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Help!!! Stinky deer heads!

F

Fall Guy

New Member
Hey guys! I could really use some help here. This last month I have found four deer racks on rotting skulls. These things are nasty! I'll admit that I am a bit of a wuss with this stuff but these things will make your eyes water. I want these to eventually go in the house. How can I get these skulls clean yet keep a safe distance? Right now I have them buried (in dirt) but am afraid about staining the antlers. Any suggestions?
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boil them in a big cauldron. find someone who traps and chances are he has a big pot to boil all his traps in. take for instance, me. i have a big drum that i used to boil traps in, now i use it for skulls. works great. another option is to find an anthill and bury them in it. a BIG anthill at that. then you have to worry about something or someone carrying off your prizes. if you want to borrow my big cauldron let me know, i'm going to try and get supertec a turkey this weekend, maybe he'll haul it back with him.
 
Muddy, how long does that take to get them clean? Do you have to scrape them periodically? I'm not sure how much I would look forward to that. If boiling them is my only option, I guess I will have to. Do you put this cauldron on a propane burner or will a backyard firepit heat that up enough to boil it?
 
I don't even want to imagine what boiling rotting meat smells like...ewwww.
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The skull I boiled this year was still a little stinky afterward, so I poured some boric acid powder in the sinus cavities and let it sit for a few days. Worked great! Good luck.
 
Muddy's right. Boiling is usually the best way to go because it gets the stuff off pretty fast. You'll want to heat the water over a propane burner, othewise the quantity of water may not get warm enough to boil. The other option would be to hang the skulls up someplace safe outdoors and let the flies have at them for a couple weeks, then boil off what's left.

Anyway you go, it'll be a stinky job. That just goes with the territory, and if you want a Euro mount, you have to be willing to deal with the process.

Check out his site for the steps on how to do it: http://www.edersbow.com/publication/1998/December/mount/default.cfm
 
propane heat is best, it's more direct and hotter i think. anyway, when i've boiled it can take awhile depending on how dried out the hide is. my suggestion would be to let them soak in water for a couple weeks, soften all of it up, then boil them. if you're too much of a wussy i'd do it for ya. i will probably come over and harass LIV4RUT before turkey season is over and i could take them back with me. if this works i'll warn ya that it may take awhile before you get them back...a few months at least.
 
and if I'm bringing home that pot, it better be spotless and odor free. With a big ole tom in it. hehehe
 
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