Cleaning heads?

wildfowler.250

Well-Known Member
Hi, I am going to have a go at cleaning a roe head but Im not entirely sure where to start?

Skin, boil for a while? :eek: and then power hose?


Ideally I'd like the cleanest way possible...don't fancy scooping out eyes and brains if it can be avoided :rolleyes:



Any help is very much appreciated!


Cheers
 
Did my first one recently... :) Skin (try to get as much of the skin & fur out from under the coronets as possible), boil for 20 minutes - try not to let any part of the antlers (including the coronets) go under the water (I used some chopsticks to support the head). Pick off/out loose bits, wrap (carefully) with cotton wool and soak cotton wool with bleach/peroxide to get the white finish...

Haven't done the peroxide bit yet, but the boiling out worked...

Good luck!

Pippa
 
Hi, I am going to have a go at cleaning a roe head but Im not entirely sure where to start?

Skin, boil for a while? :eek: and then power hose?


Ideally I'd like the cleanest way possible...don't fancy scooping out eyes and brains if it can be avoided :rolleyes:



Any help is very much appreciated!


Cheers

If you cant stand popping eyes and scooping white fatty brains out send it to me I will do it for £40 fully prepared .

Failing which stick it in the ground for a month and let the wassssms do the job for you
:rofl:
 
Thanks for the replies!


I'll try the whole boiling thing out and see how it goes! The other thing I was thiking about was leaving it out for maggots to clean but I wasn't too shure?
 
hi,

i do mine as follows,

skin the whole head
remove bottom jaw

draw a line with a knife through the centre of the ear on both sides
saw from both sides till half way.
scope out the brain with a tee spoon
cut out the eyes and the remove as much meat from the skull as possible
boil in a pot of water with soap suds and washing liquid. (these mask the smell)
once the meat is soft i start to remove it bit by bit.
i also use a pair of pliers to remove the inner nose area and bone.
once all clean i leave to dry for 24 hrs on top of the boiler
once done i get the head i use hydrogen peroxide 6% from the chemist £.80p for a 200ml bottle
i then either with toilet tissue or cotton wool cover the whole head filling eye cavity's and brain
i pour the whole bottle over the head
i leave it for 8 hours
i then rinse in cold water and leave to dry

f.



View attachment 1117
 
Skin the head.
Remove the lwer jaw and if required cut the skull (long or short nose)
Boil head for an hour with washing powder.
If you have one available, then powerwash, but this can be messy. If not, you are in for an arduous time just picking away at it.
Get some peroxide, the stronger the better. The stuff you get from chemists etc is a waste of time.
Pour over and let dry.
 
If you want clean or easy, then send it off and have it done for you. No matter which method you use there will be some "gooey" bits. The cleanest (but not necessarilly easiest) method I found was to skin the head and take out the eyes (if you're confident enough to cut it without a jig you can leave the eyes in). Then freeze it and cut it while it's solid. Throw away the bottom of the skull and boil out the top in a solution of bi-carb. I've never tried using detergent.
I've always found the peroxide you get from the chemists to be perfectly adequate.
 
Skin, boil, jetwash, - seemples!
The jetwash bit can be a bit messy but gets all the crap out of the skull and nasal cavities which otherwise stay in there and can be a bit whiffy!
The jetwash tends to spread bits of cooked deer head all over the garden. I have two terriers which think this is a great game and spend their time clearing it all up for me!
The chemist Peroxide works well but not as quickly. Leave it in overnight submerged or longer for the same effect, but don't get it on the antlers.
 
Skin the head.
Remove the lwer jaw and if required cut the skull (long or short nose)
Boil head for an hour with washing powder.
If you have one available, then powerwash, but this can be messy. If not, you are in for an arduous time just picking away at it.
Get some peroxide, the stronger the better. The stuff you get from chemists etc is a waste of time.
Pour over and let dry.


Jinzy has hit it on the nail, only thing is if you are going to let the dogs scavenge - leave out the washing powder
 
Thanks for all the replies! They have all been really helpful :D

Im going to try skinning it shortly, do I just lop off the ears? and how do i remove the eyes :eek:?


Then I just power hose the back of the skull to get the brains out?


This could be nasty :lol:
 
the way i was shown was to stick the antlers in the ground and skin the head that way, up side down if you know what i mean.

f

ps soft ground for Christs sake ha ha in turf ha ha
 
You can cut off the ears separately or take them off as you're skinning the skull.

I take the eyes out after the heads been boiled - cut the membrane round the eye socket, cut through the optic nerve at the back, then pull.....plop!

Regarding the power hose - I'd suggest you get the rest of the family to stand well clear unless they enjoy getting a covering of roe confetti ;) You'll probably find that after you've power hosed there is still a membrane left in the skull cavity. Use some thin-nosed pliers to grab this and remove.

willie_gunn
 
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