Stag head work to be done

Deerspotter

Right lads, I got a super Sika head from a friend about two years ago and he advised to hang it in a tree for a couple of years and when I go back to it, it should be a clean skull ready for a euro mount.
Went back to it today and it is mumified. The skin is dried on to the head and it looks as if very little decomposition has taken place.
I want to get this mounted over the weekend.
Could I get a step by step guide on what is the best course of action to get down to a clean skull?
I am not a hunter, so cutting up a two year old rotting head is not what I want to do...
Can I just boil it? Or is it too late for that now?

sikahuntejack

this happened to me last year i boiled it add some bleach to the water i then used a old butter knive to scrape away the skin from the skull its a messy job and will stink but it will work best of luck

Grizzly 45

Deer heads are best done fresh in a boiling pot of water with a handful of washing soda in it.You can either skin the head or not,and best leave it soften up for 24 hours beforehand in cold water.Leave out the washing soda,and the residual meat broth,will be greatly appreciated by your hunting hound in his food.:)

Boil it until the meat comes away easily from the skull.
Then the fun begins! If you are going a full Euro skull mount,you will need a long nose pliers , or better still a surgical hemostat holder[the yoke that holds needles]some coat hanger wire,and a bit of time.You have to get all the brain matter out of the skull.Fortunatly it will be mush so it will or should come out in a soupy,jelly like mess. Get as much out as possible via the spine hole in the base of the skull or the nasal passage.Mind not to damage the very fine bones up there.If you do or over cook it and the nose bones break away.Dont worry Superglue works wonders on deer trophies.
Next power wash off as much as possible of the remainder of meat and brain matter off the skull.This will go everywhere,so wear water proofs or old clothes.The skull must be spotless before you go on to let it dry and then it is packed in cotton wool both inside and outside and soaked in hydrogen peroxide for appx two days and nights.
The trick is to get the stongest peroxide and to keep it wet.Pack the cotton wool up to but not on the base of the antlers.Hperoxide on the antlers will bleach it white.
After about three days in the HP cotton wool ,discard it and you should have a perfectly white skull.It will feel somwhat waxy and wet.Just leave it sit somplace dry for 24 hours and it will be bone dry.
you can then mout it on the board,the wall or whatever.Applying clear varnish to the antlers and skull is a perefernce,but one I dont like,as it gives the trophy an unnatural look in my eyes.

Goats are a right smelly affair
.As their horns are live growths,they have blood vessels going in the horns,so if you try and prep one like a deer,Mr Goat will get his revenge on your house by stinking you out with his rotting horns.:P
I am trying the rotting in the wild affair at the moment myself.[Well I have them stuck up on some handy iron spikes made from rebar] But they are mummifying as well,and their outer horns have dropped off ,so at least the blood vessels have rotted then.So am thinking of burying the lot and let the worms and soils break down the flesh.Or get some flesh eating beetles ,I think Bushwear UK does a kit for roe deer skulls that use these beetles...
Anyone gone that route here??Be intresting to see how it went.
Were we in Austria,their method is pretty simple.Find a massive ant hill in the forest[and their ants are big black army ants about a 1/4 inch in length that bite and spit acid..Nasty little cnuts]:mad: .Plonk the deer head on the hill for a month,and come back and collect a absolutely cleaned bone white deer trophy a month later!! No chemical or power washing needed.:D

Shoot2kill

I tied mine to a stake at ground level in the corner of a field and let the wild life strip it. It was cleaned perfectly.

dodderangler

Not being funny but ferrets will strip that down to the bone

Deerspotter

Right, the process is started.
I have the mumified head soaking in a bucket of cold water for the day and night and will get it on to boil tomorrow.
I have a second head that was hung in a tree in Wicklow and is a lovely clean skull.
It is soaking in a bucket of diluted bleach and will boil for a short while tomorrow too.
Interesting that the skull hung in Wicklow is clean and the head hung in Dublin is mumified.
Different climates I guess.

juice1304

Why would you boil the clean one? All it will do is soften the bone.

dodderangler

Was just thinkin if you found a place that crows hang around a lot then hangin the head in a tree they would certainly do the job gonna watch this thread like to see the results

Deerspotter

Boiling the clean one, to get rid of any insects and brain matter from inside the cavities that I can not access or see. Also remove any smell too.
It was hanging in a tree for two years - when I say clean, I mean no obvious meat or fur still on it. But your wife might not call it clean!!!

