Dad got a fairly nice 5x6 elk (roosevelt) on sunday and since neither one of us are horn hunters - i asked if he was going to have it mounted. He kinda surprised me when he said that he would like to do a Euro mount on this one since it is the biggest one he has gotten in alot of years and he is 80 - so he keeps questioning how long he will still be able to hunt --- any way the question being what is the best way to take care of the head for this use -- I have never done this before so any input would be appreciated.

I skin the head out, take off lower jaw and vertebrate, and remove eyes. I leave it in our unheated garage until May. With our cool winter it doesn't rot and dries out a little. In May I wire it to a tree in our woods and very lightly cover with dirt and leaves. Sometime in July it has been cleaned by the bugs and I soak it in a hydrogen peroxide solution.

We are very humid and most of our temps are upper 30's to low 40's most of the winter so I am concerned about rot. do you mix the peroxide or use it straight. I will skin out the head tomorrow - we are cutting the meat on friday.

I would see if there is a beetle cleaning guy in your area. IMO it produces a really good product you’ll have forever and it really doesnt cost that much.

You could boil it. I myself would keep it outside in the shade until it warms up this spring or put it out now. I use a 1/3 hydrogen peroxide(Wal-Mart) 2/3 water mix. This gets them a natural type white look which is what I prefer. If you want pure white and use the Wal-Mart bottles it would need to be about straight and no water added.

If you want it to last years and be easy to clean , find a taxidermist that competes at taxidermy shows and ask him to do the euro with a competition finish thats sealed. All mine are done this way and a damp rag wipes them down with ease.

My wife insisted on me doing them this way after I did one and didn't do it, it went to my taxi guy to get sealed

Yes if you want a professional/quality job take it to one. If you do it yourself it will still turn out nice.

Don’t do this.

I suggest you bring it to a taxidermist and let them do it for you.

To each their own JP.

Big congrats to your dad being 80 and getting an elk

Never done an elk but have done plenty of deer

I skin, remove eyeballs, as much brain as possible and trim off as much meat as I can

Next I add about 1/4 cup of Dawn Ultra to a canning pot with enough water to cover skull. Put on fish cooker and when water is almost boiling decrease heat to a simmer. (hard boil will ruin the bones)

Pull it out ever so often (usually when I think of it and pull what meat I can off. I usually work on mine for several nights, changing water/soap each evening.

The nooks and crannies around the "ear bones" and around the base of the skull are usually the most challenging

You can put 40 Peroxide (beauty supply, what they bleach hair with) on them but I never have and they have all stayed fairly white.

Easiest is to let someone with dermestid beatles clean the skull up (they can get all the bits and pieces out of the tiniest spaces) bring it home and simmer it with the soap/water mix until you don't see any oil in the water (and also kills any remaining beatles/eggs as you DO NOT want them in your house)

Remove hide, eyes, lower jaw. Tape up the first 6 inches of antlers with electrical tape. Simmer in water with a couple cups of Arm and Hammer washing soda. ( not baking soda ). Add some Dawn dish soap to the water. Simmer for about 45 minute, remove, blast off remaining flesh with pressure washer. Stick wand in brain cavity, hose out brains. Put back in pot, simmer some more. Repeat pressure washing. When all flesh is off, let it dry. I remove remaining cartridge with a dental pick and use forceps to remove brain liner from skull.

To bleach, mix 40 Peroxide with white powdered bleaching agent. ( hairdressing stuff ) Mix together, and brush on skull. Let dry for 48 hours. Blow residue off with compressed air and clean with a brass brush.

I do a half dozen deer, bear, and elk skulls every fall for family and friends. Always come out good.Here’s one I did last weekend….

Brownie -- I assume you tape up the antlers to the water level of the pot --- I like the shorter time frame because my busy season usually starts in march. It probably will not be going to a pro. but I would like to make it as nice as possible. Thanks everyone for their input and am still looking for more advice. As I have said previously I have never done this before. Is the only real purpose of the peroxide to make it a brighter white? and would stronger than household peroxide be better or worse? Anything common to coat the skull and antlers with to seal them ?

I skin as much meat off the head as possible. Then do a process called maceration. Find a plastic tub or similar to sit the head down in and fill with water up to antler burs. Throw a cheap aquarium heater in there and let it sit a few days. Bacteria eats the remaining meat off the skull. Works pretty well but I will forewarn you it stinks to high heaven. I suggest having it somewhere that the smell wont be a big issue for you or anyone and somewhere that hungry critters cant mess with the head. After you are done with getting the remaining meat off the skull. I give it a simmer in a pot with some dawn soap to help draw out any grease in the skull. After the degreasing then I use the gallons of developer aka hydrogen peroxide. Beauty supply stores carry it. Simmer in that making sure to keep it below your antler burs because it will bleach the antlers too. I keep a spray bottle to repeatedly wet the burs. Use a big plastic spoon to pour the peroxide over the rest of the skull that is out of pot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMDoCj-vn7M
I skin them and pressurewash them,just don`t pressurewash the nose directly,it will blow the nose apart.Look up some youtube videos.

The tape does two things…it keeps the water from darkening the antlers, and it keeps the bleach from whitening them. I try to keep the antlers out of the water as much as possible.

H2O yes peroxide is to whiten the skull the household stuff isn't strong enough, hair dressers and others use a higher strength type and that's what is needed. As for sealing them I'm not sure what they use but its brushed on in several coats and fills in so the bone is no longer pouress (sp).

Use Mop&Glo brushed on as a final sealer. Gives skull a very mild citris odor too along with a soft matte finish.

Congrats to your dad! You definitely want to make a memory out of it! I just finished up this year's archery elk. The one on the left is last year's. I thought they turned out good.

I soaked mine overnight with tap water and Dawn dish soap. The next day I simmered it (don't boil) for about an hour and a half with tap water and a box of baking soda. Once I pulled it out I hit it with a power washer and everything came off slick as a whistle. I let it dry and then squirted it down with a mixture of 40 volume cream mixed with a little 3% peroxide using a squirt bottle. Mixing the thicker cream with a little regular peroxide to thin it enough that it will squirt out of a bottle was nice. I was able to get up inside all the crevices and cavities. It's cheaper than 40 volume liquid form and it works better than using a paintbrush with straight cream. Afterwards I put it in a black garbage bag with a heater on it overnight. Next morning it was as white as I wanted.

The lighting in my living room is not very bright so they don't appear to be as white as what they really are.



Ol dad

Several of my dairy customers use peroxide in a much higher strength (cant remember the percentage) - I am sure I can steal a quart or 2 from them.

Lots of good advice here -- just trying to digest it all.