Mulie Tribute

[Brambles]

I decided to honor a Mulie that died before its time killed by predators. This is a winter kill buck that was given to me by a good friend.

I had this idea for a while now but only found some good donor trees this year while hunting in some dog hair.

I still got a lot of work to do but this gives an idea of what I'm doing.

the back is cut 90 degrees to mount in a corner but hold the antlers out and away from the wall at the proper angle..

im thinking of moulding around the skull with filler and making a cap that I'll paint but leave the stem natural

let me know what you think.







http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/image_zps6lgzrjxz.jpeg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Brambles77/media/image_zps6lgzrjxz.jpeg.html)

[Brambles]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/image_zps4lysnzna.jpeg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Brambles77/media/image_zps4lysnzna.jpeg.html)

[Salty]

Yeah I can see that tape off a line and pimp the molded area to a nice smooth surface and paint it and then natural wood below that. Sort of like an ebony tip on a nice wood rifle stock. I think a sharp line rather than trying to blend the two textures together somehow. Oh, and what a gorgeous rack dude!

[tinhorse]

Nice back points on that one.

[kennyj]

Looks awesome!! Thats a beautiful rack. Nice deep even forks. Looking forward to seeing this project coming along.
kenny

[HarryToolips]

Looksawesome, great job....

[Backwoods]

Very creative nice work!!

[Daybreak]

Nice rack and display in the works.

[Rackmastr]

Looks cool, cant wait to see what the finished project looks like!

[.264winmag]

Great idea! I have a mulie rack from a predator kill that would work perfect. Not a monster like that but very sentimental as I have him on trail cam. Perfect tribute. I'll be following and copying if ya don't mind;)http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h325/Doubleheader2/560C6AAA-1A98-4B8A-8173-0E50807107F7.jpg (http://s1104.photobucket.com/user/Doubleheader2/media/560C6AAA-1A98-4B8A-8173-0E50807107F7.jpg.html)
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h325/Doubleheader2/74571BC7-FC8B-4BF1-9416-E260E69D5746.jpg (http://s1104.photobucket.com/user/Doubleheader2/media/74571BC7-FC8B-4BF1-9416-E260E69D5746.jpg.html)
http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h325/Doubleheader2/025DF4E7-04A5-464B-97F7-FFCD9035C19E.jpg (http://s1104.photobucket.com/user/Doubleheader2/media/025DF4E7-04A5-464B-97F7-FFCD9035C19E.jpg.html)
Not trying to hijack, open to suggestions?

[.264winmag]

I 2nd salty on the rifle stock forend idea for sure.

[35 Whelen]

Nice work Jeff.....

[Brambles]

I'm tossing around a few paint options

1. straight shiney automotive style cap, probably black......or???
2. Textured custom rifle stock with webbing style
3. Some sort of camo

got some time to decide

[.264winmag]

Just paint skull black after molded in? And walnut stain rest of piece?...

[Jagermeister]

You definitely made me feel good. A shop as messy as mine. I will have to show it to the wife and then say, "See, there is more than one of me!":lol:
And your project, I think it is quite novel and look for the end result.

[troutseeker]

Looks good, great idea!

[hunter1947]

Looks good finding a piece of wood of the likes of the one your using is hard to find..

[Brambles]

Just paint skull black after molded in? And walnut stain rest of piece?...

After its filled and sanded you won't be able to see the skull, it will all be covered in fiberglass filler and smoothed into a quazai teardrop esque shape....

from on here on in is gonna be a bit of experimenting, initially I was gonna use a full European set of antlers but this set was damaged by preds so I gotta roll with it

[Brambles]

You definitely made me feel good. A shop as messy as mine. I will have to show it to the wife and then say, "See, there is more than one of me!":lol:
And your project, I think it is quite novel and look for the end result.


And thats the clean side. Still working on finishing my basement so a lot of the stuff that is suppose to be in the house is cluttering my shop.

[Husky7mm]

After its filled and sanded you won't be able to see the skull, it will all be covered in fiberglass filler and smoothed into a quazai teardrop esque shape....

from on here on in is gonna be a bit of experimenting, initially I was gonna use a full European set of antlers but this set was damaged by preds so I gotta roll with it

Thats too bad, I like the "natural" euro look with the tip of the nose chewed off. I have a lot of dead heads but no big ones.

[Brambles]

Thats too bad, I like the "natural" euro look with the tip of the nose chewed off. I have a lot of dead heads but no big ones.

It was chewed right up to the eye sockets, all I actually did was some minor trimming on the bottom so it would sit flat and square up the front for an even line... The coyote's did a real number on this guy.

[Brambles]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/image_zps1w4svr0k.jpeg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Brambles77/media/image_zps1w4svr0k.jpeg.html)



first coat of clear

[Brambles]

I decided that less is more and instead of building a cap over the skull plate, I would just leave it natural, I boiled out and cleaned up the skull and I like the way it looks. Better this way then spending a lot of time fabbing up a cap and not like it...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/image_zps8slgpz1s.jpeg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Brambles77/media/image_zps8slgpz1s.jpeg.html)

[Brambles]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/image_zpsk3wx0lem.jpeg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Brambles77/media/image_zpsk3wx0lem.jpeg.html)

[Brambles]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/image_zpsi73dujma.jpeg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Brambles77/media/image_zpsi73dujma.jpeg.html)

[BimmerBob]

Very nice job, looks great and a fine tribute to the original owner!

[Chango]

Really great job, I love this. What a dandy buck he was too!

[WKCotts]

Looks good. Nice buck too

[rocksteady]

OMG.... the HBC saints are going to be all over you because a winter kill buck was salvaged without going thru all of the permits from the CO'S. ...

You need a cut tag to possess. .....
Blah blah blah blah blah....

Looks great... don't let the saints rain on your parade...

[kennyj]

Looks awesome!! That sure is a pretty rack. What was the score?
kenny

[Brian011]

Looks great! What a nice buck!

[Sofa King]

looks awesome.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/image_zpsi73dujma.jpeg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Brambles77/media/image_zpsi73dujma.jpeg.html)

did you do some cleaning to the rack itself?
it looks real smooth and clean.
if so, what method did you use for cleaning?

[Brambles]

Put some color back on it with some potassium permanganate, but that's it..

[Backwoods]

Looks great man! Very creative!!!!!