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Looked into the Bridger boiler. No way I’m paying $550 for that. Does anyone have a lesser expensive pot and burner system? My grill has a stove burner. Not sure if I could use that. But I need ideas of what pot to get. Thanks
Have you considered power washing the skull (removes all the meat, fat, oils, and cartridge) and then applying peroxide paste? It works pretty good.
I'd think the burned on your grill would work just fine. Wait tell the wife is gone and do in kitchen. This is one of those times is better to ask for forgiveness than permission and after you've done it once the second time won't be as big of a deal to her. That is what I do. Finish at car wash and peroxide gel for a few hours or overnight.
That's my antelope from this year had done except for the peroxide same day I killed it and I didn't get home until about 2 PM.
I have done a bunch. Use the home stove top and a large4-6 gallon pot. Remove as much of the flesh as possible, place head in pot, but do not cover base of antlers. Simmer for 3-5 hours, take out once in a while to remove flesh, simmer more, 2-3 hours, take off more flesh, eyes, etc. Do not over simmer as the nose/jaw bone will become too brittle. Use a hanger wire to clean out brains. Can use a low power washer to finish but not too strong. Dry and then use 90 plus peroxide to whiten.
A turkey fryer works for me. Dawn dish soap and OxiClean in the water. Power wash after a slow simmer for about 2-3 hours. Hydrogen peroxide for 2 days to bleach the skull.
Matt
i'm going to be odd man out and recommend the mountain mike's replica skulls. i have a done a few kills and sheds and for me, they look and work fine.
Masceration method. Put it in a tub with water and an aquarium heater. Check it at 4wks and then 6wks. Peroxide paste for a few nights and you are done. No babysitting a boiler for a half day
Looked into the Bridger boiler. No way I’m paying $550 for that. Does anyone have a lesser expensive pot and burner system? My grill has a stove burner. Not sure if I could use that. But I need ideas of what pot to get. Thanks
Sorry for the double post. What gal tub works best?
I use a big canning pot for whitetails, bears, and antelope. I havent got to do anything bigger yet ;)
Nasty. Find someone with bugs to eat it all off. No muss, no fuss.
Trick to it is simmering and not boiling the water. I haven’t tried but I think a sous vive heater would work in a cooler or plastic storage container. They can be had for about $100.
If anybody’s done this, how did it do?
"Nasty. Find someone with bugs to eat it all off. No muss, no fuss."
Masceration is Nasty. Even dangerous with the infection potential.
Simmering a fresh skull is no more "nasty" than skinning a buck. Doing it yourself by simmering is rewarding, even fun. More so than keeping stink bugs,
I’ve used the burner on my grille, Coleman gas stove, and turkey/ fish fryer propane burner. Anything that will bring the water to a good simmer. Do not boil. I remove all hide, and as much meat/ flesh as I can. Simmer a couple hours, scrape off whatever I can, simmer a little longer, let it cool a bit, then use a power washer to clean good. After the skull drys good, I use Volume 40 peroxide ( almost a gel), brush on the skull making sure to keep off the antlers, and let sit 24 hours. It will dry to a powder, then I use an old tooth brush to brush most of it off, the rinse good and let dry. Repeat the Volume 40 if you want it whiter.
I use a 10.5 qt aluminum pot from a fish fryer to simmer deer skulls in.
Sorry for the double post. What gal tub works best?
Here’s a couple in approximately the 10.5 qt aluminum pots. Easy to keep most of the antlers out so it doesn’t change their color.
Check out youtube "u.s. skull hunter".
https://youtu.be/YoMLietd3KQ?si=J1K5FdslnAkgHRr2
Maceration is the only way to go for at home DIY. Any cooking method will give you poor results. It may " work" but it will be armature at best
"Any cooking method will give you poor results. It may " work" but it will be armature at best"
This is total nonsense. If done correctly, the results will be the same as any other method. The simmering and cleaning takes a half day max. Bleaching takes a few days, but doesn't require any labor while it soaks. You can have a perfectly respectable Euro mount in just few days, instead of waiting months for other methods. Plus it's fun and rewarding to do it yourself. I'm guessing you've never done one
Matt.
bentstick, what burner is that?
and are those 10.5 qt pots big enough for elk skulls?
