Making a European Mount

1-Skin out the bear skull

Materials:
– Sharp knife
– Gloves

• Carefully pull the hide away from the skull and cut the connecting tissue/sinew with the large surface of the knife. Always pull the hide and be especially careful if keeping the hide for a rug or life-sized mount.
• Cut the ear cartilage as close to the base of the skull as possible.
• Cut around the eyelids carefully if keeping the hide.
• Cut behind the nose cartilage. Follow the cutting underneath the jaw, keeping the lips on the hide.
• Cut the last connecting tissue away from the skull.

2-Boil the bear skull and remove all tissue

Materials:
-Large pot
-Outdoor grill
-Sharp knife
-Wire hook
-Water
-Garbage bags

• Fill up a large pot with enough water to completely submerge the bear skull.
• Bring water to a boil and submerge the bear skull (be very careful not to burn yourself).
• Allow bear skull to boil for 30 minutes. If you boil it for too long, the teeth will come loose and the jaw will break in half.
• After 30 minutes of boiling, allow bear skull and water to cool down. Remove the skull and begin to remove flesh and tissue into the garbage until skull is cleaned of all tissue and cartilage.
• Use the wire hook to remove the brain matter from the skull through the back of the skull (keep any teeth or pieces to assemble later). You also can pressure wash the skull carefully to remove some of the tissue.

3-De-grease the bear skull

Materials:
-Large pail
-Water
-Dishwashing soap

• Fill the large pail with water so the bear skull will be completely submerged in water. Add a large amount of dishwashing soap and mix thoroughly so the water is saturated with soap.
• Completely submerge the bear skull and hold it under water until all the air has escaped.
• Every second day, change the water and soap mixture to ensure you are removing all the grease.
• After one week of repeating this step rinse the bear skull off. If you skip this step you will end up with a poor finished product as the bear’s natural oils will seep onto the surface of the skull and discolor it with yellow spots.

4-Whiten the bear skull with peroxide:

Materials:
-Enough 40-volume peroxide to submerge the bear skull
-A large pail
-Minimal water
-Gloves
-Safety glasses

• Take the degreased skull and place it in the pail.
• Pour enough peroxide to submerge the skull. Make sure you are wearing gloves and safety glasses when handling the peroxide. It will turn your hands white! If by some chance you do not have enough peroxide to completely cover the skull, you can add a tiny bit of water (but do not exceed 10% of the total volume as you will have substandard results).
• Let the bear skull sit in the 40-volume peroxide for 12-24 hours. If bear skull still is not completely bone white, let it sit until you are happy with the results, then remove it from the peroxide.

5-Glue teeth and jaw back together

Materials:
-Table
-Fast drying strong glue

• • If any teeth came out during the process, or if the jaw separated, you can now glue it back together.
  • If the jaw is in two pieces, you will need to position the pieces in a way so that the jaw will not separate while the glue is drying.
  • Apply the glue to both sides and hold the jaw in place until dry.
  • Glue and place the teeth back in where they fell out. Make sure skull is dry when performing these actions for best results.
  • When everything is glued back in place you are ready to place it on the mantel.

 

All this information and much more is covered in the book and DVD.