Deerspotter

The head was hanging where I though crows could get at it and foxes too. But for what ever reason, it really wasn't touched.

patdahat

easy on the bleach, if the bone is left in it for to long it could disintegrate.

Deerspotter

A couple of photo's of the two heads pre preperation.

Stag head 1.jpg

Stag head 2.jpg

Grizzly 45

patdahat wrote: »

easy on the bleach, if the bone is left in it for to long it could disintegrate.

GET IT OUT OF THE BLEACH ASAP!!!!:eek::eek:.. That will destroy the skull in its entireity..Its way too strong for bones.

Grizzly 45

dodderangler wrote: »

Was just thinkin if you found a place that crows hang around a lot then hangin the head in a tree they would certainly do the job gonna watch this thread like to see the results

Have the goats heads under a crow roosting tree,and the crows have been totally disintrested in them!:rolleyes::)

cookimonster

A friend of a friend took me out stalking the other night, after the stalk he produced a stags head he took a few days earlier. Before hanging in a three he split the hide from around the base of the antlers and continued the cut down to the muzzel. He said this aids the proccess of de-fleshing al natural.

patdahat

stalking at night :eek:

cookimonster

patdahat wrote: »

stalking at night :eek:

We met up at 18.30 hrs and parted company at 21.30 ish. So yeah that would be the other 'night'.:D

dodderangler

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

dodderangler wrote: »

Was just thinkin if you found a place that crows hang around a lot then hangin the head in a tree they would certainly do the job gonna watch this thread like to see the results

Have the goats heads under a crow roosting tree,and the crows have been totally disintrested in them!:rolleyes::)

I would aswell
Goat meat is disgusting

Grizzly 45

Not if it is a young still milk fed kid or a chevron[IE less than ten months]
Tastes then like a combo of spring lamb and beef,one of the best meats I've ever eaten,and I'd rate it better than lamb,which I find a greasy meat.:)
However,I'd say an aul rancid billy goat might be a bit different.:(

Deerspotter

Stag head 1 is on to boil. I left it in the diluted bleach all night - itwas very diluted so I don't think there was any damage done. It just loosenedup some of the crap from inside the cavity.

Stag head 2 (the mummified one), is now soaking in the diluted bleach fromhead 1. I will slice the skin along the top prior to boiling, to hopefully helpde-fleshing, as per earlier suggestion.

It would have been a good idea to do that on day one!

Anyone know where to get a nice mounting wooden plaque?

Deerspotter

Progress so far:

Stag head 1 after soak, pre boil.jpg

Stag head 1 after boiling.jpg

Stage head 2 soaking in bleach dilute.jpg

The skin is so tough, it is hard to cut, even with a new box-cutter. I am not sure this is going to work, I cannot get the heat up enough for a hard boil, outside with my burner. We'll see if a long time is as good as a high heat!
Stag head 2 ready for boil.jpg

cookimonster

Was it a head shot or is that post mortem damage around the cheekbone?
- Just the 'Qunicy Jones' in me (that's CSI for the younger ones)-

Grizzly 45

Looks A OK to me. if it was a head shot there would be serious obvious damage.
The plaque,try bushwear.co .uk or any jewellers that do trophies,usually you can adapt a medal board to yhis as well.
BTW on the skin and boiling,long and slow is better than high and fast.

dodderangler

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Not if it is a young still milk fed kid or a chevron[IE less than ten months]
Tastes then like a combo of spring lamb and beef,one of the best meats I've ever eaten,and I'd rate it better than lamb,which I find a greasy meat.:)
However,I'd say an aul rancid billy goat might be a bit different.:(

Yeah that's what I eat
Wasn't old but bout 2 year old
Basically it smelt like it tastes and vice versa

cookimonster

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

BTW on the skin and boiling,long and slow is better than high and fast.

