Locked bucks

I do many euro mounts each year for myself and for others. This however is my first locked set. The 13 point must have died first as his nose is eaten up. Both stunk to high heaven.









I bound them together with zip ties as the warm water can loosen things up and I didnt want them falling apart.

Here they are with all the meat removed.







Before whitening I wrap the antlers in electrical tape to prevent any of the whitener from making contact. Then the 40 volume and small squares of paper towel are applied with a 2 inch wide paint brush. THen covered with cling wrap.



Then each skull is placed near heat lamps as the 40 volume is heat activated.



The finished euro mount.

 

I've never seen upside down locked antlers like that before. Crazy.

 

They are forehead to forehead. They are locked in a very common position. Face to face.

 

Why do they need the zip ties if they're so tightly interlocked? Either way, both nice bucks.

 

when you do a euro mount with hot water, things soften. things get flexible. Its insurance. The client brought me locked bucks, I intend to return to him , locked bucks. When he picked up the pair, I asked him if he wanted to cut the ties and test to see if they are firmly locked, he said "Hell Yes!"

After cutting the ties, we could move the 2 racks pretty easily, With effort, I think we could have separated them.

 

What do you charge for a job like that? It's probably very time consuming.

 

I enjoy doing them. I do a lot of them each year from deer to bear to elk, bovine, hogs, etc. I don't have set prices. Its based on the task and the person Im dealing with. Some guys I don't charge at all. I don't do it for the money.

 

I thought same thing but from different angle it looks completely normal i think. Like two bucks put heads down and went at it. Its the angle of the pic that makes it look funny

 

That's what I meant. The one pic just made it look like it was up side down instead of frontal.

 

I do euro mounts on all of my buck skulls. I have used the Buck Boiler and then this year I bought a turkey fryer and propane burner. With both setups, I've had issues with scalding on the antler tips. By scalding, I mean that some tips will darken. It seems like hot moisture is getting into parts of the antlers and discoloring them. In both setups, I was not covering the pot with the skull in it and was heating the pots to just before a rolling boil in below freezing weather. In many cases, it was taking several hours of heating up, washing, followed by more heating up.

Do you think this is still too hot? From everything I have seen or read, the "boiling" should only take a couple of hours at most. It seems to take 5+ hours per skull for me, and regardless of what temperature I am heating the skulls to, I still get this discoloration in parts of the antlers.

Any suggestions?

 

Your discoloration is like due to using flame as the heat source and the tines overhanging the container are exposed to that flame. I use an electric heat source and warm water maceration over many hours . I never let the water get hotter than 195F.

If you are determined to use a flame as your heat, double wrap the antlers in aluminum foil to protect them or use lower heat so the flames dont ride up the side of the container.

 

Thanks for the quick response. The flames are definitely not running up the side of the container though, and certainly not anywhere near the antlers. Also, the buck boiler is also an electric heater that heats up the water for several (12) hours. I like the idea of the foil. I will try that with next year's skulls.

 

Yes, many use foil. Ive never used it but then my water temps never reach a boiling point. These are the 4 bucks I took with a bow last fall. I do all my own euros.