Thought I might comment on this post. I have done euro's for years, even before doing it commercially through my business (BlackRiver Taxidermy). I've tried a NUMBER of ways and thought I would write my findings...keep in mind this is just my opinion based up my experiences with these 4 methods.
1.Boiling- clean the skull well and boil starting with soda ash (eats the flesh much quicker by raising the PH) in the water for an 45 minutes, clean by hand then re-boil with Dawn Dishing washing soap instead of soda ash for another session (45 minutes). Several sessions are needed and final clean with pressure washer- PROs= good clean, easy clean-up and doesn't stain the bone making it easier to bleach out. By far the fastest method. CONs= makes the bones weak by disintegrating the cartilage and usually the nose cap and upper mandible can detach required re-attachment, especially in younger animals such as spikes. Also, during clean-up/power washing there is a high probability you will damage the small nasal bones that really define a good euro mount.
2. Maceration (soaking). Clean the skull well (remove hide, eyes, brains and excess meat). Put in tap water in a container that can be heated and kept between 68-80 degrees. Leave skull in for a month or 2, possibly change SOME of the water halfway through the process, DO NOT let water come past the skull an onto the antlers! PROs- meat, viscera, cartilage comes away very clean and there is little that needs to be done by way of maintence. CONs= HORREDIOUS smell that can be smelled from quite a ways off! I can handle a lot of bad smells, but this one is pretty bad, comparable to raw sewage!! It also 'stains' the bone with both a tan tint AND the smell. ALSO..it looses the bones even worse than boiling and you WILL have some bones that will need to be re-attached. A good method is dip the bones in 1 part chlorox to 6 parts water for 5 minutes and rinse well before going onto bleaching, if you leave it in any longer than 5 minutes it will eat the small nasal 'netting' bones.
3. Natural/Burrying. Clean the skull as above and bury. Leave anywhere from 2 months to 6 months depending upon your soil composition and temp. PROs=tends not to loosen the bones and easy clean up, easy to do. CONs= Its hard to find a spot, even in the city, that is 100 percent free of critters that will attempt to dig it up. This method also stains the bone even worse than the Maceration technique making bleaching harder.
4. Dermestids/Beetles. We have beetles, and as you will probably tell, I like them the best. Clean the skull as usual. DO NOT boil, salt, or put any chemicals on the skull/meat as the beetles will not touch it then. Put in with the beetles and dependent upon how many beetles are working on it is dependent upon how long you have to wait. PROs= very little maintenance. The beetles also don't touch the cartilage or 'netting' bones leaving the skull completely structurally intact and beautiful. Also, there is NO staining of the bones and they come out very white making final bleaching easy and very effective. CONs= You have to have beetles, know a taxi with beetles and if you decide to get them, remember, they are animals...thus they require constant attention such as feeding/watering/cleaning/etc. This method is not as fast as boiling, but much much quicker than method 2 or 3. My beetles will have deer skull done in 16-36 hours.
I hope this is helpful....again, this is my findings based upon doing all 4 and I am sure there are others that may disagree. Sorry for the long-winded reply, but I hope this was helpful.
Joel -B.R.T
