# Watusi euro mount before and after pics. Braggin on my wife. September Update



## sea trout (Mar 6, 2021)

Hope y'all are doin good and ready for spring!!
My wife likes doin all our euro mounts, It's like a hobby for her.
So the neighbors Watusi cow died the other day and they want my wife to euro mount it.
I already know it's gonna turn out awesome so I wanted to take pics along the way and share. The whole process will take a couple months.
So here's the start.
Yesterday the neighbor brings head to us.


This marnin we cleaned her up.




Now she'll macerate in this jon boat for a month ish depending on weather and temps.


Then she'll get pressure washed, then washed with dawn a halfish dozen times over then peroxided and stuff. But I'll take more pics as and share untill we get to the finished product in a couple ish months.


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## bear claw (Mar 6, 2021)

Very cool. Cant wait to see the finished product.


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## bluemarlin (Mar 6, 2021)

I'd die too if I had to carry all that weight off the side of my head.

But I'd pay to have that mount hanging off the outside wall of my cabin... Quite the specimen you got right there!


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## wvdawg (Mar 6, 2021)

Big old set of horns!  Looking forward to progress.


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## walkinboss01 (Mar 7, 2021)

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.


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## Mexican Squealer (Mar 7, 2021)

That’s so cool...are the horns full of meat or are they hollow? Is there a certain process to preserve horns vs antler? Man that’s gonna look great!


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## sea trout (Mar 7, 2021)

Mexican Squealer said:


> That’s so cool...are the horns full of meat or are they hollow? Is there a certain process to preserve horns vs antler? Man that’s gonna look great!


Yes it's a little different than deer. The horns are around live bone, a continuation of bone from the skull. Now the bone is dead so it has to cure just as the skull. In a couple ish weeks of maceration the horns will release connection with the bone and we will sluff them off and take care them seperately I'll do my best to take pics of each stage my wife does and post a pic!


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## fishfryer (Mar 7, 2021)

Boy those would make huge powderhorns. You could hunt a long time using them,just hope they didn't catch a stray spark. You'd go in orbit and obit.


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## antharper (Mar 9, 2021)

Wow , that thing is gonna be cool !


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## Para Bellum (Mar 9, 2021)

Cool!  Watusi are an African species right?


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## Triple C (Mar 9, 2021)

Following along.  Great thread!


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## sea trout (Mar 9, 2021)

Metro Trout said:


> Cool!  Watusi are an African species right?


Yes


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## NCHillbilly (Mar 9, 2021)

That's gonna be cool. There's a guy a few miles up the road from me who has some of those watusis, along with a couple of camels. They're some funky looking cattle, for sure.


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## mrs. hornet22 (Mar 11, 2021)

This is gonna be good! Thanks for sharing!


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## Evergreen (Mar 11, 2021)

It's going to look awesome


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## stonecreek (Mar 11, 2021)

I have done a pair of longhorn mounts for folks. A key was working the horns down with half a dozen different grits of sandpaper to get down to original color then oiling them up for that shine. It took a solid 3 days of sanding to get them right.


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## Evergreen (Mar 11, 2021)

I grew up with Angus and limousin cattle and never messed with anything with horns so purely curious, how heavy was that head, and/or how heavy will the mount be?


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## Mr Bya Lungshot (Mar 11, 2021)

That thing is a nice one I guess
I’da shot it too.
Impressive


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## Mr Bya Lungshot (Mar 11, 2021)

Love the jonboat for a tub BIG ENOUGH.


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## GeorgiaGlockMan (Mar 11, 2021)

Nice.

I like it so far.

I'd hate to chase my pit bull with that in his mouth running that around the yard.

He was convinced this pig head was his till I reclaimed it.


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## sea trout (Mar 12, 2021)

Evergreen said:


> I grew up with Angus and limousin cattle and never messed with anything with horns so purely curious, how heavy was that head, and/or how heavy will the mount be?


Don't know the weight of head before we fleshed it out but I can weigh it when is done and I'll post it.


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## sea trout (Mar 12, 2021)

GeorgiaGlockMan said:


> Nice.
> 
> I like it so far.
> 
> ...



