heres mine from this year...
sounds like your doing somethin similar already!
i cut mine off a limb and cut the slabs off at a veryyyy slight angle to get them long...the skull sits off the wall 4-5" or so...hard to tell in the pics...i like them sitting at that angle much better than flat on the wall...
the tree was down a long while so i brought it in and sprayed it with a few coats of spar urethane and thats it..did a little sanding but i left it pretty rough...took me about 10 cuts with the chain saw to get them decent and pretty uniform in thickness and not too thick or too thin..
good luck!! post pics when your done!
i need to go make one for my yote skull..im thinking something like that bear skull in the post...