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ok so Im hunting out of state and need to remove brains from a skull before I bring it into my state, what's the best way to remove the brains
Has anyone tried a high pressure car wash. I think it would work well enough but boy would it be messy, not to mention the strange looks you would get.
Scramble and than pressure wash at car wash. Shawn
Use the tools god has so graciously given you...a finger or a stick and then rinse it out at the nearest creek.
Rain gear, face mask, glasses and a power washer. :)
If it's unboiled it's very difficult to get the membrane lining the brain cavity out. Don't know if they consider that or not. I simply knock a hold in the bottom of the brain pan and dig them out. Bent wire and the drill works too.
I use a nozzle on my garden hose like the one in the link https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sun-Joe-Solid-Brass-Sweeper-Jet-Hose-Nozzle-SJI-1JHN/206383827 It is messy but works really well without the need to scramble anything. Be sure the hole into the brain cavity is facing away from you and the only part of you that should get anything on is you hand.
I used a high pressure washer on a moose a couple years ago . It worked great . Better be away from buildings and were goggles and rain suit though .??
I think my boss had that done I’ll have to ask him how they did it and get back to y’all lol. In seriousness local car wash works well.
I'm assuming you want to keep the entire skull for Euro. You can use a saw (Sawzall is great, but I've done it remotely with a variety of saws) to expand the spinal cord hole down and even to extend into the roof of the mouth area to make a hole large enough to use a disposable plastic spoon, stick or other to pull out the brain. The enlarged hole won't show on a Euro. If you need to screw a bracket into the back of the skull for hanging etc. due to the hole being bigger that won't show either.
Remember, the whole reason for this is due to the potential of disease. Whether you believe or don't, it would be prudent to wear rubber gloves at minimum, perhaps even eye and face protection.
Scramble, boil, hazmat suit, pressure wash
I got a galvanized bucket from the hardware store in town and dug a recessed pit for my single burner stove to boil out an elk head in camp. It took about a day and two bottles of propane. I picked off the exterior stuff and the nasal cavity pulled right out.
Took it to a car wash and pressure washed the brains out with a bit of scrambling with a probe. I like the idea of an old coat hanger in a drill for that job I think it would have gone smoother. Sorry for the pun??
Be careful of what the regulations actually say. Most of them now say that "ALL" tissue be removed from the skull. That's a lot of work and it's not just a matter of removing the brain. You could also get dinged if you're transporting it to another area just to get to a car wash. What about the issue of potentially spreading CWD prions all over the car wash? Where's the waste water going? I don't know if I'd like to explain that to law enforcement?
Are we assuming you are talking about a skull mount? Or are you planning on a shoulder mount?
Saw out skull plate. Clean skull plate. Not worth the hassel for a euro. Probably not legal any way you do a euro short of full blown boil and chemical treatment anyway. Assuming you will be transporting the skull.
I cleaned one out and then used a propane torch inside to burn out any residue.
Great idea DL.....BTW are you the same DL from a popular (not so much anymore) taxidermy site?
The crazy thing is bleach doesn't kill prions, burning doesn't either. So "cleaned skull plate" or "no tissue" isn't really removing the potential problem. It's just making us all feel good about moving ones trophy from one place to another.
It’s just humoring the authorities. It’s the same thinking that banning guns will stop gun violence.
I suspect the only Legal way is to leave it with a taxidermy shop in that state and have them do the European for you
Trying to do it yourself would probably not be legal. There is no way you will be able to get all of potential Prion material off in the field or at a car wash. So suspect you would be breaking the law and risk brining CWD to your state if you attempt to do it yourself.
When CWD is everywhere, we won’t have to worry about it. I left a deer head with a taxi in Wyoming last year. He boiled it out and shipped it to me. The law says that you must leave the spine, etc in the field. I saw plenty of deer getting a ride out of the woods having only been gutted.
CWD is everywhere. It just hasn’t been tested for where it’s not yet prevalent
Sorry; but that is not true
How does anyone know if it’s not being tested for?
Because it is being tested for. Thousands in Texas including at least one every year from my ranch. One doe that sure looked like she had CWD, weak, emaciated. All Negative except in West Texas and Panhandle (migrated from New Mexico) and around deer farms, where it got there in a trailer.
