Gents,

I have in my possession a muntjac skull, in vivo as it were, and probably need to boil it out and clean it up for a mate.

I say probably as the guy said he wasn't too fussed but since he lying about being an ex-smoker, the lighter "borrowing" dingo-chaser, I think he's serious about this as well.

I can manage the careful boiling and scraping for most of the flesh but since I usually saw the skull to mount on a board am not sure how the best way to get the cartilaginous and epithelial tissue out of the nasal cavity without either boiling the skull to death or cracking into the cavity leaving visible damage?

Any help would be appreciated as it's currently sat in brine on the living room coffee table and my flatmate hasn't left her room since last night!

Ahh, yes the female flatmates. Mine used to hate it when i left trophies in various stages around the flat.

Best way I managed to do it (prior to acquiring a pressure washer) was with either of a metal kebab stick or a long straightened paper clip. Be warned it will take hours!!

If your not overly fond of the trophy owner, simply leave the tissue in situ, prior to peroxiding it. By the time they start smelling they will be in your friends possession....

You can try "cold water" maceration; immerse the skull up to the horns in 90 degree F water and wait.

There is a decent primer on the process here.

George

quote:

By the time they start smelling they will be in your friends possession....

an alternative .....

Amir,

1. Separate the lower jaw from the skull - pitch the jaw bit.

2. Skin the skull - get rid of as much of the extra unrequired bits, too such as eyeballs, meat, nose, etc. The less you have to cook the more stable the entire skull is. Remember, you just want to par-boil the fleshy bits enough to cleanly remove them; not cook the Skull until it falls apart.

3. Obtain/find/steal @ 8.5"-9" diameter pot @ 6" high. Perfect Muntjac size. Lay Muntjac skull at an angle on side of pot w/horn upwards. Crank up to max heat & pour boiling water (from water cooker) over the top up to level of where horn begins. Add 2 drops of dishwashng detergent. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer for 10-12 minutes.

4. Remove from heat, into sink and allow to cool enough to handle. Remove all the remaining bits & pieces w/knife. Leave as much as you can around the Eye Teeth (we'll deal w/these later).

5. Brain can be removed with anything you can get into skull with. A chopstick is perfect followed by corkscrew. Stir, swill w/water and shake all of it out the Ajax joint - dosen't take too much to get this clean. Long Needle Nose pliers for the stuborn bits.

6. Use same Needle Nose pliers or a long Forceps to get into the Nasal cavity. Same procedure as Skull.

7. Take a friend (one you don't like too much or if you only have one - that'll do fine.) to Self-Service Car Wash. Dress acordingly because you're gonna get WET and go when there's not too many other Customers. Similate washing car as you blast the skull one holds the other blasts. Do the Deed, inside outside and WATCH out for the Eye Teeth/Nose area (fragile) they may get blown out. If so, act like you're looking for your Friend's Contact Lens.

8. You can always come over and do this in my driveway w/my Pressure Hose.

9. Bleach w/30% Peroxide wearing rubber gloves or you'll have white fingers for a while.

10. Presto - Clean Skull.

Bent clothes hanger to get the brains out (flicking action helps, best done outdoors).

Needlenose pliers to carefully pull out nasal cartilage when soft and freshly boiled.

Better to boil a bit, scrape a bit in my experience than to risk leaving it too long.

Small bottle of Boots peroxide cream will do a few heads.

Good points, and about how I do it, but I always take the brain out with a bent hook before boiling. Thin long blade Exacto knife makes short work of getting the eyes out, that membrane is pretty tough. After boiling I clean it, and use long needle nose pliers and just twist and pull all the nasal out. After it's hanging on the wall anyobody looking up the nose to see if anything is left gets a swift kick in the axx Waidmannsheil, Dom.

Skin it,
Hang it in a bush in the warm sun so that the blowflies can lay their eggs on it.
Go back in March or April and collect.
Put in Dishwasher on cold rinse to shift the dirt, frass and pupal skins
Whiten with Peroxide but try not to look like a bomber when you buy it.
Use a bit of boot polish on the antlers if they've lost their colour outdoors.

