I have done this twice, the skull comes out of the ground with no meat on it but the oil and fat gets absorbed into the skull and leaves it with a yellowish color and you cannot bleach it out. I paid my taxidermist to do a Euro for me last year and it was $100. The next one I think I will try the simmer method myself.
It 's easy to do , peel the skin , remove the meat , boil , turn the meat clean , wash and put in a bowl , pour hydrogen peroxide , may not be too strong , I now use 3 % , because you can not buy a more powerful , it is forbidden to me ! You can use cotton wool to wrap the bone beneath the horn and other parts that are not covered by hydrogen , hydrogen must be careful to not come to the horn , otherwise it will whiten . which is weaker hydrogen that it need longer leave it submerged . If you have your possession , you may well tie the tree , removing the skin and let the birds , flies , worms and ants do the rest for you , they will all nicely cleaned , of course, takes time , later to wash and whiten . for mounting on a board I use wood screws , which are placed on the back side of the board in the skull . The most important thing is that you should not be seen as a trophy attached . also can make the head of a fox , wolf , bear , coyote .... etc. . something like we do in Europe . Some of my works :
Yep, like I said, he's pricey just to clean. If you have him do the mounts, he's actually quite reasonable. No reason to really pay to have them just cleaned really. His business has boomed in the three years he's been open, so he's doing something right. He started it as a part time gig (works for Pepsi full time) for some extra cash. He's quitting and going full time shortly...in three years. He had piles of racks waiting to be done when I was there. Elk, caribou, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, etc,.
Is he doing them himself or sending them out? There's a place here you can take them to for $50. Or, you can give it to the taxidermist, who sends it to them, and he charges $120. He's making more being the middle man than the guy doing it with beetles.
I believe he has them (he did when he first started...actually a family member started it in 2007). So, he's making an even bigger killing:D
That is interesting to hear.. Most of mine come out brownish white, but I have 2 that are very yellow. I guess now I know why.. Eventually I will hopefully kill one big enough to mount, but until then, to they backyard they go.
Here are two skulls I had done last year. I didn't have time to boil them myself but the guy I had do the water transfer printing also boils them. Each skull cost $100 ($50 for boiling and $50 for the water transfer printing). I think he does a hell of a job and he also does guns and pretty much anything else you can think of. Wrapped In Ink - Home
I have done a couple myself by boiling and cleaning like most have mentioned. Last year I had my buck dipped in snow camo. I thought it turned out pretty good.
My FIL dropped off a buck for my to process last night. I will do a how to thread on boiling the skull in a few days
Ya... Totally spaced it, lol. Fortunately, my wife killed a small mule deer thanksgiving morning. I'll do a pictorial on that one.
I have done several of them and have found that you really dont even need to skin out the head and clean on it first. I just throw the entire thing into a pot to simmer (NOT hard boil). After about an hour you can pretty much start peeling everything off easily. I continue with that process until it is ready for the pressure washer. Then, use a whitening past from a taxi supply or go get the stronger peroxide from a local beautician. During the simmer process, if you want the best result you need to use something along the lines of Dawn dish soap and change the water frequently. The dish soap will help degrease and changing the water will also help remove the grease that stains the bone. Too hard of a boil and you begin to weaken the bone and loosen the teeth.