Here is a link:
https://tvmdl.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/EWF031rvsd.pdf
This in part of it:
Chronic Wasting Disease in Texas The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has sampled for CWD since 2002 from hunter harvest, road kill and clinical animals. This sampling represents Texas’ proactive stance on the issue. To date, more than 32,000 samples have been collected from free-ranging white-tailed and mule deer across the state. More than 12,000 samples have been collected by permitted deer breeders in Texas as part of the surveillance program to move deer. In 2012, CWD was detected in free-ranging mule deer in the Hueco Mountains in El Paso and Hudspeth counties in West Texas. To contain the disease, TPWD responded by restricting unnatural movement of animals and imposing mandatory sampling of hunter harvested animals in the area. Enhanced surveillance continues in that area to determine the extent of the disease. To date, seven mule deer have tested positive for CWD— all have been located in the Hueco Mountains area. In July 2015, TPWD and the Texas Animal Health Commission confirmed a case of CWD in a captive white-tailed deer in Medina County. This was the first identified instance of the disease in captive white-tailed deer in Texas. Follow-up testing found three more positive animals in the herd. A deer from this facility that was moved to another facility, subsequently also tested positive—for a total of five. Efforts are underway to determine the source of the animal’s infection, test animals that have left the index facility and to formulate management strategies. TPWD is also increasing surveillance of free-ranging deer throughout the state.
I did the boil, pressure wash out to satisfy the DFG rules and authorities. Funny thing is when a crossed the California border the station officer saw the skull on the trailer and waved me thru. I think if you try to meet the spirit of the law then they won’t hassle you, even in CA.
That’s a good point about washing the prions into the waste water, but I wonder whether most western states care enough to get fussy about that. In my case 80-90% of the brain matter was scooped out in camp. Did the wash out on the way home in the first town we came to (Grand Junction).
You are testing animals....not the soil. The CWD prion could very well be everywhere....in the soil. That is pretty much what put the kabosh on a lot of DNR`s CWD herd management strategies.
Just give it a Compound. Effects are almost instantaneous.
My point was, there are more places/ area that arent testing for CWD than there are. And like mentioned above, maybe the beta testing isnt in the right category.
So, if testing isnt taking place everywhere, and not in the right category [everywhere], there is really not enough information to know that its not everywhere
Dunno. Im sure Ive eaten my share of CWD over the past few decades. But ya gotta die of sumthin'
Good thing I wasn’t drinking anything when I caught that one GF! Definitely would have blown out my nose!!!
Just saw this post and thought some of you may be interested, I have struggled for the last several years to try and do things legally with the transportation of my skulls across state lines as I think euro mounts are a lot nicer than skull plates. So I created a solution to my problem and also have them for sale. I have created a transportable, self contained boiling system that works great with elk and deer. It is simple to bring with, set up and boil for up to 5hrs on 1 single 5lb LP tank. That way you can return home with a completed mount or two ready for display on the wall. Most Fish and Game regulations state that the skull must be clean and finished taxidermy work, with no regulations yet on what "clean is"
If CWD was everywhere, or in more places than we even know. Then why don't we see the emaciated, dying deer and elk?
Bridger Boiler, that's a nice set up you have there! With the right setup, you can cook, clean, power wash a skull in camp before coming home. If you have the time, you can have a "finished" european mount right in camp.
Ask AOC how they removed hers.
We don’t have enough info to say CWD is not on the moon because we haven’t tested there right?
We should deal with facts, not maybes. I get it, I do, where there are few facts we get into maybes. And there are not enough facts about CWD to get it nailed down. But maybes don’t help us
Midwest, who can say she ever had one.
Shipping an elk head would be seriously expensive unless you cut off the antlers at the bases then reattached them. Coming into California we have to go through Ag check stations I’ve never been asked or checked for having any game. The secret is don’t look like a hunter. Wash your truck, shave and wear street clothes. No hats or camo. Look like a tourist.
Saw the antlers off and put them on a Mountain Mike skull kit when you get home
Check this out:
From AzG&F:
Hunters from out of state may only bring the following animal parts into Arizona according to the following requirements of Arizona Game and Commission Rule R12-4-305:
Meat that is boneless or has been commercially butchered and packaged Finished taxidermy mounts Skulls that are mounted or clean skulls/skull plates without any meat or soft tissue Antlers that are hard-horned or velvet antlers that have been taxidermied Hides without any meat or soft tissue Teeth without any tissue attached
It took all of 30 seconds to get clarification from the Wyoming Chief Game Warden before last years hunt...
"If I cape and remove the eyes and brains from my Bulls skull have I met the CWD requirements?"
"Yes"
They then added the word "skull" to this years cwd section of the regulations.
Just received this from AZ....
Hunters from out of state may only bring the following animal parts into Arizona according to the following requirements of Arizona Game and Commission Rule R12-4-305:
Meat that is boneless or has been commercially butchered and packaged Finished taxidermy mounts Skulls that are mounted or clean skulls/skull plates without any meat or soft tissue Antlers that are hard-horned or velvet antlers that have been taxidermied Hides without any meat or soft tissue Teeth without any tissue attached
Out-of-state hunters coming to hunt in Arizona should check with their state about importation rules. They can also check the CWD alliance website: http://cwd-info.org/ and select the state from the map.
boiler , that's pretty cool!
my method involves stealth and camo: no brains detected, or even suspected within a few miles of this rig. . .even stench is overlooked, oddly enough
Don't you just miss the toxic portion of the bowsite?