I've also had reasonable, non-smelly, non-divorce results by burying the skull, skin on and tongue in up to the coronets in the compost heap for three months.
Those minibeasts love a bit of protein.

I've never tried this method myself but how about larder beatles? It sounds like they should work really well.

http://www.bushwear.co.uk/nost...D=352716&ClassID=253

Paul Larder Beetles are members of the Dermestid family: evolved skin and feather feeders, eating a keratin rich diet.
They should do most of the job just fine, especially if the head has dried out a bit.

However, If you're a CSI buff, you'll know that their forensic entomologists date corpses by the presence of various other insects which turn up, over time, to feast on special selections of fluids, fats, soft tissues etc.

So my view is, why pick out just one of the specialists when you can have the whole team doing their individual stuff?

Hi Trapper - I have heard that burying outdoors permanently discolours the skull. Have you found this to be the case?

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:
Hi Trapper - I have heard that burying outdoors permanently discolours the skull. Have you found this to be the case?

Gabe,

It's nothing peroxide won't fix, however it is always better to degrease anyway with some soap flakes before bleaching.

The worms in a compost heap will make short work of the whole thing but beware of foxes and spaniels. Fern was very keen to tell me what a great stalking dog she was by retrieving the best fallow I have ever shot from the compost heap. (After taking a small nibble out of it...)

K


K

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:
Hi Trapper - I have heard that burying outdoors permanently discolours the skull. Have you found this to be the case?

No, but then I'm not allowed to display the trophies inside anyway.
'Er indoors thinks they are gruesome in the house and clash with the decor.
Mine hang off various features around the garden where they go a little gray after a few years but serve to deter the neigbours kids who think they are some kind of Ju-Ju.
That is until my wife started hanging bird feeders from the points!

Right then!

Stage one is over and the head has been skinned off.

Does boiling the head render the boiling pot in question manky, nasty or permanently stained in any way?

There's a pot I've got my eye on but it would be a grave tactical error on my part to do anything to it that can't be shifted with a bit of elbow grease.

I like the ideas so far, (SWS you're a bad man!! ) but I'm not going to risk the microfanua route as it's not my skull.

I'll boil it out tonight and start scraping.

Thanks again chaps.

A

I've just done sundays muntjac head, and its now out of its 24hr peroxide bath.

I do an initial boil outside in a Burco boiler I got from a catering companies closing down sale. Then remove all loose tissue with a knife and a metal kebab stick. I then boil it up again on the hob (in an old le creuset pot) together with a dishwasher tablet. This loosens up any residual tissue. The pot goes in the dishwasher and the Mrs is none the wiser.

I reckon I then spend about 20 minutes with some tweezers and clean it up prior to peroxiding. I also do a skull cut whilst some tissue is insitu to allow easy mounting and brain removal.

In the summer I did tend to leave them in the paddock behind the house to be cleaned up by flies for two weeks. However the badgers have started wondering off with them!!So its back to boiling!

I really, really like an air hose to clean skulls. just be careful where the stuff flies and keep your mouth closed!! Also when boiling the skull "soda ash" works incredibly well. It turns the meat and cartilage to "jelly" and makes if come off very nicely with less boiling time than usual.

Amir, you're a good egg - a gracious host and a great bloke to "borrow" lighters from. Thanks for making the effort to get this skull cleaned up.

Cheers, and see you when you get over here.

stu

My pleasure or ich lust mich or mi piacere ( google translate is good eh?) or whatever it is in Swiss.

Cynthia is has taken the news of the road trip well, I've said we might be looking up one or two dear, dear friends on the way......Lads, post your nearest cities eh?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sws:
I've just done sundays muntjac head, and its now out of its 24hr peroxide bath.

I then boil it up again on the hob (in an old le creuset pot) together with a dishwasher tablet. This loosens up any residual tissue. The pot goes in the dishwasher and the Mrs is none the wiser.

Lets hope that she doesn't read your posts

Hello all,
Just browsing and came upon your thread. A technique I've seen used by friends is to lash a length of baling wire around the horns and pitch the whole head in a pond. Pull it up in 3-6 months and the skull is left clean. An easy enough thing to do if you're near a pond and not too impatient.

Cheers,
Bill