I remember seeing your hog skull in another thread last year or so. I love that! I got a big boar at the end of deer season and kept his head, I may end up kinda tryin to copy your camo job on yours. That looks so cool!
Yeah our little area we use was our garden that we fenced off cause rabbits would eat all the vegetables at night. So far it's worked for skulls keeping our dogs out, coyotes out,  and the neighbors dogs out. I hope it keeps working.


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## GeorgiaGlockMan (Mar 12, 2021)

sea trout said:


> I remember seeing your hog skull in another thread last year or so. I love that! I got a big boar at the end of deer season and kept his head, I may end up kinda tryin to copy your camo job on yours. That looks so cool!
> Yeah our little area we use was our garden that we fenced off cause rabbits would eat all the vegetables at night. So far it's worked for skulls keeping our dogs out, coyotes out,  and the neighbors dogs out. I hope it keeps working.


That was my concern for you.  I'd hate to see something chew up that beautiful cattle skull.  

Had some squirrels (or maybe a rat) chew up a buck's antlers that i had stewing in the dirt.  It sent me on a killing spree.

Tell your wife to keep up the good work.


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## sea trout (Sep 22, 2021)

So wanted to update on this, What has happened is this watusi has been macerating in john boat all summer and the horns just wont fully release. So really nuthing has happened with it. It's unlike the cattle, even the Texas long horns, even some long horn/ watusi crosses, that she's done in the past. Those cattle all had the horn sluff off the bone after maceration. 
This full blooded watusi would not release it's horns so she kept it in there until they would sluff off. 
However last week we worked together on it and discovered the horns were released from the bone, they just wont come off because the diameter of the horn doesn't change from the lower half through the curve but the symmetry does change. Therefore we don't know HOW to get them off to dry and cure the bone inside. 
So now my wife is contemplating what to do. 
This pic shows where she decided to stand it up end to end and pour bleach water in and flood the horn. She thinks maybe they'll swell some and we can pull them off? Or the bleach can kill any remaining old blood stench and maybe they'll dry out later and won't stink?
We haven't asked our neighbor yet if this watusi euro mount is to go in his house or in his barn or in his shop. If it goes in his house it's gonna have to not stink.

I'll update as things unfold. If anyone has had a similar experience and figured it out and want to share please feel free to share!!
I even suggested cutting a slit down the back of the horn, (the outta sight portion), to get them off and then fix it with glue or staples or stitch when slide em back on.... but I got a pretty rough look from the wife when I mentioned that so I just left it alone.


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## tucker80 (Sep 24, 2021)

Is she concerned about the bleach making it brittle? I dont know anything about the process,  just curious how bleach reacts. 
It's going to be an awesome piece I'm sure!


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## ngamtns (Sep 24, 2021)

Have you researched letting the horns dry out and see if they would sloth off then. I use to pick up cow horns from dehorning at a cattle traders barn and make a few powder horns. Nature (flies and drying)would usually take care of the process. I have a big set on a skull that came from Texas. They actually cut the bone at the base of the horn. Pulled the inside bone out. Then screwed back to the skull covering with some rope. I can try and get a picture if it will help.


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## bany (Sep 29, 2021)

First time seeing this. Pretty cool! My first thought was setting it on a fire ant mound.
Thats been the best for a good end result for my heads. Sorry I’m late.


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## catchdogs (Sep 30, 2021)

sea trout said:


> So wanted to update on this, What has happened is this watusi has been macerating in john boat all summer and the horns just wont fully release. So really nuthing has happened with it. It's unlike the cattle, even the Texas long horns, even some long horn/ watusi crosses, that she's done in the past. Those cattle all had the horn sluff off the bone after maceration.
> This full blooded watusi would not release it's horns so she kept it in there until they would sluff off.
> However last week we worked together on it and discovered the horns were released from the bone, they just wont come off because the diameter of the horn doesn't change from the lower half through the curve but the symmetry does change. Therefore we don't know HOW to get them off to dry and cure the bone inside.
> So now my wife is contemplating what to do.
> ...


Boil the horns and hit them with a rubber hammer they will pop off easy


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## blood on the ground (Sep 30, 2021)

What do you think skull and horns weigh?

I didn’t read back through the thread if you had already mentioned that, sorry.


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## sea trout (Oct 4, 2021)

havn't weighed them yet


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