Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Not only did I take my 6th deer of 2010 and finish filling my freezer today, but I took my second huge buck in as many days. Yesterday was my first "real" buck - a big symmetrical 8 pointer. I've taken spikes and small 3 pointers, but never anything like these. Today was a gnarly busted up 9 pointer, looks like he did his share of fighting this fall. Lots of broken points, could have been an 11 pointer if he wasn't all busted up. I've only been hunting seriously for 2.5 years now (i'm 29), but have been dreaming of this since the first time my dad took me hunting in middle school!

Nice buck, Matt! Congrats!

Awesome buck!

That's bucks - plural! I got a lot of meat cutting to do the next few days.

Congrats!

Awesome...is that red paint on the floor...fire hazard...

Quick update - got my home-boiled Euro mounts complete last night!

good stuff, congradulations.

Good looking mounts Matt...

Thanks guys... just need to talk the wife into letting me hang them in the living room! Right bow, the stairwell is the best I can do.

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Congrats on some excellent bucks! How did you prepare your deer mounts?

meak99 wrote:Quick update - got my home-boiled Euro mounts complete last night!

That's pretty cool, Matt.

Rick - Thanks!

@Eutaw - I Skinned out the heads and cut as much meat off as I could, slowly boiled/simmered for 4-6 hours. Used dental picks, needle nose pliers, wire/plastic brushes to get every bit of meat, fat, gook, etc off them. Packed borax all over to sop up the grease and then used 40% Peroxide solution (shoulda seen the look on the lady's face at Sally Beauty Supply when I told her what I needed it for!) to whiten. Super glued the nose bones and teeth, then coated with clear Krylon. Took about 4 days each with an hour or two of work per day (other than the long boil period).

Good stuff! I haven't tried the borax and peroxide yet, but that might be due to my complete failure of a season. My dad and I only recently (2008 season) discovered the beauty of the euro mount, and we did it on his latest 8 point. When I was 18 I harvested a mature 8 year buck with deep chestnut antlers. Wish I had known about the euro mount back then! Someone also told me that you can bury the skull in the back yard and the insects will take care of it, but (1) the ground is solid in winter and (2) I think I would have reoccurring nightmares about dogs in the neighborhood digging it up!

Eutaw wrote:Good stuff! I haven't tried the borax and peroxide yet, but that might be due to my complete failure of a season. My dad and I only recently (2008 season) discovered the beauty of the euro mount, and we did it on his latest 8 point. When I was 18 I harvested a mature 8 year buck with deep chestnut antlers. Wish I had known about the euro mount back then! Someone also told me that you can bury the skull in the back yard and the insects will take care of it, but (1) the ground is solid in winter and (2) I think I would have reoccurring nightmares about dogs in the neighborhood digging it up!

That is also an option - you gotta put buckets over the antlers, or one big container over the whole thing. Then, stack a few cinder blocks on top! The other downside to that is - TIME! It takes months, and some people let them go until the end of the NEXT hunting season! I may be able to sit for 10+ hours in a tree stand, but I ain't that patient to wait for a year!

Nice Deer Matt and a great job at the Euro mount.
Bill

This is what I now do with a nice rack.

SgtBill wrote:Nice Deer Matt and a great job at the Euro mount.
Bill

This is what I now do with a nice rack.

It the skull under the metal or are the antlers attached to it?

No scull under the plate. I cooked and cleaned it and shaped it with my bench grinder untill it fit the way it looks now and then made a sandwich of the rack inbetween the 2 steel plates.
Bill

Daggon Bill, thats quite a look there! I've seen that style (false skull) around places like Green Top, but nothing quite like that.




-Definitely approves

Eutaw wrote:Daggon Bill, thats quite a look there! I've seen that style (false skull) around places like Green Top, but nothing quite like that.




-Definitely approves

Is that your hunting gig?