me, but by an uncle. None of the skulls were sealed.

Very impressive trophies! Do you know where they were taken?

 

[JimP]

Hey, I have a similar question, I now have a total of three "euro mount" skulls from three different places here in the US.

One of them is completely odor free.

But two of them (one a mule deer and the other an antelope/pronghorn) have a nasty death smell, the smell is faint unless your nose is really close, like they won't stink up the whole house, but you will eventually notice the stench if you are close to either one for awhile.

I have them up on my balcony in the fresh air, getting partial sun and shade for now.

Any tips on how to speed up hopefully getting them odor free?

Hey, I have a similar question, I now have a total of three "euro mount" skulls from three different places here in the US.

One of them is completely odor free.

But two of them (one a mule deer and the other an antelope/pronghorn) have a nasty death smell, the smell is faint unless your nose is really close, like they won't stink up the whole house, but you will eventually notice the stench if you are close to either one for awhile.

I have them up on my balcony in the fresh air, getting partial sun and shade for now.

Any tips on how to speed up hopefully getting them odor free?

Sounds like neither one was cleaned properly. On the pronghorn you need to pull sheaths off and clean the inside with boiling water. On the mule deer there is still tissue attached.

 

[Sabre]

Hey, I have a similar question, I now have a total of three "euro mount" skulls from three different places here in the US.

One of them is completely odor free.

But two of them (one a mule deer and the other an antelope/pronghorn) have a nasty death smell, the smell is faint unless your nose is really close, like they won't stink up the whole house, but you will eventually notice the stench if you are close to either one for awhile.

I have them up on my balcony in the fresh air, getting partial sun and shade for now.

Any tips on how to speed up hopefully getting them odor free?

Be careful with the horn sheaths on the pronghorn. They may have been epoxied on. If that is the case, I am not sure how you will remove them without damaging them. If that's the case, you could drill holes in an inconspicuous spot and inject mount medix.

It sounds like the skulls both likely need to be degreased and maybe whitened. It would help to see what they look like now.

 

[Sabre]

I make my own mounting brackets. I prefer the naked look. Keep in mind that many species don't look that great mounted flat against the wall (e.g. waterbuck). And some are fine that way (e.g. impala and blue wildebeest). Don't paint them with anything. I attach horns to skull stumps with small wood screws. I drill a small hole through the bottom of horn on backside into horn stump. I could touch them up with paint but the screws are actually quite unnoticeable. Using the screws allow the skulls to be easily disassembled and repacked in pieces if I need to move or mail them etc.
View attachment 744405

You've mentioned a few times on the site that the last taxidermist you used removed the wildebeest horns from the skull when he boiled them. What indicated to you that he did this, I mean, when you received them, what made you sure they were removed and cleaned and reattached?

I have wondered this before, and looking again at OPs wildebeest and my own it just made me think of it again. I can't figure how it could be done on a standard shaped blue wildebeest.

I have more of them coming in the next year as euro mounts and if there is a way to do this to clean them, I want to figure it out.

 

[KKF]

Very impressive trophies! Do you know where they were taken?

That was so long ago, so I can only guess. My uncle apparently hunted exclusively in Germany, Austria, and Hungary, so I think these trophies came from Hungary.

 

[farmer_john]

That was so long ago, so I can only guess. My uncle apparently hunted exclusively in Germany, Austria, and Hungary, so I think these trophies came from Hungary.

What are the little medals

 

[KKF]

What are the little medals

Awards at competitions. Gold, silver and bronze.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

You've mentioned a few times on the site that the last taxidermist you used removed the wildebeest horns from the skull when he boiled them. What indicated to you that he did this, I mean, when you received them, what made you sure they were removed and cleaned and reattached?

I have wondered this before, and looking again at OPs wildebeest and my own it just made me think of it again. I can't figure how it could be done on a standard shaped blue wildebeest.

I have more of them coming in the next year as euro mounts and if there is a way to do this to clean them, I want to figure it out.

It was a black wildebeest which I would think would be even harder to detach than blue wildebeest. I know the horns were detached because they arrived separate from the skull. All the other skulls also arrived with horns detached: gemsbuck (not unusual), impala, springbuck, red lechwe, nyala, Barbary sheep, and kudu. For this reason alone I would keep going back to Hunter's & Collectors taxidermy. But there are other good reasons.

My daughter (and me) runs a taxidermy business and we can't figure out how Kevin does it. Most taxidermists who remove wildebeest horns cut them up the back and patch it up later. None of these horns show evidence of being cut. It is impressive although most clients probably wouldn't notice the difference or care.

 

[Sabre]

It was a black wildebeest which I would think would be even harder to detach than blue wildebeest. I know the horns were detached because they arrived separate from the skull. All the other skulls also arrived with horns detached: gemsbuck (not unusual), impala, springbuck, red lechwe, nyala, Barbary sheep, and kudu. For this reason alone I would keep going back to Hunter's & Collectors taxidermy. But there are other good reasons.

My daughter (and me) runs a taxidermy business and we can't figure out how Kevin does it. Most taxidermists who remove wildebeest horns cut them up the back and patch it up later. None of these horns show evidence of being cut. It is impressive although most clients probably wouldn't notice the difference or care.

When you reattached the black wildebeest horns did they just slide over the core easily, or were the cores cut down already like they usually are on other animals?

From photos you have posted it looks like they did a nice job leaving the horn sheaths looking natural and in good shape.

Could you post a picture of the Barbary sheep skull? I am curious what they look like after an Africa boiling treatment.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

When you reattached the black wildebeest horns did they just slide over the core easily, or were the cores cut down already like they usually are on other animals?

From photos you have posted it looks like they did a nice job leaving the horn sheaths looking natural and in good shape.

Could you post a picture of the Barbary sheep skull? I am curious what they look like after an Africa boiling treatment.

Camera is not working on my phone right now but I think there must be an image of Barbary sheep skull in the gallery.

The cores were cut down to four or five inches. The sheaths slid on easily. I attached them to the skull with tiny screws through the base of sheath on the backside. That way horns can be removed for storing or moving.

 

[Sabre]

Camera is not working on my phone right now but I think there must be an image of Barbary sheep skull in the gallery.

The cores were cut down to four or five inches. The sheaths slid on easily. I attached them to the skull with tiny screws through the base of sheath on the backside. That way horns can be removed for storing or moving.
View attachment 744586View attachment 744587View attachment 744588

That is what I have seen most come back looking like after boiling, even from Texas. I feel like they "change color" more than other horns when cleaned and boiled.

Maybe it is just because their horns have a lot of dried sand/dust on them from their habitat and when that comes off you see the natural color more. Or maybe they really do just change color more than other horns when being cleaned/boiled.