Boiling deer skulls

[Blackfork]

I shot one of my deercam bucks Monday evening. I was walking out to change deercams. Crossing the lake drive behind the house I looked both ways and saw two shocked does downsun. I put the corn sack down and went back through the hedge and got my rifle. (Ruger #1 in 7X57 w/Leupold 3-9) I watched the does from the edge of the road. They kept looking left, so I figured on one other deer. My daughter drove in about that time and I sent her out the driveway to the left to clap her hands and try and push out whatever the does were watching. A little buck came across and they all went into the woodline. I followed.
Through the woods is a eight acre unmowed field with a crown in the middle. The deer were at the far end. The buck was a little six point, a year and a half old with a slashed shoulder wound that has been healing up for two weeks. I'd been watching him on deercams all year. He was rolling his upper lip back and trying to get the does interested. As the group grazed over the crown of the field, the does alerted, big time and started staring over the crest. By this time 30 minutes had elapsed since I had first seen them and the moon was really coming up.
I saw the tips of horns coming over the crown of the field. It was a very nice ten point that I have watched on cam for a couple of years. I wasn't really interested in shooting him, but my blood was up, and it's rare that a big buck is really in the open like this and unsuspecting.
I shot him once, offhand, behind the jaw from 60 yards and he fell in place.
Boiling his skull out now on the stove in a big spagetti pot. Smells like deer stew. He was in there yesterday and last night and will finish today. Every few hours I pull him out and peel off the cooked meat and flesh. I'll hang him on the wall with his jawbone on. Makes a great mount, for free.

 

[wolf_from_wv]

Smells like deer stew.

Unless you keep adding bleach, like my uncle did..........

 

[Blackfork]

No bleach.

I think it weakens the bone too much. And I don't want the skull white. I just want it clean.

Just took the brain out with a toothbrush and garden hose in the yard. Nearly done. Gotta glue the teeth in the lower front of the jaw and glue the two halves of the jaw together.

 

[X-Rap]

When the boil is done and all meat removed put the skull in a small trash can with hydrogen peroxide. It will come out nice and white and makes a real nice trophy.You can get qt. bottles and they are resonable in cost. Deer stew it smells like a dog food plant when we do it. We boil in our machine shed and use a double burner propane stove and a 55 gal. drum cut in half, you can fit one elk and two deer at the same time. My dad did five deer and four elk this year and they turned out real good.Taxidermy is getting to expensive.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Another one here for NO BLEACH. That does weaken them and it will turn them yellow. Stick with the Hydrogen peroxide to turn them white. One thing you can add to the boiling water is borax. That seems to unstick the meat from the skull a lot faster then just water. It also cuts the stench a bit. I just did 2 more over the weekend, 4 total this year (one was dad's). WOO HOO.

 

[V-fib]

When I made my first and second European (skull) mounts I did the boiling water thing too. What a pain. Did some research and now I just bury the skull in the garden. Our gun season is in November so after I cut off the head of the deer I bury it up to the base of the antlers in the garden. Then I cover the antlers with a bucket and weight it down so it can’t be knocked over. Then I dig it up the following July, hose it off and its ready to mount. It doesn’t stink, (all the skin, ears, eyes, brain tissue, tongue etc are long gone) and it has a nice yellow bone color. Of course if you wanted the skull white you could spray the skull with some hydrogen peroxide and set it in the sun for an hour or two to whiten it up. I even bury doe skulls. Works great!

 

[lawson]

arizona javelina skull mount:

step one: find a big fire ant hill. if fire ants are unavailable, them big nasty black ants will do just fine.

step two: put the skull on top of the anthill. cover with metal crate and cinder block weight. this is to keep dogs out.

step three: come back in two weeks to a month, with a garden hose. wash off the ants and retrieve your skull only getting bitten three or four times, if possible.

step four: clean out any remaining junk with a hose and a toothbrush. the ants usually pick it pretty clean. let dry, and glue fallen teeth into place.

step five: put it on a bookshelf, until Ma banishes it to the back porch.


(i wrote this kinda tongue and cheek, as it was the actual method dear old Dad had us do after javelina hunts when i was a kid. now, we just boil 'em. it's faster.)