chuckwellington
AH member
I was fortunate enough to draw a bighorn tag in Idaho this past season. The hunt was everything I could have hoped for. It was really three bucket list hunts rolled into one. Not only was it a NA sheep but I got to spend 10 days horse packing in the Frank Church Wilderness in the Middle Fork country of the Snake River. We shot the sheep on day 4 at 180 yards after a 5 hour stalk and sitting on him for 4 hours. Butchering and packing back to camp in the dark put the total round trip at about 18 hours. After a day to recover and one to get back to base camp, I spent the rest of the trip searching for bears and catching cutthroats.
I did the skull work myself. Sheep require the horn sheaths to be removed by literally rotting them off. After that, I submerged the skull in water for a few weeks until most of the flesh came off. Slow simmer in water/dish detergent to degrease and a couple days wrapped in peroxide soaked rags. Glued the horns back on and worked in the display.
I cut the wood from fallen cedar around our property as it resembles the dead fall of the area we shot him. The base is painted scrap wood. There’s a mixture of real and clay “rocks” and fake grass from MacKenzie Taxidermy Supply.
I’m not a taxidermist and this was my first attempt at cleaning a sheep skull. I’ve also never done any sort of habitat. But I am so happy with the way it looks.
I did the skull work myself. Sheep require the horn sheaths to be removed by literally rotting them off. After that, I submerged the skull in water for a few weeks until most of the flesh came off. Slow simmer in water/dish detergent to degrease and a couple days wrapped in peroxide soaked rags. Glued the horns back on and worked in the display.
I cut the wood from fallen cedar around our property as it resembles the dead fall of the area we shot him. The base is painted scrap wood. There’s a mixture of real and clay “rocks” and fake grass from MacKenzie Taxidermy Supply.
I’m not a taxidermist and this was my first attempt at cleaning a sheep skull. I’ve also never done any sort of habitat. But I am so happy with the way it looks.