Sivart, the steel drum I use for elk (pictured above) is 23" in diameter and 16" deep. The antlers rest perfectly on the top edge of the drum without submersing the burrs. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where you can find one like it, but at least having the dimensions should help.
Matt
Power washer and peroxide alone will not remove all the flesh and grease. You will attract bugs.
Galvanized tub will work and they come in many sozes and shapes, obliong works well for elk, round for deer and pronghorn.
Yeah been doping them for years and they look like pros did our euros, no trouble getting them right if you take your time. Degreasing is the key to not yellowing, Dawn works or the detergent booster powder. Be careful with Oxi, it can make the skull brittle.
Regular old burner and gal. pots for the spouse for years now.
One I did for my best friend 2 years ago.
One I did for my best friend 2 years ago.
My sons from last season
My sons from last season
This comes up now and then. I won’t bash or belittle anyone’s method because it all comes down to what you want in the end. Boiling and power washing is fast and very effective, but you do loose some of the fine bone from the nasal cavity and sinuses, and often the entire end of the nose. Also, you won’t be getting all of the grease out of the skull because that takes time, and that grease will eventually leach out to the surface and show up as yellow spots. You can cover that up with white paint of some sort if you want.
I’m with Shiloh on this. Maceration followed by an extended period of degreasing is the method I prefer because it gives me the most intact bone white skull in the end. Yes it is nasty, yes it stinks and yes it takes time. Like I said it’s just what you want in the end. I had my taxidermist do my first euro and while I like it ok, he put some kind of acrylic on it after the beetles and it looks like plastic to me. Not a fan of that look.
I strip off the hair, meat and eyeballs that I can and then soak the skull in a bucket with an aquarium heater for as long as it takes for everything to fall off. Rinse well the put in a clean tub with water and put a half a bottle of dawn soap. I use a bucket heater and a timer to keep the temp at about 110. This breaks down the grease which will float to the top of the water. I do this until I stop getting grease. The last step is to let it soak in peroxide for about 24 hours and then let sit out on a sunny day to dry. Works great and it the process museums use, at least that’s what I’m told.
Boil and pick off everything used old Coleman stove and side burner on grill smaller pot for deer and bear, I’ve done a bunch over the years.
IF anyone has a good burner they can recommend, I'd appreciate.
Cabelas has a large turkey fryer kit on sale for $59. You get the pot and the burner. They get even cheaper if you can wait until Black Friday.
Same as Sheds pic above for the bigger stuff like elk and moose. Old galvanized garden tub on a turkey fryer burner.
Poor quality is relative. For some simmering will do just fine. But there is no comparison in final product between a skull stripped and degreased via maceration. More bones intact, not brittle/less brittle, no smell, grease not baked it, and whiter.
I've seen unbleached macerated skulls that are whiter than bleached skulls that used the simmer method
Add baking soda to the water and don't boil hard just simmer. Dawn dish soap in the water too. It's takes time, usually about 4 or 5 beers. Personally I dont bleach, I like the off white finish. Don't rush it it takes elbow grease. The baking soda will turn the meat Into a gel almost making it easier to remove. Keep taking it out and remove whT you can. Also if the skull has dried blood in the nose, soak it overnight at least to try and re hydrate before you boil it. Do it asap after killing the deer
I've done quite a few of them by simmering and pressure washing and they have all turned out great. However, I have 3 antelope bucks I am doing right now that have been the most problematic ones I have ever done. The have a couple of small areas above the teeth that are yellowed on the skull. None of them are whitening well either. I use 40 developer and the powder to make a paste and cover with saran wrap. Its odd to say the least as I have never had issues with deer or antelope and grease.
