Couple of questions, NDR

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Edward Stevenson

Member
Guys, you are a great source of info, thanks in advance for the help. I have heard of a rough rule of thumb for how much usable meat you can get from a big game animal, like 40% or whatever. Also, has anyone here ever made their ow european, or skull mount. If so, how or do you know of a wbsite with good instructions. Thanks, Steve
 
Steve, I am sure there are instructions somewhere, but I just set a stock pot on the turkey fryer filled it with water and the skull and let it boil. Carve a little, and let it boil some more. Plan other nearby activities and a few beers it is a slow process. The alternative, is to build a wire cage that mice can not get into. Set the skull/cage out in the woods. on the ground, partially in the ground/leaves is best. Make sure it is chained to a tree so critters don't drag it off. The bugs will do a great job on it in a couple months.

I have done several deer and bear boiled. Never did the cage, but have heard it described several times and should work fine as it happens all the time.
 
I've done a couple similarly to Dave. I cut/cleaned/scraped as much flesh off as I could, then boiled the skull. I actually soaked my last one in a water/bleach solution for a couple days, figuring the bleach would kill any bacteria that might still be around.
 
DO NOT BOIL THE SKULL! You want to simmer but do not boil it! Boiling will cause the bones to loosen and can cause other damage to the skull. clean as much meat off as possible and simmer the skull. You can use 40% peroxide to whiten the skull once its cleaned. Peroxide can be purchased at any beauty supply store. The best way to clean a skull is scarab beatles if you can find someone who has them. But again do not boil it simmer it.
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[/font] [font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Skin the skull and cut off the biggest chunks of meat as described above. You can then either soak the skull for a week or so in a bucket of water to soften up the tissue (which is preferred), or go ahead and simmer it in a pot with water and sal soda (sodium carbonate), or baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) works well too.
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[/font] [font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Never boil a skull as this can do some serious damage to the bones. Just simmer the skull in the brew until the meat comes off easily, almost like cooking a soup bone. The time for this varies according to how dry the meat is on the skull. That's where presoaking the skull in water cuts down on the simmering time.
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[/font] [font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Once the skull is simmered long enough to where the meat can be peeled off easily, take it out and clean it under running water. Dry the skull in the sun for a few days and then use the peroxide if you want it really white.[/font] Definitely you want to do this outside since it is going to smell.
 
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Usable meat percentage will vary depending on a number of factors like the amount of meat lost to shot damage, how thoroughly you butcher the carcass, and whether you use any organ meat such as heart or liver. I tend to try to get every usable scrap off of big game animals including the rib meat and neck, while many folks just use the backstraps, shoulders and hams. The neck on an elk for example can weigh 30 or 40 pounds, and a lot of that is usable and delicious stew and tamale meat! I also save the long bones for stocks and as dog treats. I'd say on average your meat yield will be between 40 to 60 percent of live weight.
 
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Ditto on the no boil advice unless you want a tooflus moount. Experience speaking, teeth can be epoxied back in. ;-)
 
I've done 3 skulls using the boiling method,,and yeah, I discovered that if you leave em in there too long the bones do start falling off and coming apart,,,,I way over boiled my first skull, then the second I still over boiled, but I think I got it just right on the third,,,it's better to spend more time scraping and poking the skull and less time in the pot,,,all three of my skulls did turn out great however, I had to fish some pieces out of the pot from the first two and super glue them back in place, I also ran super glue down the seems of the skulls and the teeth just to make sure everything stayed together,,

Don't over boil and (I'm sure it's too late for this one) cut the deers head off, skin it and throw it in the pot right away,,,,it's much easier to get the stuff off when it's all fresh,,

and look forward to experiencing something that's really disgusting

enjoy!
 
Guys, you are a great source of info, thanks in advance for the help. I have heard of a rough rule of thumb for how much usable meat you can get from a big game animal, like 40% or whatever. Also, has anyone here ever made their ow european, or skull mount. If so, how or do you know of a wbsite with good instructions. Thanks, Steve

Some good advice on here, Steve. Years ago I used to work for Denver Jonas Brothers taxidermy while living in Alaska. We had to prepare many European mounts. What has been said here is sage advice especially about NOT boiling but simmering. If you have a bear skull, especially from a big bruiser, there is a tremendous amount of flesh around the zygomatic arch. You just need to be patient as you work away at it. This arch is found on both sides of the face. Gives a Kodiak brown bear's head that bushel basket look.
Al
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If you have a beauty supply business near by, you can find a peroxide powder to make into a paste to use for bleaching the skull. It works well for skulls with antlers and allows for detailed "painting" that won't splash onto the parts you do not want bleached.

If any teeth fall out you can easily glue them back in with various quick set epoxies.

Bear skulls have a lot of "grease" in the bone and need additional work to keep them from being something other than white once bleached. Some guys use acetone, others use long (months) soaks in hot water and Dawn.

Taxidermy.net has lots of helpful info for how to handle skulls on their sub forum.

http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php/board,17.0.html

This bear skull project is both cool and a little bothersome.

http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php/topic,295289.0.html
 
Guys, you are a great source of info, thanks in advance for the help. I have heard of a rough rule of thumb for how much usable meat you can get from a big game animal, like 40% or whatever. Also, has anyone here ever made their ow european, or skull mount. If so, how or do you know of a wbsite with good instructions. Thanks, Steve'

Steve, here are two shots of my Kodiak skull. Took this bear in late October of 1973. I simmered this skull in hot water for quite a while. As I told you about the zygomatic arches, this area contains a ton of meat/fat etc. Take your time if you want a bear skull. I coated mine only with Elmer's glue. The teeth happen to crack and break so this was my way of saving them. As for her teeth, she was the second oldest bear on record back then and she didn't have much time left on this Earth of ours. She was 18 years old.
Al

PS
Seems that we used to take an old wire coat hanger, put a hook in it to help take out the brains through the nose opening. It's been a while.

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