If your wife objects to the smell of a head boiling on the stove ( or if you dont want to alert the neighbours) , put a couple of PEELED onions in with the water when you boil the head. It makes all the difference. The smell is more like stew, than boiled brains, but you must peel the onions otherwise it can stain the skull.
How long underground? (well, in a big planter)
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spearhead
Well-Known Member
I'm not telling mine to button it, I have to beg enough as it is, I'm not giving her more reason to say noJust boil it out and tell her to button it
Hi again. T.eddie, can you advise please whether any roe mount would do, or do I need to take measurements and decide which mount to go for? I see they have different sizes...Take a look on here for mounts
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Many thanks!
I've not mounted a roe in all honesty but if you give the skull a measure for length and width you should be able to find one that it can sit on nicely my advise would be bigger is better than smaller, the metal mount parts I've used the same in a muntjac as I have a fallow
KentCountryGent
Well-Known Member
I thought I would resurrect this thread with some recent findings in case it is of any use to anyone considering burying a head. I have now tried three methods: boiling, cold water maceration and burying, and have put down some of my thoughts below. I am no expert and am sure there are others who could offer sound advice on how to perform these methods more effectively than I did.
Cold Water Maceration
I tried the cold water maceration method first, skinning the head, submerging it in water up to the coronets and adding biological washing detergent to the water, then regularly changing it. It took an age and of course came with the inconvenience and smell of a decaying head in a bucket in my garden. The head came out fairly clean but the bone still had residual fat in/on it and I couldn't get rid of this completely. I bleached it and it came out okay but areas of the skull were brittle and loose by the time it finally emerged 'clean'.
Burying
I buried the head of a decent fallow buck taken back in March and have just dug it up. First impressions were pleasing: the skull was virtually clean of all tissue bar a few bits of skin and hair which were dry and just peeled off. There was some fatty residue remaining inside the eye sockets but this was also dry and came out with little persuasion. What was immediately noticeable however was the discolouration of the skull, even after considerable hosing and cleaning with a toothbrush to remove all remaining soil. It had a deep yellowy-brown hue to it and the bone was also noticeably more brittle. I then ended up boiling it in a bid to remove the fat/grease from the bone and then bleached it as usual, but the colour has not come up anywhere near as white as the other heads I boiled. It still has that yellowy brown hue.
In short, if it's a head you care about or want to display, my advice is to put in the extra work and boil it; the results really are worth it.
Cold Water Maceration
I tried the cold water maceration method first, skinning the head, submerging it in water up to the coronets and adding biological washing detergent to the water, then regularly changing it. It took an age and of course came with the inconvenience and smell of a decaying head in a bucket in my garden. The head came out fairly clean but the bone still had residual fat in/on it and I couldn't get rid of this completely. I bleached it and it came out okay but areas of the skull were brittle and loose by the time it finally emerged 'clean'.
Burying
I buried the head of a decent fallow buck taken back in March and have just dug it up. First impressions were pleasing: the skull was virtually clean of all tissue bar a few bits of skin and hair which were dry and just peeled off. There was some fatty residue remaining inside the eye sockets but this was also dry and came out with little persuasion. What was immediately noticeable however was the discolouration of the skull, even after considerable hosing and cleaning with a toothbrush to remove all remaining soil. It had a deep yellowy-brown hue to it and the bone was also noticeably more brittle. I then ended up boiling it in a bid to remove the fat/grease from the bone and then bleached it as usual, but the colour has not come up anywhere near as white as the other heads I boiled. It still has that yellowy brown hue.
In short, if it's a head you care about or want to display, my advice is to put in the extra work and boil it; the results really are worth it.
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Sol
Well-Known Member
For anyone doing maceration I would simply skip the Biological washing detergent - Like you mentioned it came out brittle we never truly know what these will do with bone! Some washing powder also do Include bleach.
A normal maceration bucket for a roe deer should be done In about 3 weeks long as your doing it in the middle of the year In a bin that has sunlight shining on it.
Boil gets grease out pretty well, But Maceration and Burying traps In fat that slowly comes out over the years.
Plop it in the bucket Hack a fish Heater (Taxidermy.net) put some dish soap In and leave it for a month or two that's how the perfectly stunning white ones are done online
I do advocate to de-grease boiled skulls It makes them look nicer in the long run.
A normal maceration bucket for a roe deer should be done In about 3 weeks long as your doing it in the middle of the year In a bin that has sunlight shining on it.
Boil gets grease out pretty well, But Maceration and Burying traps In fat that slowly comes out over the years.
Plop it in the bucket Hack a fish Heater (Taxidermy.net) put some dish soap In and leave it for a month or two that's how the perfectly stunning white ones are done online
I do advocate to de-grease boiled skulls It makes them look nicer in the long run.
Smell? Any hunter’s wife (husband too I guess) should be all too familiar with the delightful and come-hither smell of reducing
into that wonderful think called stock/soup:
K
Utectok
Well-Known Member
That’s it perfect it’s really not to bad a job make sure you power wash out the brain and so forth
It will look a lot different after being in full sun for the rest of the summer.
WB
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