Thursday, February 28, 2013

mounting a 50 year old deer rack


....and did I mention cleaning it?  Yuck.  Don't read this post if you're feeling queasy.



My husband's grandfather shot this deer about 50 years ago in western Massachusetts.  But he failed to remove the skin/fur from the scalp before he mounted the rack in the shed.  Where it had remained....until I brought it home.  After polling guys at my office about how best to clean the skull cap (a perk of working for the Dept of Fish and Game), I'm letting the skull cap soak, then pulling and scraping the scalp until it's clean.  The image above is after I scraped the FIRST layer of gunk off.  That yellow stuff is more...goo or whatever.  After scraping it all off, then I'll do a peroxide treatment to bleach it. 

I'm planning to mount it to this curvy, oval plate from AC Moore. Probably staining the front face and painting the edging BM Hale Navy.



But how to style it?  I prefer the European style where the skull isn't covered up with leather or cloth.  I like seeing the white of the skull and where it meets the antlers.  Here's a few ideas....

German Roe Deer Skull Antlers Mounted In Vintage Oval Frame


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