Natural Method of Roe Skull Preparation...

[craigievarkiller]

Hang on a minute JC

Your comments are OTT and off on a tangent.

The OP is not a professional stalker and was talking about a rotten head that he didnt want to boil in his house.

What has your rant about "widespread hatred of professional stalkers on this site" got to do with this thread ?

For the record I think you are incorrect in your ascertations of this site

CVK

Well, fair enough, looks like I'm in a minority. I'm going to sound like my Grandad now but, I remember a time when people (not just stalkers) were proud to do a job properly not brag about how slackly you can do something and still just about get away with it.

It's probably irrelevant as there seems to be a widespread hatred of professional stalkers on this site these days but, how would you feel if you had shot a buck as a paying guest and the stalker said 'well done sir, I'll get the trophy to you in about three months when it's finished rotting behind my kennels and I've had a go at bleaching it'?

Like I say, not worth worrying about, happy to admit that times have changed and I appear to have been left behind.

JC

 

[AllThingsShooting]

Boiling is smelly but with open windows goes fast! If that bothered a camping stove on eBay does the job! One thing is its a lot faster and avoids the maggots. If given the choice my wife prefers a stink for a bit..

 

[Lakey]

Throw a halved, PEELED onion in with the boiling water, when you boil out a fresh head. It makes the smell so much better. Make sure the onion is peeled otherwise the dark outer skins will dye the skull brown, and no amount of bleaching gets rid of the brown colour (been there, done that !)
Just a tip if you are forced to boil your head off on the kitchen stove.

 

[BunnyDoom]

I've found a very good way of accellerating the natural method (by accident/experiment)...

I skinned the head and cut out the tongue and any loose bits of flesh. I then hung this outside for two days, taking it in at night to keep it away from cats and foxes etc. by the end of the second day you could see all the fly egg clusters on it.

I then put the skull in a bucket, filled the bucket with grass cuttings up to the top of the antlers, then put a concrete slab over the top of the bucket (leaving gaps for flys/insects to get in). I then covered it over loosely with grass cuttings having buried the bottom of the bucket in the compost heap....

I did this as I remembered a programme about maggots and how they raise the temperature of a carcass to well above body temperature as they break down the meat. This is actually a condition they need and become very active in. The temperature and smell attract other flies and insects to lay more eggs...

So when i check the skull today after only a week there was almost no flesh on it and you could barely see the skull for the number of maggots!...

I'll let you know how I get on in the weeks to come and try and work out how to post a photo on a thread!

 

[csl]

As you can imagine it was crawling with maggots. I managed to hold my nose and skin it, and got most of the flesh off the face and out the mouth before deciding I couldn't do any more. I wasn't keen on boiling it because of the inevitable smell in the house

Although it honked you'd probably find that once boiling it wouldn't smell much worse than a fresh head. I've done a few that have been 'on the turn' as it were and the worst part is the skinning which you managed to do. Boiling I didn't notice any difference!

 

[User00003]

you can swiftly trim almost all the tissue off with sharp narrow knife, empty the skull cavity, nasal cavity, cut out the eyes, etc. and be left with a 10 minute boiling job, quick scrape and a last 5 mins boil and a rinse, job done. 30 mins per head MAX! why you'd not do it like that every time I don't know, I sure as heck don't want colonies of bugs crawling around eating flesh off decomposing deer heads for weeks..no thanks...LOL.

as for heads left in water, MAN UP

put on a pair of gloves and get to work...and yes, get a camping stove as the Mrs will ALWAYS know when you've been boiling heads on the hob...trust me, it's not a recipe for a quiet evening in

 

[rigboot]

I honestly thought the smell from boiled cabbage or my mutts dry food when soaked was worse than the smell off the head I boiled in my garage?

The old boy across the street from me showed great interest and said it reminded him of boiling tripe!!

 

[BunnyDoom]

OK just fished it out of the compost heap - picked clean but smelled like a public loo in india... have boiled it a few times and smell seems to be lessening. The skull's also gone a little brown, so am currently soaking it in a peroxide solution... will post some pics when finished!

 

[bewsher500]

i have one in a large bowl outside as we speak.
Skinned and trimmed as much as I could
Boiled for 15-20 mins
Bought a pint of maggots from the local fishing shop. reckon they are half way through (since yesterday lunchtime!)

skull is out in the open so no smell, there is nothing to rot as the maggots are like land lubbing piranha!

should be clean and dry for peroxiding ready for mounting at the weekend

 

[BunnyDoom]

i have one in a large bowl outside as we speak.
Skinned and trimmed as much as I could
Boiled for 15-20 mins
Bought a pint of maggots from the local fishing shop. reckon they are half way through (since yesterday lunchtime!)

skull is out in the open so no smell, there is nothing to rot as the maggots are like land lubbing piranha!

should be clean and dry for peroxiding ready for mounting at the weekend

Does the peroxide work ok when it's dry? Some bloke on youtube said don't ever let it dry out - though he didn't say why!

 

[csl]

Does the peroxide work ok when it's dry? Some bloke on youtube said don't ever let it dry out - though he didn't say why!

It's because the peroxide can only work chemically on what it can soak into... if the stain/tissue is dry then the peroxide can only act on the surface until it has had a chance to soak in deeper. If you don't let the head dry out before bleaching then the peroxide will work faster and more effectively.

 

[BunnyDoom]

It's because the peroxide can only work chemically on what it can soak into... if the stain/tissue is dry then the peroxide can only act on the surface until it has had a chance to soak in deeper. If you don't let the head dry out before bleaching then the peroxide will work faster and more effectively.

Thanks mate, makes sense

 

[bewsher500]

not done it yet. when I mean clean and dry I mean the skull will be free from soggy bits of meat!

peroxide is usually used on cotton wool to minimise wastage and keep surface damp

 

[BunnyDoom]

Ok slight discolouration and the nose bones and jaw fell apart as maggots etc chewed all the tendons and cartilage down too - quite a nice result though considering I only kept it because the antlers were unusual:



On reflection if it were a really nice one I think I'd use the method described by one of you guys earlier - boil it first then put in a bowl of maggots to get the last few bits out, then peroxide.

Pretty good though considering I just left it on the compost heap (protected in a bucket), then boiled and peroxided it!

 

[shudadunityonksago]

After reading through all these posts i thought id have a go myself .
After i retreaved last weeks buck head from the ferret cage i dropped it in the dogs boiling up pan , gas mark 6 untill golden black , then a blast with the power washer full jet , that got rid of all the crud , cut with hacksaw then back to the pan with a gallon of water and domestos .One hour later , rinse and nailed over workshop door .Simples

 

[glogin]

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Very nice buck!