Euro mount costs.

[Dbecker6415]

Just trying to ascertain an average price line here.

What is everyone paying to have a simple Euro mount done?
I'm specifically looking for costs on deer, just the whitened skull, no plaque.

I'm thinking of maybe starting a quick sideline gig & I don't want to price myself out of the market or, conversely, do myself a disservice.

$100 in New York for whitetail

 

[Weldor]

I am sure you have figure in your costs for beetles and chemicals plus your time. Dermestid beetles seems like the way to go.

 

[madgrad02]

I pay $160 and mounted on a piece of drift wood or barn wood plaque... this year's buck (as pic'd in the whitetail harvest thread) - wisconsin if that matters

 

[Notch]

Seems like about $150 is a good ballpark.

 

[butcherboy]

Who cares what the average price is? As a business owner it’s up to you to determine what your overhead expenses are, what costs go in to doing each mount, the amount of time it takes to handle each mount which includes everything from answering emails and phone calls, to receiving packages and shipping packages to doing the actual work. At that point you then decide what you need to charge in order to pay yourself and keep the lights on.

This is why so many businesses fail in the first year.

Spot on. When I did taxidermy all this had to be figured into the price. When I quit I was charging $200 for deer, antelope, bear, etc. $400 for elk, moose and more for beef/ buffalo. I macerated them, degreased, then whitened and sealed them. I used a method for sealing that museums use for bones. It’s in a crystal form and mixed with acetone. Dip the whole skull in and it penetrates deep into the bone.

 

[Mojave]

My guy in Austria charged me 400 Euros to do two fallow deer and build a wooden crate. Then couldn't be bothered to ship the box, because it was "too hard to find a shipper to accept it".

My outfitter picked the box up and I'll pick it up from him in a couple of months.

Local guys here in most of Germany are $80 for a small deer, $150 for a fallow deer and $250 for a stag, or about that. Some are cheaper, some are more.

It is a hell of a side business.

Not much overhead, dirty job, but a lot of jobs are worse.

 

[fatlander]

125ish for a deer, 250 for an elk

Definitely consider adding a skinning fee. It’s a whole lot easier on you when they’re ready to drop in the pot. If you’ve got to skin them, that requires immediate action. If they’re already skinned, you can go straight from the freezer to the pot when you’ve got enough to warrant a batch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[waspocrew]

My friend in Wyoming charges $150 for deer and $200 for elk.

 

[Wheels]

Cost me a case of beer for a friend to do it. He does a great job.

 

[grfox92]

Elk 165
Deer 145

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[nobody]

I paid a guy $150 this year for a mule deer. That included him skinning off the head, boiling, and bleaching. Nasal cavity is all in tact and everything. $125 if the head is skinned and jaw removed. $25 more for elk and moose than those numbers.

He’s got a great reputation, and has the fastest turnarounds in Utah. 7 days max. He had mine done same day. No smells, bleached, and dry. Looks great. That’s my unsolicited advice, there is absolutely zero reason a taxidermist should sit on a skull for months, even weeks. If you start up the side hustle, be the guy who does stuff quick.

 

[LostArra]

Museum quality work done here (as in Smithsonian). They clean 50,000 skulls per year.
Dropping off a skull also gets free admission to their Museum of Osteology which is my grandkids favorite place in Oklahoma.

I'm just fortunate to live 40 minutes away.

If the mount is just going outside on a barn then just boil it or let fire ants clean it.

Custom Cleaning and Skeleton Articulation - Skulls Unlimited

With works in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, we’ve offered the highest-quality skull cleanings and skeletal articulations since 1986.

skullcleaning.com

Skeletons: Museum of Osteology | Skeleton Museum

AMERICA’S ONLY SKELETON MUSEUM! SKELETONS: Museum of Osteology celebrates vertebrate life by providing guests with an engaging adventure full of discovery, with the hopes that through education we will help cultivate an appreciation of the natural world and ultimately lead to conservation for...

www.skeletonmuseum.com

 

[Kernal1985]

$75 in southern Indiana for whitetail and the elk and bear I’ve brought back from Colorado.

 

[omicron1792]

I’ve started doing my own. Kind of fun to do.

 

[loganwayne]

It's around 100 bucks here. That's for someone to boil it and bleach it.


A buddy got beetles as a hobby so he's been doing them for us to keep them feed. We skin the head remove brain tongue and eyes. Usually a week or two and get a skull cleaned and ready to bleach.

What's cool is he will do other things for us as well. We've done duck skulls, woodcock skulls. And have a couple ruffed grouse skulls to drop off with my deer in a couple weeks

 

[Sadler]

When I was up in Idaho and Montana an elk euro was around $100. Down here in southern New Mexico people are charging $400. I’m doing to start doing them myself next year.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Paying $225 for my buck in Eastern Oregon, skinned by me. She charges $250 for un-skinned.

Compared to an outfit in MT I’ve used that was $90 skinned or $125 un-skinned.

$150/$175 might be a good range to start at.

 

[sickles107]

Ball park $150 for a deer / antelope in years past... and up to 6 months wait.

I bit the bullet this year, bought a single burner electric hot plate and a big stock pot. 6 hr simmer in water with a touch of dish soap and baking soda, blow off with garden hose, then 6 hr soak in tub of 12% hydrogen perixide. Did a deer and antelope in the garage over a weekend, and they look just like others I've had professionally done.

Cost of tools / materials, plus my time, probly a net wash. Big thing is not waiting.

 

[cocky84]

If its a simple simmer, powerwash, whiten, then its about $100-125 around here. If you want it properly degreased then double it at least. No plaque.

 

[highcj5]

Try it yourself. It isn’t that hard? I’ve been doing it for years, but not as a business. Just for myself and friends. I have a full time job that takes up enough of my time.
My buddy is a taxidermist and try’s to get me to do his. He charges $150 now. Seems like a few years ago it was about $100.
If just getting started in doing it, I might would charge less. Get better with it the more you do. Then can increase prices. You definitely aren’t going to break the bank doing it, but would be a nice little side hustle for some extra cash.

1 I did for a guy I know.