Sounds like a good stew.:D

Re head shot: just from the damage it looked like a entry wound. Its amazing how skin (even the human kind) will show very little trauma at the entry point. As you know its the exit wound that has all the mess. Any way its just my morbid curiosity.

Deerspotter

It was not a head shot - that is the cuts I made with a box cutter to assist with de-fleshing - fn disgusting thing to do.

I will add in here that after an hours boiling I've added some costic soda. The smelll is so bad.

cookimonster

Deerspotter wrote: »

The smelll is so bad.

If its smelling thats a good sign, the flesh is re-hydrating ( volitiles or smells need moisture to work). Bet your driving every carrion eater in the area crazy with the aroma:p.

Deerspotter

Four hours on the boil now and it seems to be working much better than I expected. Nearly down to clean skull, which is amazing...
This is just before I added in another kettle full of water, to keep the water level above the skull.
Any idea what to use to get the green off the antlers before I use the PotasiumPromag to darken them?

four hours on the boil.jpg

Deerspotter

Five hours on a gentle boil. I have now changed the water and added detergent.
The water was very thick and full of solids, so I thought that seeing as the skull was almost clean, clean water would be good to finish it off with.
What a job! I cannot believe I used to only pay €30 a head to get this done, including it being mounted on a lovely wooden shield!

Five hours gentle boil.jpg

Grizzly 45

Deerspotter wrote: »

water level above the skull.
Any idea what to use to get the green off the antlers before I use the PotasiumPromag to darken them?

Nail brush soap and water and elbow grease, or power washer.:)

Deerspotter

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

The skull must be spotless before you go on to let it dry and then it is packed in cotton wool both inside and outside and soaked in hydrogen peroxide for appx two days and nights.
The trick is to get the stongest peroxide and to keep it wet.Pack the cotton wool up to but not on the base of the antlers.

Would bleach soaked paper-towels do the same thing?

cookimonster

This was waiting for me when I got in this morning




As you can see it was already cut around antlers and down to muzzel.



Into a pot


Five hours latter, just a bit of scraping and picking left to do

Deerspotter

That's a good strong head. I cannot believe you boiled it inside - it must have stank your house out!

cookimonster

I have use of an commercial kitchen with extraction fans. The head was a week old by the time I got it but it had been stored in a cold room for that period so it had not gone off. Not looking forward to cleaning the pot though.

Grizzly 45

Deerspotter wrote: »

Would bleach soaked paper-towels do the same thing?

You are a fierce man for the bleach!:D
TBH I'd be reluctant to put any bone material near bleach no matter how weak or strong the solution,and I'm only going on what others have told me on this.Thats not to say it wont work,but I'd proceed with caution.
TBH Hydrogen peroxide isnt that expensive and two or three bottles of the stuff will do a head no trouble. Knock yourself out and get a tenners worth of it.Should do the job.:)

Or pinch it off your missus/girlfriend/sister/mother/etc when they are doing the roots on the head.:D
My main squeeze is a hairdresser,so she can get the commercial stuff without too much trouble.


Paper towels would be fine too.So long as they are kept well wet and soggy,proably better would be bog roll,as you want that kind of soggyness that you only get with toilet paper.:p

Lucky you that the head was in cold storage.The one I brought into a game dealer,he left outside for a week!! I gagged with this when I had to prepare it for boiling last year.
Lots of fun cleaning the pot...Be better off buying a new one and keeping that for skull boiling in the future.

cookimonster

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Lots of fun cleaning the pot...Be better off buying a new one and keeping that for skull boiling in the future.

