Yep this bird guy has gone and done it.. I took in a deer (as a personal favor of course.. not as a true customer) to try my hand at a European Skull mount.
All I have to say is.. skinning was a perplexing issue.. and the inside of the mouth feels .. well .. like the inside of a mouth.. kinda disgusting..and it had snot in it's nose.... (Birds don't have snot) LOL.
I took advice from the resident bird lady (Greybird)and Lizard Lady (Superpig).. so we'll see how this Bad (and I stress the word Bad) boy turns out.. Right now.. with some sound advice and reading the archives, I have settled in on having a bucket with a dead deer head rotting in the back yard for a few weeks...I'm sure that will go over well with the local cat population... Actually we have an old 54 chevy rusting away in the back yard, but hey the doors still work.. so I put it in side the car.. hopefully the smell wont be too bad.. The good ole Texas heat should be back soon and I'm SURE I"ll be wearing protective gear when I go to open that car up.. I can almost feel the gag reflex as I type.
Hehehe.
Anyhows.. Wish me luck!
Jon
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of all the mammal jobs i do, european mounts are the ones i dread the most(especially the "personal favor" types). But of course you're a bird guy so you must be a little weird anyways LOL. Just wanted to let you know doing a shoulder mount is much more fun than a european mount, well that is my opinion anyways. Don't let a european mount turn you off mammals ! :) Oh.. and getting the skin off a euro head is a piece of cake compared to trying to get the antlers off and the skin off a head out of an eight inch hole just cause you hate sewing! LOL
Anyways good luck, you'll do fine and welcome to mammals. :)
If you are going to do European skulls, may I suggest you start with something simple, like Jacques Chirac.
Jon doesn't have a permit to do imported foreign skulls and I think a french skull would need at least cites permits and a USDA license for the required dipping.