Skull prep for the beginner

[activeviii]

last evening i shot my first deer, only a muntjac but its what i went out for. a small specie but little easier to handle.

the head is still on body and in velvet so where do i go from here.
please put me right where needed.

skin off head so i can see what im doing before detaching from neck.

string the antlers and place skull only in boiling water for 45 minute for a muntjac

when skull cools a little, clean off and wash in cold water.

fish out the tusks and nasal bone, glue back in place.


now this is where in stuck. whitening with hydrogen peroxide. what do i ask for as chemist. what % to water do i use and for how long do i soak.
do i wash off after.

sorry if im sounding thick....your probably right.haha.

one more question, will this stupid grin wear off soon?

thanks guys.

All the best

Phil.

 

[bogtrotter]

Detach from neck before skinning,this is really easy to do but much easier if you know someone that can show you than it is to explain. Just ask for hydrogen peroxide at the chemists get the strongest they stock, the stuff stocked by a chemist is not that strong, use it as is don't dilute rap skull in cotton wool kitchen towel will do, soak in peroxide leave overnight or around eight hours remove kitchen towel and rinse, if you have a good sunny day leaving in the sun to dry off can enhance the bleaching.

Alternatively as you only have one head to do, go to a hair salon and get a tube of peroxide paste apply to skull with brush an old tooth brush is ideal leave overnight rinse, jobs a good un.

Oh forgot to say apply peroxide to damp skull works better than applying to dry skull.

 

[activeviii]

thank you BogTrotter.

I have put in freezer for now so i can get the bits that i need and then go do it.

thanks again
Phil.

 

[Jason]

Hi Activevii,

I'm in the middle of doing one. went and bought a kit from bush wear, it's called the Skull bleaching kit. I'm sure they get the components from snowdon taxidermy, any way I digress, the skeltal bleech in the kit is very strong (35%) and will bleech your skull white in very short period of time, and if you don't wear gloves ( as I didn't) sorts your hands out as well but not in a good way.

As an alternaive, if you know any friendly hairdresses have a chat with them hey should be able to get hold of some 12% peroxide akes a bit longer but probably cheaper.

jase

 

[activeviii]

I bought some at the chemist today and now after reading the 35% im a little concerned as this stuff is only 9%
I have potassium permanganate on order as well.

If this peroxide doesn't work can i redo it at a liter date with stronger stuff?

All the best
Phil.

 

[Paul 600]

It will work, just takes longer.

 

[activeviii]

wrap in cotton soaked batts and then plastic bag for 8 hours is it?

 

[logburner]

Dont put your self down when you say only a muntjac there will be many people on this forum that have never seen one never mind shoot one.Ithink its always best if you are shown how to prepare a trophy.Well done anyway on your first munjac.

 

[bogtrotter]

Hi Activevii,

I'm in the middle of doing one. went and bought a kit from bush wear, it's called the Skull bleaching kit. I'm sure they get the components from snowdon taxidermy, any way I digress, the skeltal bleech in the kit is very strong (35%) and will bleech your skull white in very short period of time, and if you don't wear gloves ( as I didn't) sorts your hands out as well but not in a good way.

As an alternaive, if you know any friendly hairdresses have a chat with them hey should be able to get hold of some 12% peroxide akes a bit longer but probably cheaper.

jase

The bushwear stuff works well enough but a bit expensive, ok if you are only doing a few heads but as I am doing in excess of two hundred per year I need a cheaper option.

 

[bogtrotter]

I bought some at the chemist today and now after reading the 35% im a little concerned as this stuff is only 9%
I have potassium permanganate on order as well.

If this peroxide doesn't work can i redo it at a liter date with stronger stuff?

All the best
Phil.

It will work as has already been said, just takes a bit longer, better if you can get stronger stuff but there is a limit on the strength you can buy over the counter.

What ever you do don't be tempted to use normal bleach, it appears to do a good job but a few weeks or months down the line the skull will crumble and fall apart as after a while it turns bone to a substance like chalk.

Lets know how you get on with it, the first ones a bit daunting, but just take your time you will be fine.

 

[activeviii]

Dont put your self down when you say only a muntjac there will be many people on this forum that have never seen one never mind shoot one.Ithink its always best if you are shown how to prepare a trophy.Well done anyway on your first munjac.

