Okay, with ya'lls help I found a whitening kit at Cabela's and now I have a nice white skull.

Now I need to decide weather or not to seal it with polyurethane. I am leaning against it because I am trying to have as natural a look as possible. I don't care for super white shiny mounts, there's nothing wrong with them they're just not my thing. On the hand I don't want my mount to eventually turn yellow either.

What do you think?

No

I use a poly & they arnt "super white" but they dont yellow bad...have a more natural look. This is what I have been using on all my mounts...

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No

NO NO NO
I have had bad luck clearing skulls I used the stuff that said it wll never yellow and guess what it did.

Since the count is four to one against in the direction I was already leaning, I am not going to poly this one. Besides if it yellows I can always whiten it again.

I think I'll try the poly on a lesser mount someday and see how that goes.

Thanks for the help and I'll post some pics when it's done

with proper cleaning, degreasing and bleaching you should not have to seal at ALL

Thanks to help from others on the forum I found out about degreasing just before I was about to whiten it. I soaked it for three days in dawn and water. Hopefully that was enough.

NO

I've used a spray satin finish before and like the way it looks. Not too shiny.

check out http://www.taxidermy.net/ there are taxidermist from all over the USA & a TON of great info & tips.

Here is the finished mount. I didn't put any finish on the skull. Like I said above I figure I can always change my mind later.



Thanks again to all you THF members that helped me along the way.

You are probably wondering about the apparent damage to the right eye socket. The "deformity" was there when I skinned the animal. I think it was either some sort birth defect or was caused by an injury, possibly during a fight. The odd part is the animal did not look deformed in any way when I took it. Here's a pic of the deer the day it was killed.

That is pretty cool. I was gonna ask if you shot it in the head.