My first buck Euro mount complete, finally

[TheBenHoyle]

I am an adult onset hunter and I finally got a deer after 2.5 seasons of hunting. It was a young buck that I took with my bow back in 2018. I posted that story on Hunt Talk, but I wanted to share the picture of the Euro mount that I finally finished mounting.



That's the finished project. Although that is not the final hanging spot. Still in negotiations with my wife as to where I can display it. But I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. The skull was defleshed by a taxidermist, but the plaque it is mounted on was a fun little project. I'll tell the story of what I did and how I did it for those of you who like stories and pictures and woodworking.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

So of course, the story starts with me in a tree and the buck on the ground. You can see the buck in my profile picture.



That's me in the tree. I was invited by a friend of the family to use this tree stand. Notice the big scar on the oak tree by my shoulder where they cut off a branch? Well as it turns out that piece they cut off was right on the ground below me.



Well as it turns out I am a bit of a wood nerd and I am always bringing home chunks of wood I find out and about. So of course I made the choice to hump this 60 or 70 pound chunk of oak back to my car. I nearly gave up halfway there, but I knew I would kick myself later if I left it behind.



It was pretty rotten and punky in the middle and it was cracked, so I put some epoxy into the cracks to stabilize the wood while I figured out how to cut a nice slab off of it.
I had a grand plan to build a sled for my bandsaw to hold it parallel to the blade, but nearly 15 months later I still hadn't done anything with it, so I pulled out the trusty handsaw. I thought I would be cursing my stupidity, but I actually went pretty well. I used the some lubricating oil on the blade whenever the sawing got difficult and that really helped.





It made a nice slab, but I had to do quite a bit of sanding and epoxying and I even planed it with a router sled. I don't have a picture of that process, but it was a new one for me and I will definitely be using my router sled again.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I used some lapis inlay with the epoxy to fill the big cracks.



Of course the skull covers up the main cracks, so they don't really show through, but I know it is there and it was a new process for me and I learned a lot.

I also wood burned a simple bow and arrow on the front.



On the back, I inlaid my buck tag in epoxy and I cut out an oval to flush mount the hanger up top.



I attached the 2018 Illinois buck pin opposite the bow and arrow. And I attached the skull hanger hook up top. All in all, It turned out just as well as I hoped it would. Taking a deer with a bow and arrow was a huge accomplishment for me and being able to make this piece to remember the hunt by was icing on the cake. Thanks for reading.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Good for you and that buck looks great. You will have that memory forever. The plaque is a cool project. You the man!

 

[JohnCushman]

Awesome!!

 

[FAIR CHASE]

Very cool!

 

[mdunc8]

Great start to your hunting career. Hope this season goes similarly for you. Like what you did with the oak. I hope to drive some back from Virginia in a couple months if this Covid stuff slows down.

 

[runningmt]

Very cool story, skull mount looks great!

 

[1_pointer]

Very nicely done!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Thanks for all the replies. It was a fun project.

 

[Jape]

Very nice!

 

[ida homer]

That's awesome man, cool plaque.

I also love putting the tag on the back, will be cool to look at in 25 years.

"Remember when that was a general unit?? Now the draw odds are 3%."

 

[Matt Dworak]

Way cool. Love the epoxy and bow & arrow.

 

[JTHOMP]

Well done! Thanks for sharing

 

[mdeerjunkie]

Awesome! Job well done.

 

[teej89]

Dude that is awesome! Thanks for sharing!

 

[teej89]

Where's the link to the hunt?

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Where's the link to the hunt?

I probably should have done this in the original post. I told the story in my 2018 fall hunt log.

Long story short

That link should take you to my success post.

Long story long

That link should take you to the story of that specific day when I got my first buck

 

[teej89]

I probably should have done this in the original post. I told the story in my 2018 fall hunt log.

Long story short

That link should take you to my success post.

Long story long

That link should take you to the story of that specific day when I got my first buck

That's right I remember reading this post, good stuff!

I'll have to post up a pic of my elk euros I've had done. The guy takes extremely old fence posts and cuts them into a euro mount, it's really cool!

Some of the fence posts were shot and he was able to cut through and salvage the bullet still embedded in the wood.

 

[elkrchr]

Nicely done!