I did the maceration method on a fallow skull that was given to me. It was actually dead for a while and sat out in the elements for months, but the skin and some meat were hardened onto the skull. I felt the best thing would be to soak. It was over this summer, so I just put in a bucket of water with a contractor bag over in the sun. Every week I'd partially change out the water with hot water from the tap and remove some bigger pieces of flesh from the skull and spray with some pressure from the hose. Last couple of soaks included dawn dish detergent and the last soak included bleach just to make sure any possible bacteria was dead. It turned out well. My question for those that use this method and live in areas where its cold during hunting season, do you wait for spring/summer or start right away with the process? Doesn't sound like an aquarium heater would keep up with freezing temps and it certainly needs to stay outside.
Sivart, no the 10.5 qt pot would not be big enough for an elk. It’s really at its limits for a big deer. The 2burner propane stove is like this Camp Chef from Cabelas, but I’m not sure what brand it is. I think I gave $79.95 for mine 4 or 5 years ago, and have seen many on sale for $89 and $99 since then. I use it a lot for camping ( the real reason I bought it), and it works great in the garage for simmering skulls. You just don’t want to rush them by boiling, that’s when the bone falls apart.
Soccer, have you ever done a euro mount using either simmering or macerating methods?
Matt
Soccer, I was going to ask the same question. Have you personally done any by either method. Can you post photos of yours? I live in the city, and I guarantee you I would have unhappy neighbors using the macerating method, let alone no place to dump the water every couple of days for 15 or 20 days or more. Simmering I can do one in 4 or 5 hours, hit the basically clean skull with a power washer to remove a few clingers, and let dry. The I can take my time, use the Volume 40 peroxide solution to whiten, and if needed use the solution on any stubborn spots. Comes out as white as any I’ve seen. But yes, quality is in the eye of the beholder.
I did one a couple years ago by maceration. Waited until summer put in 5 gallon buck with black bag over it. Change water a few times. Took weeks maybe a couple months. It stunk still had to power wash and bleach. No noticeable difference than the ones I boiled/simmered. Was a pain in the ass. Still think beetles look best, but not going to keep them and to easy to pay someone to do.
I doubt soccermomny could figure out how to gut a deer.
Cheap turkey cooker and a porcelain canner works great for deer size skulls
Have simmered/ boiled a pile of skulls over the years. Typically the turkey fryer/bucket method with oxiclean and dawn.
Just saw a really interesting method today… steaming then cleaning.
Take the valve off a propane bottle and add a pipe nipple. Attach a washing machine hose.
Fill with water and put on the turkey fryer on high.
Put the head in a plastic trash bag and tape the hose in with it.
When the bag fills with steam, poke a few vent holes and turn down the heat till it just keeps the bag inflated.
For a moose, about an hour. Pull out and pressure wash to knock off all the stuff, then peroxide.
I was impressed!
Would expect to be done with getting the meat all off on an elk in in around an hour and a deer in less.
tobywon, I’m in Southern Illinois and it does get cold. I start the day the deer is killed and I’ve never had an issue with the aquarium heater not keeping up. I usually put the skull in a 5 gallon bucket then put that in a garbage can with the lid on, usually stuff some fiberglass insulation around and on top of the bucket. I have neighbors but we aren’t right on top of each other and I’ve never had anyone complain about smells, not even from my wife. I run an extension cord to the back side of my spare garage to help minimize any odors. It’s a nasty business but I don’t mind because I like the results. I learned it from a good friend and hunting buddy who is a retired veterinarian and is meticulous about his euros.
Thanks For the info deerhunter72!!
White Bone Creations on YouTube has tons of great how to videos. I’ve done only one elk, but dozens of whitetails and hogs by watching these videos. They all turn out great.
Best method I have seen is putting them in a shrimp pot (did this in Alaska) and the sea lice clean them up as good as beetles and then whiten them. Plus you are already doing the shrimp pot’s anyhow.
