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Skull cleaning

Chalupa Batman

New Member
Went to my stand yesterday afternoon and to my dissapointment I found one of the 2 shooters ive been watching this season dead and coyotes got to his back half...not sure exactly what the cause no wounds I caoild see n looked healthy all season..maybe combo of exhausttion from rut n extreme colds to early idk. I got a salvage tage from the sheriff n wanted to get him mounted but since the yotes got to his lips n nose im doing a euro and looking for best ways to clean the brain, eyes etc.. the pics are of him alive n after
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There are a few good informational videos on YouTube, here's one of them:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6nvpApJQhmI

It's a fairly simple project, skin the skull then boil the skull at a low simmer in a large metal pot and work off the pieces of tissue by periodically pulling the skull out of the water over the next couple of hours.

Good luck!
 
Find a taxidermist that has the beetles its the best way to clean the skull no damage what so ever. You never need to boil again. Also you can go with a spare cape if you want a shoulder mount.
 
I buried one of mine in my wife's flower bed for the winter. Left antlers sticking up. It was actually pretty clean when I pulled it up in the spring time.
 
It's really pretty easy to do your own Skull Mount. You need a big pot to boil it in. First cape out the head. Remove eyes, brains, and as much meat as you can get off the skull. Boil for 45min. Remove and start picking the meat off the skull. Contiue this prosses using some dish detergent until the shull is free of all meat and looks clean. Go to your locas hair salon and ask for some 40 volume and bleach that they use to high light hair. Bruch this on your skull and let sit for 45 min. Rinse with water and repeat process. I put 3 coats on to get it white. Here is one i did last year.

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If you plan on doing a lot of them in the future it's pretty easy to do yourself if you have the right stuff. Skin the head and remove as much meat as possible. Then boil it for an hour or two. Every now and then you can remove it from the water and try to get more flesh off. Needle nose pliers come in handy for removing some of the stuff. A power washer also comes in handy. You have to be a little careful around some of the nose bones tho. After the skull is clean, let it dry for a day or so. Then boil it again for an hour in water and 1 liter of hydrogen peroxide. It should be pretty white. If you would like it even more white you can buy a product called magnesium carbonate, i get mine through van dykes taxidermy supply. You mix this powder with hydrogen peroxide until you have a toothpaste like substance. Then you paint this on the skull with a brush and let it sit in the sun for a few days. Then rinse off the paste and your skull will be very white. If it is boiled too long at any point and some of the bones get a little loose, they can easily be glued back in to place. If you don't plan on doing many of them the $100 a taxidermist might charge is less of a hassle. After you do a few of them it gets much easier tho.
 
I do 10-15 a year and i would never pay 100 dollars to have it done. Its really pretty simple after you get the hang of it and doesnt take much time. Ill look at the bag i have at home later and find out exactly what the chemical i use when boiling it.
"Said chemical" and borax really gets the meat off in a hurry. The biggest thing is to cut ass much flesh off before you ever boil it
 
I've used Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (sodium carbonate) the last couple times I've boiled heads. Takes absolutely everything off the bone. No oily spots or gelatinous membrane left anywhere. Easy & cheap ... bought a box at Hy-Vee for next to nothing. A guy I know who does a lot of heads put me onto this stuff. Works great.

-Longspurs-
 
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