1-2 months depending on the guys volume and capacity is normal. I've had shorter and longer. Just call and follow up. it could be ready and maybe just slipped by on them calling you to let you know.

Thanks for the info.

Mine took a couple of months but it was a busy time of year and he used beetles rather than boiling it. I don't know if that makes it take longer but I absolutely love how it came out. All of the details of the skull came out really clean.

The euros go to the rookie hire. Probably waiting to replace the guy that last quit over getting assigned the puke job of doing euros.

I mean… I have no idea how to do this type of stuff

I probably should have noted I haven't been hunting my entire life like most of you guys lol

I mean yes, 1 out of 1000 times something happens but that's rare.

What's yalls process for DIY?

Skin head, boil, spray off meat and either bleach or leave as is and that's it. You can do the same but instead of boil, put in the ground (antlers sticking out) for a few months. Comes out clean, bugs do the work for you.

My answer would depend on who you took it to (whether they're a reputable taxidermist). If yes, agree with others not a big deal but of course they could be more transparent. If no, I'd be more concerned but nothing crazy and just keep on them within reason.

Ensure that you have an adequate supply of cold beer nearby.

Take off skin, and remove as much meat from the skull, including tongue, eyes nose, etc., as possible. Then remove some more. Detach lower jaw.

Use turkey fryer pot & stand and a full propane tank.

Immerse skull in water, not antlers. Use a wire coat hanger to help facilitate if needed.

Never boil. Simmer. Boiling will remove the membranes that hold the skull together and it can soften or damage bone.

Throughout the process you'll have to add water and pull the skull to pull off bits of flesh and also remove brain matter (another coat hanger or stout wire is a good interior cranium tool, with help from water out of a hose).

Don't add borax if you are using an aluminum pot as the borax will pit the aluminum. I prefer to add some Dawn soap to the water.

Don't use a pressure washer any time during the process if you want to keep the nasal cavity bones intact. If you don't care about nasal bones, go caveman and bust out your pressure washer. I don't see how you won't be picking up bones, teeth, etc. out of your yard afterwords. But, some OBers enjoy the hell out of using pressure washers as part of the process.

Once all the meat, cartridge, etc. is removed, let it dry for a day or two. I then put it in the sun for a day or two and periodically brush it down with hydrogen peroxide. HP plaster may do a better job.

In needed, use Elmer's Glue to reattach bones and/or teeth.

Skinned the hide off the skull and left in the pasture for less than an hour. When I came back buzzards were working it over. Let them finish up and in about 30 min came back. Still need to get some of the meat off but not much. Amazing how they can find food so fast.

doing it yourself is not worth the effort in my opinion...... my taxidermist uses beetles and they come out squeaky clean. Better than I could or have ever done. I'll never do my own again. It's too easy to drop of and pick up in a few months.

And anything I drop off to my taxidermist, I don't expect to see again for a very long time, LOL.....

cut off skin/eyes/tonque/jaw then high simmer (but not overtly boiling) for a few hours. Scramble the brain and pick off more meat. pressure washer to clean out the brain cavity helps. once mostly clean i do a dawn/soap soak in warm water to degrease for several hours.

for whitening, I covered in a 40% volume peroxide paste and wrapped in plastic to make sure it doesn't dry out too fast. give that a few hours (or a day) then take it out and wipe it off.

over boiling can soften the cartilage too much and teeth fall out. the nasal cavity bones can be small too, so your call if you want to be aggressive and dont mind damaging/taking them out, or if you want to be more delicate and save them.

For my first and last DIY Euro's, I boiled with Dawn and removed as much flesh as I could and then hung them on a fence and sprayed with a pressure washer which resulted in deer brains and flesh remnants in my mouth, eyes and all over my face. It was much less fun than expected. How do you get the tiny remaining bits of flesh out?

Three years ago I was invited to go on a cull buck/doe hunt in south Texas. I killed a cull 10 that was one of the best I have ever taken, but not really good enough for a shoulder mount, so I took it to taxi here in the town where I live to have a euro done. He has the reputation of being one of the best in the area. One week from being a full year since I took the head in I was getting ready to go on the same hunt I was invited on the previous year. I get a call that my euro was ready to be picked up- 51 weeks later. This time on the hunt I killed a cull 8 and decided I would try doing the euro myself- I had bought a turkey frying set up several years ago so I used the pot and burner. After nearly going blind watching Youtube videos I started on it. It took me a little over three days, mainly because I couldn't stay on it from beginning to end. I think it turned out at least as good as the taxi did on my previous one and I saved myself $200.

I knew a guy for a while that was charging $75. He did a great job too. Eventually, he gave it up. He would save them and do 20-30 at a time. I think he told me he did 100-200 per season. It was a side gig and then his real job got busy, so he quit.

Now I pay $125 to have it done elsewhere. It's worth it to not have to dick with it myself.

$100 euros from taxidermists have gone the way of the dinosaur.

$250 is more like it these days.

i see 125 as a norm mostly.

I did the simmer method for the first time a few weeks ago, and I'm macerating one for the first time right now. Doing my friend's black buck on Sunday.

Where do yall get your plaques?

When doing it on your own, the easy part is getting it looking great when you're finished. It's what it looks like years down the road that will tell the story.

Left over meat and everything else will cause discoloration. I have a few of my early ones that look like this. It's not enough to really matter all that much, but it will discolor if you don't do a thorough job.

It's also really easy to discolor the antlers. Either with the hydrogen peroxide mixture or the fire darkening up the antlers about the width of the pot.

Even with some of my early mess ups, I have a euro I had a taxi do on my first buck I shot 17 years ago. I've probably done 8 or so since then. I wouldn't say the taxi's looks any better than the other ones other than the ones I decided to paint the skulls white. Don't ever do that.

SanAntoneAg said:

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$100 euros from taxidermists have gone the way of the dinosaur.

$250 is more like it these days.

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$270 at my local reputable taxidermy.

As with everything else you do, those look awesome.

The euro taxi I use in Katy is super fast, 1 week to get my fallow done in October - but I've also used a place in the hill country that took two months for a euro. $150 + $25 for the wood.

No idea why I accidentally hit the angry face on that post!

cuz that fallow had it comin' to him!!

I paid $150 to the taxidermist in Glen Rose for mine. First time using a taxi for anything. After multiple emails and unreturned calls he finally called 8 months after i dropped it off to let me know it was ready.