The Brown is down part 3

[JestersHK]

At deer camp this year the guys had a euro that they had chained up and left in the pond.  Turned out really clean and the aquatic critters did a great job.  I had never thought of doing it this way, but may experiment with a doe and see how it comes out. 

[Johnsfolly]

2 hours ago, MOPanfisher said:

A local guy is a shirt tail taxidermist  and for $120 or so he cleaned, bleached and mounted on a piece of old barn wood.  For me it was money well spent.

I just got one done for $100 by a guy in Sedalia. He did a great job, but he did not mount the head on a plaque, but still worth the money spent. Since he just moved and has not fully setup a sop, he does keep the mounting supplies on his garage. I did get one cleaned up by putting the head in our composters for 9 months. Skull cleaned up well, but the bone stained a bit. Also it took a couple of weeks after soaking in bleach/water mixture to cut back the smell. I love the look of European mounts. I would love to have a warthog or wild boar skull.

TrophyFishR - you got a couple of nice deer this year. Congrats.

I had one hunt where I was hunting near an out building not too far from my vehicle. A buck showed up and I had shot it. If it had dropped where I shot it I could have driven right up to the deer. Instead it ran 80 yards into a mass of thick brush before it died. He made me work to get him out. Pretty good pay back.

[MOPanfisher]

Johnsfolly, that high shoulder shot will anchor them as a rule.  I normally don't take my own advice, I put a bullet through both lungs, let run normally 50 - 75 yards before they pile up. My wife will often clip a shoulder or even the spine and they don't go far.   Where I hunt that usually isn't a problem or at least it wasn't when my big strapping son was living at home.  Now it seems like a lot more work to drag them back to the fence and lift them over with the tractor bucket.  The first time I tried to do a euro mount myself was absolutely the worst, I left it sitting in the barn for "a while" before deciding to boil it clean.  the flesh had dried like iron and the smell from the decomposing brains as it boiled will never be forgotten.  When it was finally done, the bone wasn't clean enough for me so I decided to "chrome" it with bright chrome spray paint, not the worst thing I have ever seen but it is different.  I also made a much nicer plaque and put the bottom inch or so of a .243 Win brass case into the plaque just for her.  Its sort of fun to work on but not my cup of tea,. so to speak.

[Johnsfolly]

12 minutes ago, MOPanfisher said:

Johnsfolly, that high shoulder shot will anchor them as a rule.  I normally don't take my own advice, I put a bullet through both lungs,

I just hate the potential for losing meat with a high shoulder shot. So I do normally go for a double lung or heart shot. May have to reconsider as I get older.