Another round of skulls

[Jody]

just finished another round of skulls. I never thought the grizzly bear skulls would come clean. They were improperly de greased about ten years ago and came to me pure yellow and still full of meat inside the jaws.
Just another way to help pay for my hunting habit.

 

[CAustin]

They look good now!

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

just finished another round of skulls. I never thought the grizzly bear skulls would come clean. They were improperly de greased about ten years ago and came to me pure yellow and still full of meat inside the jaws.
Just another way to help pay for my hunting habit.
View attachment 55204

That looks great.
Witold

 

[JustinC]

Nicely done, they look great!

 

[Jasper99]

Well done!

 

[UKHunter]

Nicely done. I would be interested to hear how you clean up your skulls. I do a fair amount each year but its always nice to get a new perspective or idea!

 

[Ragman]

They look awesome!

 

[Petrus Geldenhuys]

They look great, you should give us some pointers on how you do it

 

[bluey]

good job Jodi
that skull on your bottom right with its bottom jaw above it , is it a wolf?

 

[James.Grage]

nice work

 

[Jody]

Close Bluey, eastern coyote. Some of them are getting close to wolf size.
As far as a tip, pre soak in ammonia. Helps to degrease and turns all the junk to jelly. Which makes if separate from the bone a whole lot easier.

 

[Jasper99]

Thanks Jody!

 

[UKHunter]

Close Bluey, eastern coyote. Some of them are getting close to wolf size.
As far as a tip, pre soak in ammonia. Helps to degrease and turns all the junk to jelly. Which makes if separate from the bone a whole lot easier.

Interesting tip - thanks!

When I do mine I skin the head and remove the eyes, then soak in a bucket of water for 1/2 days. Then in a large pot of water I add washing detergent (helps remove oils, greese and fat from the skull) and simmer the skull (not boil), being sure the antlers stay out the water for around an hour.

Then I remove the skull and using a pressure washers I blast off any flesh that did not some off during the simmering, inside the brain cavity, etc. You need to be careful around the nasal bones and there might be the odd piece of cartilage that needs scraping off with a knife, but it is very effective and a fast way to clean up the skull.

Then whilst the skull is still damp you can add cotton wool pads dipped in hydrogen peroxide to the skull and leave over night, then remove. Then as the skull dries you are left with a nice clean, white skull.

 

[huntermn15]

Very nice work!

 

[Dragan N.]

@ UKHunter,
Have you ever tried maceration? I think it would be a lot gentler on those little munjatics...