Kind words, thank you.

In all truth it was a task for me. i suffer with back problems but try not to let it stop me.

I went out with a friend a few times looking for signs. one evening NJC brought a buttolo with him and a combi gun in hope for a Roe and i took the .222 in hope for something a little smaller.

we sat in a copse and called for a while, then came the barking from a muntie that would show its self. if moved to the other side of wood and still didnt come to play. the light was fading so to be safe NJC said no more deer. a charlie then walked past at 30 yards so a quick squeeze and it stopped to look. at lest i got a shot.

next morning i was up at 4am so went for a walk to see what would show, if anything. one Roe doe about a mile away. home for breakfast at 8am. haha.

i went to gun shop later and bought my own buttolo. that evening after the rest of the day trying to use the call, i went for a look. i sat in a few differant places and called for 20 mins then finally i went back to the copse. took me a few minutes to work out the best place to get the right angles. so i sat under a small tree with the long bipod on the rifle, butt in my shoulder and started to have a little call. then sat listening. a few minutes later i called a little louder and a little longer. i had just stopped calling when i could here, what i could only say, sounded like a dog with hoofs running down a path out side the wood, then is came in and ran straight at me. my god i thought i was going to have to butt slap it to make it stop.

all i had to do was drop my cheek on the stock pull safety off and squeeze the trigger. it just stood there steering at me. head or neck i was thinking but then it turned very slightly to one side and gave me a boiler room shot.

one leg smashed and the heart/lungs were mush. but then the fun started. i dealt with the muntjac but then had to carry it all the way down the hill to the truck. i couldn't drive to the are. it took be almost an hour to get back to the truck. lesson learnt. carry some para core for carrying munties

Im in no rush for another one. quite happy now. hard slog for me but well worth the effort. You right i shouldn't say its only a muntjac as at the end of the day it was a wild animal and deserve more respect. size dont matter.

all the best

Phil.

 

[sikamalc]

Well done, Muntjac are always moving and hardly ever stop, so to get a clear clean shot for your first deer is always a bonus.

 

[sws]

To digress slightly, does anyone put anything on the skulls after peroxiding?
A friend had a skull mount done for me abroad, and it has a white shinny finish to it.
Apparently it was prepared normally and then wet and dry papered prior to having another solution applied to it.
Any idea what they apply? The skull mount looks superb and I want to do my others that way.
Unfortunately the name of the solution got rather lost in translation.

 

[activeviii]

Well, spent the morning cleaning up the skull. boiled it, scrubbed it then boil it some more. All the front teeth fell out so i put then to one side, the nasal bones as well as the fangs. scrub skull some more then popped it back in boiling water. sat down of 20 minutes as all was going well.

All nice and clean, just needed to peroxide.

Now, here's the little problem i have.


How do i get the teeth, tusks and nasal bones out of the dogs stomach. I wend up the garden and the dogs had jumped up on brick pile and eaten the lot. not happy.


All the best

Phil

 

[bogtrotter]

Well, spent the morning cleaning up the skull. boiled it, scrubbed it then boil it some more. All the front teeth fell out so i put then to one side, the nasal bones as well as the fangs. scrub skull some more then popped it back in boiling water. sat down of 20 minutes as all was going well.

All nice and clean, just needed to peroxide.

Now, here's the little problem i have.


How do i get the teeth, tusks and nasal bones out of the dogs stomach. I wend up the garden and the dogs had jumped up on brick pile and eaten the lot. not happy.


All the best

Phil

Ouch, reminds me of the time when I had a client at Roe bucks,very good weather and successful stalking each morning
after stalking prepared heads and after peroxiding put them on the shed roof in the garden [out of reach of my dogs] to let the sun do the job of finishing bleaching.

As the weather was good just left them on the roof and client would get them at the end of his time all nicely bleached.
.
To wards the end of his stay, the wind got up overnight and in the morning I found twelve heads scattered around the garden, quite a few of which had missing parts,.

searching the garden for nasal bones etc then trying to identify which head they belonged to when I did find them

Managed to get them all back together apart from two which were to badly damaged, so had to cut them short nose
[probably not an option for you I have no experience of Muntjac but would imagine a short nose cut would not look right]

Never to old to learn I never leave a head out overnight now.