Grayson Goheen is the kind of kid who would rather be outside than anywhere else. He loves hunting, fishing, and trapping. Those passions have turned into a small but growing business called Bubba’s Euros, where he creates European mounts (cleaned and preserved skull mounts, often with antlers attached) and is expanding into trapping gear like weasel boxes and muskrat floats.
With help from his mom, Missie, an entrepreneur herself through Country Rustic Customs, Grayson is learning what it looks like to build something from scratch. He is figuring out the process of his craft, learning from mistakes, and slowly building a customer base one mount at a time.
Q&A
Q: Can you tell me about your business?
A: I do European mounts. I also make some trapping stuff. I do turkey fans too.
Q: For someone WHO has no idea, what’s a European mount?
A: It’s when you take an animal’s skull and boil it so all the meat comes off, and you preserve the bone.
Q: So it’s basically the skull, and sometimes the antlers too?
A: Yep. Like this buck I shot last year, it’s the skull with the antlers. I also do coyote and beaver. They don’t have horns, so it’s just the skull.
Q: How long have you been doing this?
A: About four years.
Q: So you started when you were really young?
A: Yeah, about five.
Q: Was it a business right away?
A: No. I did it mainly for fun and the experience.
Q: When did you start hunting?
A: I started going with when I started walking.
Q: Do you remember your first animal?
A: I hunted ducks before turkey. My first turkey was probably around nine.
Q: What do you like about hunting?
A: Pursuing the animal is the best part, and eating it.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to eat?
A: Deer backstrap.
Q: When did this become a business?
A: About a year ago.
Q: How many customers have you had so far?
A: 15-20 so far.
