Would it hold up and last? Would the oils penetrate the paint? It sure would look good and be super fast to do.
TD's Link
If you want to do it right using the peroxide to whiten there is quite a bit to it.
Degreasing is the first step, using dawn dish washing liquid and warm/hot water (been adding some ammonia as well and works a bit better), can take a week or three, you keep changing out the water until it stays clear. Deer aren't bad, sheep and goats are much worse, pigs and bears you almost have to use chemical thinners like acetone, etc. first. Otherwise the time is measured in months. They are just grease bombs.
After degreasing and completely drying comes the peroxide. If you can get some 40 volume hair salon "developer" it is about 12% peroxide. You can paint it on fairly easy. I like to either bag it or to "catalyze" it to work faster/better put it under a heat lamp. It's why you see the ladies in hair salons under the hair driers. Or you can put it in a plastic bag so it doesn't dry out as fast and leave it. Repeat as necessary to get the whitening you want.
But, there's a much better way. Swimming pool supply store. Pick up a few gallons of Baquacil Oxidizer, couple other companies have a product they call a "clarifyer" etc but if you look at the ingredients they are about 25-27% peroxide. Pour it into the right container (no metal, peroxide hates metal) and soak the head in it up to the antlers. Overnight is usually enough but I usually go a day or so now. With use it loses some potency, but if you can seal it up good between uses it can last a good longtime and do a good number of heads. It will get stuff whiter than white. Fast.
When using the beauty supply developer and ESPECIALLY the pool oxidizer wear rubber gloves, protective eye wear etc. Keep kids away! This stuff will burn the finger prints off you if you get it on your skin. It's nasty. Make sure the antlers, etc are taped off, protected. Don't get any on them or you will create a good deal more work re-staining the screw ups. You guys on the mainland are lucky.... it takes an act of Congress to get these chemicals shipped over here and we wind up paying 2 or 3 times more than you folks do.
After it's whitened to where you want..... and you really want to kick it up a notch.... look up "paraloid" or "acryloid". It's plastic pellets that dissolve in acetone.... museums use it to seal up their bones. Awesome stuff, really cool. Depending on your mix you can seal the skull and it won't come out all shiny and plastic looking, very natural. Or if you want shiny you just mix more pellets into the acetone. I dip the whole head in a bucket of the stuff for a few minutes and it soaks into the bone an seals inside and out. If you need to clean up any drips or such a bit of acetone and it comes right off. You can even peel off what drips into your drip pan and reuse it, just peel it up and put it back into the acetone solution.
Hit the link and check out the info on this forum. Some really great stuff and much more complete info in there that I just kind skimmed over here. Real pros on there with a wealth of knowledge.
Z Barebow's Link
I attached a link to an elk which I did. I did use some primer, but it was "icing on the cake" and not the primary method to whiten.
Dats what da bugs are for.... =D