For Wyoming antelope back into Canada, I take a large pot that I use for boiling crabs. Scrap off as much flesh as possible, scramble the brians and shake out. Drive a screwdriver into the ear canals and pry them out after the first simmer. Flushing the cavity is way easier then. If you plan to "car wash" the skull along the way, keep it wet after simmering. I've usually been able to get the membrane out of the simmered cavity with needle nose pliers on euros.
Go overboard and you'll likely have no problems. Trying to "sneak by" often leads to scrutiny and hassles.
I really have no faith in the supposed "authorities". The DNR....including the biologists... in Wisconsin had implemented a CWD strategy for a decade which included eradication as they felt a certain age and class of deer were the culprit.
After a 12 year study by University of Wisconsin they came out and said "it`s in the soil and not being spread by the culprit deer".....the DNR`s response was...."Ooops, never mind". After filling up dumpsters with perfectly healthy deer for 5 years and destroying our herds.
A hunter has their finger on the pulse of the deer herds....the DNR and so called experts do not.
Call congresswoman AOC. She removed her brains without a scar.
I thought that was Ike's Subaru there for a minute...Lol Very similar...
Pronghorns do not get CWD.
But I still have to follow the protocol to bring any big game animal into Canada. And it's getting more attention with all the talk about disease.
I’ve been fortunate because every elk I’ve ever shot was brainless.
I just cape the head and saw the antlers off leaving the skull plate intact with the antlers at about the eyes.
Take the ivories out and I am gone...….lot's less weight to backpack off the mountain too.
Good luck, Robb
Alabama won't even allow the skull back across state lines. If I am lucky enough, I have to remove the skull plate and only bring it and the hide back. All meat has to be de-boned.
I didn't see anyone mention an air hose... that is the quickest and cleanest way to do it. It takes 5 seconds to completely remove the brain from any skull. Ed F
I don't have a pressure washer or air compressor in elk camp so I scrambled the brain with a wire and then dumped boiling water in the rear hole, dumped it out and repeated the process a few times. It came pretty clean.
WapitiBob, I remember we had this discussion last year...
I haven't read this year's regulations yet but in your opinion what effect does adding the word "skull" to the cwd section have?
Adding "skull" allows a person to take the head home for a euro mount; prior to, it was limited to skull plate.
(c) Only the following parts of any deer, elk or moose harvested from any hunt area taken in Wyoming may be transported to other states, provinces or countries: edible portions with no part of the spinal column or head attached; cleaned hide without the head; < or skull > or skull plate; or antlers that have been cleaned of all meat and brain tissue; teeth; or, finished taxidermy mounts. Whole deer, elk and moose carcasses harvested from any hunt area shall not be transported out of Wyoming.
Waipatibob- Oregon regulations don’t read that “skull” is allowed. Does this mean only skull plates can cross the Oregon boarder?
"Importation of the following is allowed in both Alabama and Tennessee: deer meat that has been completely deboned; cleaned skull plates with attached antlers, if no visible brain or spinal cord tissue is present; raw capes, if no visible brain or spinal cord tissue is present; upper canine teeth, if no root structure or other soft tissue is present; and finished taxidermy products or tanned hides. Velvet antlers are illegal to import into Alabama unless they are part of a finished taxidermy product."
I just this morning received the above as part of an email notification from the Alabama Department of Conservation. I am still uncertain if a boiled and pressure washed skull minus the mandible would be considered a "finished taxidermy product" if done by me. I hope to get this clarified as I have an antelope and mule deer hunt in Wyoming in a little over a month and would like Euro/skull mounts if successful.
Looks like we are all gonna have to start travelling incognito.
I emailed Oregon odfw this week asking the same question that you are posing dizzy, can a finished euro mount be completed by me out of state and brought across state lines. I leave for Wyoming in a week and dad and I are both hoping to bring back euros but the Oregon regs say only cleaned skull plate.
A finished euro is a finished euro, no matter who does it. Do the regs not say that a finished euro can be brought back to Oregon? The regs say finished taxidermy heads. They need to specify whether that means a shoulder mount only or if that includes euros. To me, a head is a head. Pretty hard to argue that it doesn’t include a skull.
I may be wrong but believe most shoulder mounts only include a skull plate and not an entire skull.
You’re correct about it being a skull plate in a shoulder mount. But when they say a finished taxidermy head, could that not also include a euro mount?
Talked to a Bio for my Elk area today...They’re not even testing unless you absolutely want them too...They’re more interested in Deer!
