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First Time Euro Skull

BJohnson

BJohnson

Well-Known Member
This year's buck ended up a little smaller than I thought and gave me an opportunity to try my first euro boil myself. I must say that it was a little more tedious than I anticipated but also enlightening. Lessons learned:

1) Don't use an outside fire pit to boil the skull. I did and even though I wrapped the antlers almost completely in alum foil, I didn't do it soon enough and the antlers got just a shade of brown from the soot from the fire (I tend to be a little dense sometimes until I learn a lesson first-hand)

2) A set of hemostats or medical pliers are very helpful in removing certain stubborn pieces of flesh.

3) I used the over-the-counter peroxide (3%) to whiten. Some have stated that the hair salon stuff (much stronger) produces a much brighter white. The OTC peroxide was easy to use and not harse to work with or on the antlers if you happen to get a little splash on the bases. Mine is not as white as the photos make it appear (flourescent lighting over the finished skull) but still looks bright enough for my tastes.

Next, I gotta come up with a plan for a mounting plate and need something large enough for a couple photos (harvest and cam photo).

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loneranger said:
What did you use to get every bit of flesh off? Just alot od scraping and pulling?
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Yep, that's where the hemostats came in handy. However, the 2-3 hr. simmer/boil and 10 min. car wash/power wash got the bulk of it off. I am sure that more seasoned boilers probably spend a lot less time picking off the scraps than I had to on my first but I eventually got it cleaned up adequately.
 
So help us rookies out, because I have one I want to try...what is the process that is used, and if anyone can improve it, lets hear those tipe. I'm not sure where to even start.
 
iatreehugger said:
So help us rookies out, because I have one I want to try...what is the process that is used, and if anyone can improve it, lets hear those tipe. I'm not sure where to even start.[/QUOTE

When I have done all of mine, I first start by picking every bit of flesh off that I can. Make sure that you rap your antlers with Foil and some type of plastic rap then tape the bases so no water can get in either way. After you've done this I used a "turkey Fryer" pot, helps keep the antlers out of the water and makes boiling easy. I usually let mine boil most of the day if possible. I also use the carwash technique that Brent explained, power-washing allows you to really get up in the "goodies" of the brain and get all of that meat out. After I have power-washed him, i put the skull back into FRESH WATER WITH PEROXIDE for at least an hour.

Pretty easy process, just very time consuming picking all of the meat off, but worth it in the end on a deer that's border line.

Mount looks great Brent, I was gunna swing over and check it out, but the duck blind was really giving us hell ha ha. Picture euro makes him look alot bigger than the pictures you sent me, great buck though.
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I think Booner has done more of these than me so his take on the process is more experienced than mine. I boiled mine in water although I have read others use a bit of dish soap with the water to help manage the greases. Peroxide was K-Mart over the counter @ $1.38/bottle (I think it was marked 3% so not real strong stuff). Needed about 12 bottles for the canning pot I was using for the boil.
 
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