Mounting deer horns

[Birddog7mm]

Does anyone have some suggestions for someone wanting to mount thier own horns? I have a few that were done by pros (horns only), and they were wrapped in black felt and then mounted on oak board.

[Mark Christianson]

I do all my own. Nothing real fancy, but I like it. We have the wall of fame at the cabin. All done the same basic way, but with different felt and trim colors.

I just screw the skull plate to the board.

Use some linen stuffing(cant think of what its called), and staple that around the skull plate.

Take the felt and lay it out around it, and staple it down.

Trim off excess felt and stuffing.

And hot glue the trim fabric down.

[poutpro]

I cut all the flesh off of mine and put it in a cardboard box ontop of an anthill. I left it there over winter and got it next summer. All that was left was a skull that looked pretty cool. The problem with this is that another critter like a squirrel might decide it wants your antlers more than you.

[bigbucks]

I've mounted a few for relatives after having a friend show me how he did it. You get all the hair & flesh off the skull piece, tear it, boil it, wire wheel, however you can get it off. I think someone said there's a chemical you can buy to do it too. Then drill two holes through that & put a couple of bolts through it long enough to go through whatever board you want to mount it on. Then use plaster paris around the skull piece to shape it however you want. Once that's done, glue a piece of fabric, felt, whatever, I used red velvet around the mold, then bolt it to the board. It takes some time, but does turn out nice. You can also put varnish on the antlers to shine them up a little if you want to.

[T.S128]

Another easy mount to do is a european (skull) mount. All you have to do is boil the head in water and sodium carbinate. Scrape the brains out and bleach w/ hydogen peroxide.

Or if just wanting to mount antlers boil it in a water and sodium carbinate solution. Should take everything off.

[96trigger]

Anybody on here know how to mount sheds. I picked up a real nice ten pointer last year and without the skull, its really flimsy. I tried screwing it to a piece of plumbers strap, and then screwing the strap to the board, the strap isn't quite strong enought to hold up the antlers so they sag. Is there a kit out there for mounting sheds?

[outdoor ran]

Yep, there is a kit you can buy to mount sheds. Just do a search on taxidermy supplies.

[outdoor ran]

96trigger, if your looking to do it yourself try this. Take 2 pieces of heavy gauge wire and cut them to the right skull spread. Drill 2 holes in each antler, into the bottom of it going up in to them. Then bondo the wire into them. Attach the wire to a small piece of wood between the antlers with stapes, screws etc. Use whatever to fill it out so it looks like a skull cap throw some leather on there and put it on a plaque. Hope this helps.

[Dag_1979]

Here is my first european mount. Turned out to be more work than i was expecting.