# Swain's Creek success



## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

She was feeling a little down after missing a small 4-point on Saturday afternoon. It was a close shot, and I think she sent the bor-lock just over it's back. So we went back again on Sunday (you know, BYU win on Saturday / Friday = time spent with God in the wilds on Sunday!). We found a lot of stock deer, but couldn't seem to find a buck. I kept telling her, we're due to see a buck, and to be ready. By 11:00am I decided it was time to start making our way back towards the highway. She was looking at a doe on one side of the road when I caught glimpse of a deer startle and run on the other side, in some thick pine. I knew immediately it was a buck. She got out of the truck, and spotted him through a nice opening -- standing broadside watching her. She only dropped the primer once -- but had another ready in her pocket. After what seemed like a [very] long time a "boom!" rang out, the deer bucked and bolted, and the smoke cloud drifted in front of us. We knew she hit it, but opinions differed on the location of the hit. Her boyfriend video'd the shot, and we could see in the video she hit it just slightly in front of the shoulder - she was right, I was wrong. We walked up to the shot location immediately found a good blood trail -- leading straight up the mountain! It went up to the top (50 yards), then crashed it's way down the other side to the bottom of a small canyon (another 50 yards). The little canyon led right back to the road -- maybe a 200 yard drag? This worked out nicely!

I asked her what she learned. She told me something.....I didn't pay attention to her reply. 🤷‍♂️
I told her that when you live right, luck pours down on you.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Awesome job - congrats to you and your daughter!


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

Very nice !! Good looking buck. 

Used to spend a lot of time in that area.


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## pollo70 (Aug 15, 2016)

Congrats! nice Buck.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Great deer, great pictures. I wish my son could find a girl like that.

-DallanC


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

No wonder you had success, with all that high priced camo you are wearing! It’s basically a guarantee…

Nice work by the heppies! Did you leave the boyfriend in the hills? Or did he make it back?


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Nice write up and awesome to see success! Congrats to your Daughter and the family. 

Two questions....
1- Who is BYU? 
2- What is living right?


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## willfish4food (Jul 14, 2009)

Congratulations to you and your daughter! Great pictures and writeup.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

1. BYU -- The zoo in Provo.
2. Becoming "One" with nature on Sundays.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Vanilla said:


> No wonder you had success, with all that high priced camo you are wearing! It’s basically a guarantee…


I didn't think you'd be able to see me in those pictures...


Yes, he made it back. In fact, he stuck around and helped me cut the stinky thing up. I rewarded him with the liver. He was thrilled.


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

PBH said:


> 2. Becoming "One" with nature on Sundays.


We call my buddies cabin on Summit mountain:
Church of the Pines. 

My cabin on Cedar mountain is called:
Church of the Quakies.


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## willfish4food (Jul 14, 2009)

PBH said:


> I didn't think you'd be able to see me in those pictures...


Well, we wouldn't have seen you if you had painted you face too. It's like a couple floating heads out there.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Great job dad.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

She wants a euro mount. I don't blame her -- this buck will look nice hanging with the others in the garage.

I got the skull in a half-drum yesterday evening, and put it on the single burner camp chef to boil. The sun went down, and it got dark, and it was only steaming, not boiling. Dang. I guess I'll need to borrow the neighbors weed burner and set it up a little different if I want to get it boiling before a good pressure wash. Maybe should have used a smaller pot.

...maybe just the steam-soak, and leaving it soaking all day today will be enough?


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

You really don't want the water to boil but bring it to a temperature below a boil. 

I have watched a couple of skulls come apart when I first started doing euro's, the boiling water bubbles can destroy a skull.

I don't know if you did it or not, but throw in a cup of Arm and Hammer Baking soda into the water. It helps get the meat off of the skull. Then once it is clean dump the water out and refill it with water and a half to a cup of Dawn dish soap to get all the oils out of it.


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## turkinator (May 25, 2008)

Great job!! Thank you for sharing! Your pics make me miss the mountains around Cedar from when I went to SUU.


