TOPIC: Deer Hunting

great pic. a well earned smile, way to go you two..i got the parnder 10 gauge for turkey hunting,,great guns..

I just love taking kids hunting. I think it's one of the most rewarding things I do. Congrats young man!!!

WOW!!!

Cole, that's a Dandy! Beautiful Deer!

Now thats a memory that will never fade.

Congrats! Definately a mounter fo a 9 yr old.

Kids in Maine have to wait until they are 10 to hunt deer.

I bet TNhunter had a smile as big as Cole's when you guys saw that deer laying on the ground.

classicfur

Classicfur,

Yes - this was WAY more fun for me than killing one myself. I sort of burnt out on killing deer 10-15 years ago (after killing near 250, and close to 200 of those being with bow/arrow). It just got to where it was not near as much fun.

But now sitting with my kid and watching him kill one - now that is a different story.

It was sweet for sure !

We talked about mounting opitons and Cole does not like something like a shoulder mount (that is what I suggested) but he seems to be a little freaked out by those, almost afraid of them.

His cousin, father got into doing European mounts this year (has the electric pot for boiling the head to remove the meat) and well in the end you have just a skull with the horns attached and it does look sorta cool.

That is what Cole has decided he wants, so we are going to pick up that boiling pot today and get started on it.

He tole me you just cut off the ears, but leave the rest of hide on the skull, and you boil it in that pot for something like 8 hours. When finished all of the hide, meat, eyes, etc is just mush and you can pour it off.

The brain evey pours out of the spinal cord hole and you end up with a nice and clean skull.

Then you put some kind of bleach on it, and it turns bleach white.

When all done and dry you can mount it on a plack.

Looks like that is the direction we are heading with this one.

When I get it all done I will post a pic of it.

PS = got a Regfrig full of sliced up deer steaks from back strap, and hind quarter, and kept the two little tinderloins whole for grilling.

We kept about 1/4 of the meat and gave the rest away to a nice fellow at Church and his family, who are on the needy side and man they sure did appreciate it very much.

Going to be some good eatin at our house soon !

TNhunter

TN & Cole - Congrats to you both! Very Nice Buck. Looking foreward to seeing pics of your european mount.

Agreed 5prong, That sure is a nice one TN & Cole. Nice job!!!
I have a pic below of one my buddy got. I have seen a lot of deer around these parts but never one like this. He said their is even one better than this one in his buddies woods but it's pretty slick about not being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I thought you might like to see a pic Cole since you are into deer hunting.
Latt

Buy the way Cole, the head on that deer you got is huge. I bet your dad was shaking too when you dropped that nice buck.
Latt

TNhunter

Boiling skulls is alot harder than what you described.

I stopped boiling skulls about ten years ago and switched to using Dermestid Beetles. A Hot colony of Dermestid beetles will clean a dear skull in about three days and will leave all the intricate bone work, such as the nasal cavity intact.

But it is hard to keep a colony of beetles.

As far as bleaching. It is misunderstood about the bleaching of skulls all the time. Bleach will eat away at the bone over a period of time. What should be used instead of bleach is Peroxide. The Peroxide at the drug stores will not work. That is 3% strong. The peroxide they use for bleching hair is 27-40% strength and that works well without damaging the bone. You can get that at Beauty supply stores or over the internet.

Here's a pic of one cleaned with Dermestid Beetles and bleached with Peroxide.

I wish you luck in this big job!


classicfur

I've been out hunting a bunch, however have missed two deer that I should have got.

However have been reading this post with interest... finally have something to show! Got two on Sat, here's a pic of one. Both were taken near my 'sang patch in themountains. This is of the buck, not very much in antlers, a two year old I think. However a big bodied deer, nonetheless. That's my dog Klaus there, thinking that this is just really really fresh dog chow. BTW he weighs 100 lbs. to give a perspective on the deer.

Whitjr

Congrats on your two deer!

That one in the the pic will sure be good eatin.

Maybe you've reduced the possible damage to your seng beds.

I was wondering why the front half of the deer is still laying on the ground? Did you run out of height to hoyst it up? Or did you just get tired of trying to pull it higher? Lol

Anyway, I did,nt get one this year. Maybe I'm too picky at what I shoot. Now I wish I had shot a small one for the meat.

Again, Congrats!

Nice Dog too!

classicfur