That's our best 'curry pot' .......:D

When I was younger when we got some heads we used to bury them in the vegetable patch. One time my Dad gave a friend of mine one for himself. So he headed off home on his bike with the head in a plastic bag to bury. Months later we dug up a skull to check it out and it was fairly clean. Later I was with the mate when he unearthed his. Well fu*k me we nearly died from the stench. He had buried the head neatly and tightly wrapped in the Dunnes Stores white plastic shopping bag. The smell was bad enough when we dug it up , but the soup that poured out of it was something else.......it seemed like for ever before the smell faded from memory.:(

dodderangler

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Deerspotter wrote: »

water level above the skull.
Any idea what to use to get the green off the antlers before I use the PotasiumPromag to darken them?

Nail brush soap and water and elbow grease, or power washer.:)

I have a fallow rack there monster of a rack and it's green
I have it on the door of my hawks mews
I wanna get it back to form
Would a power washer really do the job?

Grizzly 45

It should..We used them in Germany to clean ours on the outside of the lodge.OK dont go setting it on "mega car paint stripping mode" right off!!
Work softly,softly and see if the skull is standing up to this ok,otherwise if it has been weakned by the elements a mega blast might just blow it apart!!:eek:
You proably will have to get the brush out for some awkward bits anyway.But dont try to get it all shiney bright either.It has been outside in the elements and should look like that too.:cool:

moby30

Great thread there Deerspotter. Guys could yous just confirm to me about what to put into the water when boiling-I take it bleach is a no go but wanted to know wether you use caustic soda or washing soda or maybe it doesnt matter.
Thanks

cookimonster

moby30 wrote: »

Great thread there Deerspotter. Guys could yous just confirm to me about what to put into the water when boiling.......

Take 1 fresh stags head, add 1 pound of carrots, onions and celery and gently boil.....:rolleyes:

Those photos where my first attempt at boiling and all I did was use clean cold water and simmered for approximately 5 hours, hide and meat just fell away with gentle persuasion from a table knife. Washed the denuded skull under hot running water to remove any traces of fat etc.

moby30

Thanks cookimonster.

Grizzly 45

You want to use washing soda,not caustic soda!:eek:

moby30

I was thinking caustic soda would be too drastic alright. Deerspotter said he used it and his turned out ok. As cookimonster said he didn't use anything can you tell me what the washing soda actually does?
Thanks

Deerspotter

I did use caustic soda, just a little bit - but my stag head was mumified and the skin was like the toughest leather. I also added a good squirt of fairy liquid every now and then too.
If the head is fresh, I'd say doing it cookimonster style would work fine.

Grizzly 45

AFICAS it just works like a detergent??Doesnt seem to do anything dramatic either which way.

Lullymore24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63v34giDJF8

I thought this might be of help to some, a lot of work, but a nice result in the end

Deerspotter

I stuffed the skull cavity with paper-towels and soaked them in bleach for about a week - which removed the stink quite well. I then used an air-compressor and blew the last of the shiite out of the nasal passage and brain cavity.

I scrubbed the antlers with steel wool to take the green mould / moss off and the bird-crap too. I think this was too abrasive and I would use something less abrasive the next time and take longer.

I then used Potassium permanganate to darken the antlers, as on STAG HEAD 2 the antlers were very weathered. I gave the skull and artistic lick of vinyl white paint and I will leave them in the porch (heated) now for a couple of weeks to ensure the stink is well gone prior to mounting on a plaque.

Stag Head 1 - pre darkening.PNG

Stag head 1 - darkened.PNG

Stag Head 2 - pre darkening.jpg

Stag Head 2 - darkened.PNG

jaksnipe

dodderangler wrote: »

Not being funny but ferrets will strip that down to the bone

+1. i have 2 ferrets in a barrel with a 10 pointer red the past 2 days. hope it works!