Here are some pictures of our new addition to the family.

Ryan holding Vance, getting some practice before "Chainsaw" is born.

Vance laying in his crib for the first time.

Uncle Chad holding Vance with his new camo hat, he kinda looks like a redneck pope.

My wife holding Vance while he does his second favorite thing (sleep).

I classify arrow shafts into 2 main categories:

1.) Lighweight, Super fast

2.) Heavy, Hard hitting

When choosing what type of arrow to buy you must ask yourself a few questions first:

What type of animal am I attempting to take?

How far do I plan on shooting?

What is my bow speed?

When I chose my setup I wanted something good for shooting deer at around 10-30 yards with a 60lb bow shooting about 305fps (feet per second). I have been shooting Gold Tip Hunter Expedition 5575's with feathers for the past 4 years and had very good luck (taking at least a deer per year with them).  This year I have shifted to Gold Tip Ted Nugent 5575's with blazers (pictured below).  I chose this arrow because it is slightly heavier (providing more inertia at impact) and because it looks flat out awesome!

Pink and Zebra Blazers. Don't laugh, they look awesome

Another good example of a hard hitting arrow would be the shaft my brother is shooting.  He chose Easton's Axis Full Metal Jacket, a carbon shaft wrapped in aluminum to add toughness and weight.  This arrow comes in 4 different weight categories with the heaviest one weighing in at 12 grains.

One more thing you should recognize when choosing arrows are the tolerances.  I work in a field where tolerances define quality, and I think the same can be said about arrows. Tolerances are defined as the acceptable deviation from the target dimension.  Typically arrow manufacturers provide two tolerances, weight and straightness.  The weight tolerance basically states that if an arrow weighs more or less than the acceptable limits, it is scrap! This measurement usually relates to the weight of a dozen arrows. The straightness tolerance is measured using a machine called an optical comparator.  This machine projects a profile of the arrow next to a perfectly straight line.  If the arrow shaft deviates more than the tolerance limits, it is also scrap.

Let's face it, when you get to the woods it is too late to wonder if your arrows are right for you and your rig.  Now is the time to test new things and make a correct choice.

Clairol Bleach

Super Star 40 Volume Developer

evenly and don't be afraid to really cake it on. Next rap the skull in some clear saran rap and either place it by a space heater or you can do what I did and use a blow dryer on high heat. If you use the space heater make sure and turn the head every couple of minutes and if you use the blow dryer don't put the dryer to close or you'll over heat it. I let the bleach sit for 20 minutes and unwrapped it, rinsed it off, and found that it still had some Optional color bowl and brush.yellowed spots so I reapplied the bleach and let it sit for another 30 minutes. I would recommend just leaving it on for 45 minutes or 50 minutes. Most bleach loses it's potency after 45 minutes. Rinse the bleach off and then let the skull dry for another night and your done. If you notice any yellow spots the next day apply a little more bleach to that spot but other than that your ready to mount the skull on the plaque of your choice.  Soon, with my wife permision I'll be mounting this one in my office at home.My finished skull along with one of my coyote pelts

Hopefully this has been helpful to everyone who is considering to make a euro mount and humorous to the people who have done this before.

The head simmering and stinking.

When we left off last time the deer head was in the simmering pot of water, stinking to high heavens. After the first hour in the water I pulled the head out and used a long dowel rod to scrap off the fur and meat that would fall off and the placed the head back into the water. I repeated the process every thirty minutes after the first time, partly because I thought it would help the process along faster and because I'm impatient and I couldn't stand to sit there any more. After another hour in the water the skull was pretty clean so Letting the brains cook out. I took a long thin screwdriver and shoved it up the hole in the back of the skull where the spinal chord runs and scrambled the brains so they could be poured out. I put it back in the water until the bottom jaw came loose. No matter what you do the jaw is going to fall off because the only thing that attaches it to the skull is soft tissue that breaks down during the simmering. You can always reattach the jaw later, or mount it without the bottom jaw. I plan on leaving the bottom jaw off completely. It only took a little while longer for the bottom jaw to separate near the teeth into two pieces, which meant I was done with the water so then I poured out all the water and mess left behind. Remember, if The bottom jaw finaly separated but still joined in the middle.you are using your laptop while cooking the skull, put it somewhere safe while you hose everything off. A safe place is not the low point in the parking lot, because you will turn around to find you laptop sitting in two inches of water. I don't know how but It didn't break it, I'm typing this on the same laptop that was almost floating that night.

The next step was to degrease the skull. I've seen people recommend a day or two to degrease, all the way up to two weeks. So I figured 8 hours should do, and for once, me doing it the wrong way actually worked out. I bought a bunch of dish soap that helped removed grease and filled the sink with water and added a whole bottle of soap. Then I took another bottle of the soap and rubbed it into the skull everywhere I could get my fingers. I also scrub the skull with a soft bristled scrub brush to remove anything still clinging to the head and help break up the grease. Then I put the skull in the water and let it soak for the next 8 hours while my wife and I ran some errands. Ya, my wife let me use the kitchen sink to do this, she is a saint. Although I don't The skull ready to go home and get degreasedrecommend this, the house smelled a little funky when we got home. After getting home and smelling the house, I took the skull out, rinsed it off and blotted it dry with an old towel and then let it air dry over night in my garage.

This is a good stopping off part, I'll picking up Monday with the process of bleaching the skull and preparing it for mounting.

Once again, if you want some great information on the right way to do all of this head over to http://ww.taxidermy.net and read the forums. The guys there are a huge help. Check out the post labeled “The 4 hour European Mount” for a great tutorial.

So this is part one in a series where I explain the process I used to do my European mount. I have to give credit where credit is do, I learned the useful information from taxidermy.net and the stuff I did wrong, well that's all my fault. This should be a useful guide to help you figure out what to do and what not to do the next time you make a euro mount.

This is what a half rotten deer head looks like.

First your going to need a skull to start with, I was lucky enough to have one buried on the side of my house. Ya that's right, it was buried on the side of my house, I normally will let nature do all the work for me and let the meat rot off over a year or so. This was mistake number one, I dug up a deer head that had been buried for 4 months and then put it in boiling water. If you haven't had the experience of smelling rotten animal flesh while it simmers, your extremely lucky. Next your going to need a large pot and a heat sources. I My cheap stock pot and turkey fryer.used a cheap enamel stock pot from walmart and the stove from a outdoor turkey fryer as the heat source. If your single, or want to be single again I guess you could always use the kitchen stove but your significant other wont be very happy. You will also need some old pot holders, a box of baking soda, something to scrape the cooked meat of the skull, and a screwdriver or something long, thin, and hard enough to scramble the brains with.

The head simmering in the pot.

I started by filling the pot with water and adding the whole box of baking soda and then putting the pot on top of the heat source. Let the water reach a boil and then back the heat off, you do not want to boil the skull, you risk cracking the bone and destroying the skull. You want to simmer the skull, you are basically going to slowly cook the meat and skin off of the skull, almost like making a roast, except not as appetizing. Occasionally lift the skull out of the water and scrape off any loose flesh, this will speed up the process a bit.

Check back tomorrow for the next part where I will cover the final simmering process and degreasing the skull.

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