European Style Trophy Mounts

European Style Trophy Mounts
By Russell Thornberry

The word Trophy means something quite different to a European hunter than it does to most of us in North America. We tend to think of a trophy as only the best of all possible racks in a given species, while the European considers every set of antlers a trophy. If a North American hunter bags a small buck for meat, he casts the antlers aside in hop of enduring no scorn from his trophy-conscious peers. Only a select few heads are worthy of the expense of a professional taxidermist. But in its own right, every animal is a trophy, and if it is worthy of hunting, it is worthy of honoring. Here is a splendid way of displaying antlers that anyone can do at home.

The first step in preparing a European-style head mount is to remove the skin and as much meaty tissue as possible from the skull. Using a fine-toothed hacksaw or meat saw, make the classical cut from the side of the skull through the lower edge of the eye socket and through the bottom edge of the bone structure of the nose. (See Figure A).

Cut only halfway through the skull from either side, and then turn the skull over and cut through the other half. The cut should be made as indicated by the solid line in Figure A, leaving a slight excess of bone, which will ultimately be sanded to the point indicated by the broken line in Figure A. It is important that the cut from either side of the skull is made at a slight downward angle toward the underside of the skull so that this excess is left. After this saw cut is made, the brain cavity should be emptied.

Step 2 is to soak the skull in clean water in order to flush out any blood remaining in the tissue. Change the water each day until it remains clear and tissue looks pale and whitish in color. Soaking for two to three days is usually sufficient.

Now you are ready for Step 3, which is the boning of the skull until all remaining tissue falls away from the bone. This may take up to six hours. The skull should be placed in a pan such as a small turkey roaster and submerged to the burrs of the antlers. Note that submerging any portion of the antlers will cause them to collect a greasy film that will dramatically darken them. When the skull if free of all tissue and only the bare skull remains, it can be removed from the boiling pan.

Step 4 is the bleaching process, which should be done immediately after boiling while the skull is still water soaked. Hydrogen peroxide in a standard 3-percent solution is ideal for this purpose. Set the skull in a shallow pan and carefully cover all areas with cotton batting. Ensure that the cotton is wrapped around the bases of the anchor points where the skull meets the antlers, but do not wrap the cotton above the burrs of the antlers. When the skull is covered with cotton batting, pour the peroxide over the cotton until all areas are saturated.

The cotton will act as a wick and keep drawing the peroxide up from the pan, keeping the skull moist. Every 4 to 6 hours a little more peroxide should be soaked into the cotton to replace that which naturally evaporates. After a soaking period of 24 hours, the cotton can be removed from the skull. For best results, the skull should be set out in direct sunlight to dry. This ensures a tremendous whitening of the bone. When dry, the skull should be snowy white.

Step 5 is to sand the bottom side of the skull perfectly fate so that the skull will sit flush against the shield to which it will be attached. A belt sander is ideal for this purpose. Be sure to use a fairly fine sanding belt to avoid cutting away too much bone. When the fit of the skull is flush, it is ready to be attached.

Step 6 is to locate and drill a hole on the underside of the skull, which the fastening belt will pass through.

illustrates a side and bottom view of the bony bridge between the eye sockets immediately below the brain cavity. There is a natural indentation at the precise point where the hole will be drilled. In this indentation there is a soft spot in the bone, and a bit of bone can be picked away to ensure that the drill connects with the exact spot.

The bolt should be 5/32 inch in diameter and a maximum of 1 1/4 inches in length. Drill a hole in the spot shown in Figure B so that the connecting bolt will pass through the bony bridge with a snug fit.
In Step 7, a template of paper must be traced from the outline of the shield. This template must then be centered on the skull plate and a hole punched with a sharpened pencil through the template to match the hole in the skull. Make sure the hole is marked so that the skull is centered on the template. Now lay the template on the wooden shield and mark the spot to drill the hole for the connecting bolt.

Step 8 requires that the bolt be inserted from within the brain cavity as shown in Figure C. Figure C illustrates the relationship of the connecting bolt to the skull and the shield. Figure D illustrates how to make a keyhole-shaped metal hanger, which is installed on the back side of the shield. This design allows the shield to hang perfectly flush with the wall. To complete this operation, chisel out the exact shape of the hanger plate from the back side of the shield to allow the head of the hanging screw to slide freely in the keyhole. Tack the hanging plate in to place with small finishing nails at each corner. Then hang the shield on the wall by sliding the hanging screw through the large opening of the keyhole and sliding down until it locks into place.

This completes the mounting process. Figure E shows the proper outline for the shield. One square equals 1 inch. Ideally, the shield should be made of 3/4-inch hardwood or mahogany plywood of the same thickness. The finish should be oil rubbed, and the routed edges of the shield should be stained with a flat black stain. Figure F shows the proper-shaped router blade to use on the edges of the shield. Naturally, the size of the shield can be expanded or reduced in proportion to the size of the animal. The shield size shown in Figure E is ideal for most whitetail or mule deer trophies.

A European mount can be done by anyone with a few simple tools, and the end result is an attractive and practical means of displaying antlered game. In the case of exceptionally large game such as moose and elk, it is a means of displaying the trophy without consuming too much room and wall space.

Russell Thornberry