Maceration problems

[blindluck]

So I placed my deer head skinned eyes out ect. in water at a constant 85 deg last Thursday and nothing seems to be happening. I changed a 1/4 of the water out at day 5, when you pull it out it looks kind of greyish but the meat is not coming off. I expected in 8 days meat to be rotting off but no it just smells bad. Any thoughts?

[MtnMuley]

Turn er up to boiling and get er done in an hour.

[jrebel]

I tried too and I think the temp needs to be a little warmer.  Needless to say I will be waiting til spring to do my next so the water will maintain higher temps and I can do it outside.....

[blindluck]

Turn er up to boiling and get er done in an hour.

I hear ya, I have done the simmer method for years and it works pretty good but I know this is the best result if you can get the damn meat off.

[Pathfinder101]

I had the exact same problem when I tried maceration a few years ago.  I think I probably wasn't getting the water hot enough.  Then I had an aquarium heater burn out and didn't realize it for a few days.  I can't remember how long I had those things rotting in my shop, but I won't do it again.  The end result was nice, but honestly my boiled and picked skulls look just as good on my wall.  If I were a taxidermist producing museum quality pieces I might be able to tell the difference, but I'm not, and I can't.  8 feet up on the wall, they look the same to me.

[blindluck]

I Know, Michelle Nelson taxidermy makes it look fool proof. Five days into it darn near done. I don't know I guess I will just keep it in there till something happens or the horns melt.

[Pathfinder101]

I Know, Michelle Nelson taxidermy makes it look fool proof. Five days into it darn near done. I don't know I guess I will just keep it in there till something happens or the horns melt.

Yeah, Mich is a genius with this method.  She's the one that talked me into trying it.  She literally has it down to a science.  Not as easy as she makes it look though...  I thought I could just dump water into a 5 gallon bucket, buy a cheap aquarium heater, throw my deer and bear skulls in, and a few days later they would pop out clean and done... Apparently there is a little more science involved...  
To be fair, she really DOES turn out museum quality pieces with this method.   

[bobcat]

Yes Michelle definitely knows the process but even she has given up on this method, and now sends her skulls off to a guy who cleans them with beetles.

[blindluck]

Really that's the first I've heard that, why did she stop.

[sebek556]

 

[fairchase hunter]

Simply boiling a skull, etc. in water in not sufficient to make the maceration process work.  If you add an enzyme soap such as Biz it will speed up the process considerably.  Keep your water temperature just below boiling for best results.  Boiling for a long period of time can cause a skull to shrink.

[PolarBear]

With the current ambient temps, 85 degrees might not cut it.  I keep mine in the low 90's in a 5 gallon bucket for deer and a 25 gallon tub for elk.  Just a few degrees can make all the difference in the world.  Also, is your water actually at 85 or is that what you have it set for on the heater? 

[Michelle_Nelson]

Yes Michelle definitely knows the process but even she has given up on this method, and now sends her skulls off to a guy who cleans them with beetles.

Absolutly NOT TRUE! ! !   I havn't "given up" on the Maceration process that I used.

 Yes, I am sending my skulls out now to have them done but the guy uses both Maceration and Beetles.  If it is a Bear or Cougar skull that could make book it is Macerated here.  Then scored and he finishes the degreasing and whitening.

These are the reasons why I started sending them out:

1.  You need a seperate building really to do skulls.  Just 1 tank (25 gallon) puts off a lot of humidity.  I was running 4 of them.  My degreasing tank held 100 gallons of water it usually had 40-60 gallons in it.  My shop was at 75-90% humidity as a result.  That affects how my mounts and salted hides dry.  I have a dehumidifier running 24 hours a day and it wasn't able to keep the humidity down.

2.  Skulls take a LOT of my time and they are only a very small part of my overall buisness.  Time I could be using to get caught up on my mounts and rugs.

3.  My shop was not adequately set up for making water changes quick and easy.  I have to open the garage door and move everything out side.  It sucks, especially when its raining.  Packing 5 gallon buckets of hot water sucks when you have to do it 3 times a week.

4.  When Macerating it really stinks.  I got tired if having my customers smelling that when they came over.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Simply boiling a skull, etc. in water in not sufficient to make the maceration process work.  If you add an enzyme soap such as Biz it will speed up the process considerably.  Keep your water temperature just below boiling for best results.  Boiling for a long period of time can cause a skull to shrink.

Your not Macerating if your boiling.

[Michelle_Nelson]

So I placed my deer head skinned eyes out ect. in water at a constant 85 deg last Thursday and nothing seems to be happening. I changed a 1/4 of the water out at day 5, when you pull it out it looks kind of greyish but the meat is not coming off. I expected in 8 days meat to be rotting off but no it just smells bad. Any thoughts?

Did you trim as much meat off the skull as you could before begining the maceration process?