What's a reasonable price for getting a European mount?

[phutch30]

If you do it yourself make sure you degrease it completely or it will bleed out fat and become discolored

 

[midwesterncrosshair]

I don't like to highjacking the post... but since we are talking about prices for euro mounts. Does this work interest others, or just me? Did it as a covid hobby with my free time and nobody in my area does it. Was thinking of starting a side hustle. No idea of what I would charge if people were interested.

 

[Chama Grande]

A shop in my town just quoted me $650 dollars for a deer euro

In this economy I tell you hwat

 

[The Hedgehog]

A shop in my town just quoted me $650 dollars for a deer euro

In this economy I tell you hwat

Wow.

I charged a $25 skin fee for an elk recently ($200 otherwise). It was half frozen. Took me a about an hour to clean up enough for the pot.

I'm gonna charge more, and if people want to shop, they can feel free. My time is worth more than, less than starting wage at Taco Bell.

 

[jpcoll01]

Depends. Are you wanting a naked euro or one with skull mounted on a plaque? For a pronghorn I think you're kinda stuck getting it mounted on a plaque. Otherwise the horns are sticking straight out in the room if teeth are against the wall. For skull on a plaque we charge $200 (about $175 US).

Kind of unrelated but just for information sharing purposes, skull hooker makes a couple products (table mount and wall mount) that work great for pronghorns so they don't require a plaque.

 

[Elktrack]

I don't like to highjacking the post... but since we are talking about prices for euro mounts. Does this work interest others, or just me? Did it as a covid hobby with my free time and nobody in my area does it. Was thinking of starting a side hustle. No idea of what I would charge if people were interested.
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I’d call that first one an M lock mount instead of a Euro.

 

[Elktrack]

A shop in my town just quoted me $650 dollars for a deer euro

In this economy I tell you hwat

That’s ridiculous.

 

[WNC2500]

I have paid $80 in South Carolina, $100 in Montana, and $130 in North Carolina

 

[OntarioHunter]

That’s ridiculous.

Yes, $650 for a deer euro is way beyond ridiculous. Last year I did a P&Y moose euro with plaque. Price was $700 and he never batted an eye. That quote was seemingly also ridiculous but the work involved for moose euro is insane. I tried to price him into a cap mount but he wouldn't go for it. I did a helluva job for him but if I had to make a living at it, I'm not sure I would have broke even at minimum wage hourly rate.

 

[PrairieHunter]

The first question is what method.

There are the usual quick turnaround guys who boil the shit out of skulls. They should be the least expensive. These folks are more in the $75-$100 range

On the other end of the spectrum you have the beetle guys who will take a lot more time, and actually degrease and whiten the skull properly. These guys seem to charge a bit more form my experience, $125+ range.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I made the plaque for this client. Didn't care for the angle of factory plaques and hooks. Personally, I prefer no plaques for my euros. They just collect dust and are a bugger to clean, especially dark wood like walnut.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I rejected this plaque and made another slightly smaller. Don't seem to have a photo.

 

[Bigjay73]

My last one was very well done and $75. I feel sorry for some of you

 

[Beignet]

A shop in my town just quoted me $650 dollars for a deer euro

In this economy I tell you hwat

Was that “We don’t really want to do it right now” pricing or what?

 

[mrcowboy]

I usually do a few during the year for friends or other acquaintances. Mostly the cost is that you're forced to sit with me in the cold on my patio and drink beer on a Saturday or Sunday and listen to James McMurtry on spotify or some random college football game. You help provide beer or we can trade for something. I've traded euro work for chain cut for my saw from one guy several times. But I would say $100-200 for deer. Anything bigger (elk, Oryx) $200 or more. My wife's friend has two oryx that she wants done this winter but she wants to learn so she's gonna help. I told her bring the beer and some oryx steaks. I'm with Greenhorn, bring them skinned out or I will charge you premium beers. Mule deer and coues from last year. I do know one taxidermy guy that does them but hates it. He inflated the prices thinking people wold stop bringing them, and says that people still bring them in and pay for them. His kid now does a lot of them for the shop. Good work for a teenager.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I usually do a few during the year for friends or other acquaintances. Mostly the cost is that you're forced to sit with me in the cold on my patio and drink beer on a Saturday or Sunday and listen to James McMurtry on spotify or some random college football game. You help provide beer or we can trade for something. I've traded euro work for chain cut for my saw from one guy several times. But I would say $100-200 for deer. Anything bigger (elk, Oryx) $200 or more. My wife's friend has two oryx that she wants done this winter but she wants to learn so she's gonna help. I told her bring the beer and some oryx steaks. I'm with Greenhorn, bring them skinned out or I will charge you premium beers. Mule deer and coues from last year. I do know one taxidermy guy that does them but hates it. He inflated the prices thinking people wold stop bringing them, and says that people still bring them in and pay for them. His kid now does a lot of them for the shop. Good work for a teenager.

Nice. We generally retain the fine nose bones. They will get blown away with pressure hose so I can usually spot one that's been done using that shortcut. For moose they can't be saved. The network of honeycomb at the back end of nose is extensive and must be cleaned out or it will stink. No room for a beetle container big enough for moose skulls so they have to be boiled. That requires a special tank. Because their horns come out the side of their head, the top quarter of skull must be steamed and cleaned with pressure hose. It's a BIG pain in the arse = $$$.

Be sure to pop the horns off oryx and cut away most of the core tissue. My Africa taxidermist only left about four inches of core above the skull. The horn material should shrink quite a bit when dried and may not slide back on the core so trim the bone as needed. Reattach with hot glue (quality stuff not cheap crap from craft store). Apply on the core at a spot on back side. That way if you're ever moving or need to pack the skulls, the horns can be removed by simply heating with a hair dryer.

 

[Jorgy]

$75 in northern Wisconsin for just the skull, no plaque

 

[OntarioHunter]

Having clients detach and skin the skulls can be counterproductive. Did a moose euro this year that the client badly hacked up cutting away the skull. Not the only one. Also, knife marks have to be cleaned up. If they wait a couple months to bring in the head, that's gonna be expensive. Ugh! Recently had a guy bring in a very nice moose rack that he skinned the skull and buried for a year. It was very clean. Unfortunately, the iron in the soil discolored it some and required extra bleaching. He claimed he tied garbage bags over the horns but they were still faded a bit and one tiny spot damaged by rodents. All fairly easy to fix but still time consuming. Interesting way of doing things.

 

[Chama Grande]

Was that “We don’t really want to do it right now” pricing or what?

I called around yesterday and I was told that the individual really only wants to do shoulder mounts. Kind of a jerk way to go about it imo but I get it

 

[jt13]

In 2019, a place in Broadus wanted $300 to do a cow elk skull. May have been the out of state plates that got me that price quote.

Between $60-100 is normal around here for deer and bear with no plaque.

 

[JohnCushman]

The closest taxidermist to me wants $450 to do my bull moose. Half up front and says it's a couple month turn around time since we've had a couple of deer and elk and antelope seasons.