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

Critter said:


> You really don't want the water to boil but bring it to a temperature below a boil.
> 
> I have watched a couple of skulls come apart when I first started doing euro's, the boiling water bubbles can destroy a skull.
> 
> I don't know if you did it or not, but throw in a cup of Arm and Hammer Baking soda into the water. It helps get the meat off of the skull. Then once it is clean dump the water out and refill it with water and a half to a cup of Dawn dish soap to get all the oils out of it.


Yes, this works great! Critter posted the complete process a couple years ago and I have followed it step by step and have had 4 homemade euro mounts turn out good. It’s not near a Packout quality job but a fun do it yourself project. Just simmer the skull for a few hours. Set the back of the skull on something to keep pressure off the nose while cooking to help keep the nose bones intact. I use an old brick I have laying around. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## rtockstein (Mar 17, 2019)

Congrats!!! I'm so excited to be able to share that moment with my daughter someday.


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## blacksage (Sep 11, 2019)

Congrats to your daughter. Nice buck!


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

That's a really nice-looking buck and a great packout plan. It sounds like she's got everything figured out! Congrats to her on a great deer!


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## lifesshort (Apr 3, 2017)

Great hunt and real pretty pics


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## BigT (Mar 11, 2011)

Great job! Thanks for sharing


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

I've got a little more cleanup to do prior to mixing up the bleaching paste. While simmering with baking soda, the antler bases whitened up a bit. I'll need to do something to darken them back up.

I think one more simmer -- get the nose cleaned up -- and I'll be ready to bleach.


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

PBH said:


> I've got a little more cleanup to do prior to mixing up the bleaching paste. While simmering with baking soda, the antler bases whitened up a bit. I'll need to do something to darken them back up.
> 
> I think one more simmer -- get the nose cleaned up -- and I'll be ready to bleach.


You can put a little water in some coffee grains and smear it over the whitened area. Let it sit for an hour or so and wipe off. I did that with of mine and it matched up pretty good with the antler color. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Firehawk (Sep 30, 2007)

Nice buck and amazing scenery. Thank you so much for sharing. I miss the muzzleloader hunt so bad. Can't beat that time of year to be out in the woods. Congrats to you and your daughter.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

_Update_

I have finally finished my daughter's birthday present! I want to thank Critter for his write-up on bleaching skulls, as well as answering some of my questions as I went. I am really happy with how this turned out! I should have taken more pictures of the process -- but I didn't. Sorry. Here are a few:

This is after the first cleaning, after simmering. Still has some cartilage and other stuff. Also, I had the base of the antlers bleach out while simmering in soda ash (doh!).



After some additional cleaning, I then completed the bleaching following Critters instructions. The whitening agent and 40 volume cream worked wonders!
I also used some KMnO4 to fix the base antlers after I bleached them out, and touch up the rest. I found a nice piece of driftwood in Coal Creek that cleaned up nicely. Added a coat of polyurethane, drilled a 3/4" hole, secured the dowel, attached a fastener, and hung it up.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Looks fantastic!


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Looks great.


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

Nice
I like it !!


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Great job! Congrats.

I'll admit a bit jealous of the uber clean garage.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

Nice Reata!


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## DIRTYS6X6 (May 19, 2021)

Awsome work!!!


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## BigT (Mar 11, 2011)

Love how it turned out!


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## turkinator (May 25, 2008)

Well done on multiple levels!! I'd like to try doing my own European mount on my next animal and you have given my the confidence to try it out.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

turkinator said:


> Well done on multiple levels!! I'd like to try doing my own European mount on my next animal and you have given my the confidence to try it out.


Here is the "how to":








Bleaching A Skull


With the muzzle loader hunt if full swing and with other hunts coming up people are going to want to get euro mounts done of their trophies. While it is fine to take the head into a person that does this all the time and has the newest and greatest bugs to eat the meat off of them I have found...




www.utahwildlife.net


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