Maceration of my 2017 bear skull, week by week

[pianoman9701]

Should yield an interesting result. 

[ghosthunter]

45 days

[blindluck]

Getting there, Better throw a aquarium heater in there that you can crank to 95 to 100°

[Crunchy]

Looking good.  You could have saved yourself a few weeks by cutting out the eyes and trimming the big chunks of meat from the skull.  Your probably half way there by the looks of it now. 

[7mmfan]

That storm drain makes me think there me a Cousin Eddy moment coming here before to long. 

[lewy]

Seems like a long time and a lot of screwing around -no offense.

[buglebuster]

Seems like a long time and a lot of screwing around -no offense.

  no offense but an aquarium heater you’d have been done in a week

[ghosthunter]

Seems like a long time and a lot of screwing around -no offense.

Yeah
But I have never been in a rush. I like piddling  around with little projects.
One of my big complaints about life these days is a lot of folks are in a big hurry.
I am just not one of them. I like trying different things for myself.

[ghosthunter]

Well stared Aug 11, with a frozen skull. Here we are today.
Little bit left on the underside but otherwise coming along.

It’s back in the water again as I have some waterfowl hunting projects I am working on with dog ramps,dingy,kayaks and such. Not planing on the decreasing till Feb.

Nothing done but hosing off and changing water , what four times now?

[Twispriver]

I buried mine from last year in the compost pile and it came out looking just like that. I hosed it off, scraped the remaining fat off, dried it in the greenhouse which also bleached it quite a bit. I didn't have any further plans for it so I just hung it up in the barn on a nail with the deer and elk skulls.

[dilleytech]

What’s the advantage of doing it this way instead of boiling? We do all our own skulls and from start of skinning the head to having a bleached skull is a matter of about 4 hours of work and you don’t have anything rotten to deal with.

[Dan-o]

It's a cool experiment, Ghosthunter.

Thanks for documenting it.

[Pathfinder101]

What’s the advantage of doing it this way instead of boiling? We do all our own skulls and from start of skinning the head to having a bleached skull is a matter of about 4 hours of work and you don’t have anything rotten to deal with.

I've done it both ways.  Maceration yields a cleaner result and you preserve all the little feather-thin bones (like the ones in the nasal cavity) that you sometimes lose when boiling and picking.  If I were looking for museum-quality skulls (like you would pay a taxidermist for) and didn't want to deal with beetles, I would go through the trouble of maceration.  The one I macerated was one a guy paid me to do for him (I'm not a taxidermist, he just threw me a few bucks to euro out a decent buck he killed).  It took a couple of months and the smell was horrible.  I had a fish tank heater die on me and I didn't realize it for a few days and the water froze.  Had to start over.  PITA.  The skull (along with a bear of my own) turned out really nice and the guy was happy.  I was pleased with the end result.
BUT...  I went back to boiling and picking the next season.  The deer I do are generally for myself and my boys.  I don't need museum quality.  They hang up on the wall and you can't see those little feather-size bones anyway.  It just wasn't worth the smell or the time to macerate.  If I were a taxidermist, had a dozen tubs and fish tank heaters and customers that were expecting top quality and it was my job (meaning that I would be checking water temps and progress each day, and I were nose-blind), then I would macerate (maybe... more likely I'd probably have a beetle colony). 
Just my 

[dilleytech]

What’s the advantage of doing it this way instead of boiling? We do all our own skulls and from start of skinning the head to having a bleached skull is a matter of about 4 hours of work and you don’t have anything rotten to deal with.

I've done it both ways.  Maceration yields a cleaner result and you preserve all the little feather-thin bones (like the ones in the nasal cavity) that you sometimes lose when boiling and picking.  If I were looking for museum-quality skulls (like you would pay a taxidermist for) and didn't want to deal with beetles, I would go through the trouble of maceration.  The one I macerated was one a guy paid me to do for him (I'm not a taxidermist, he just threw me a few bucks to euro out a decent buck he killed).  It took a couple of months and the smell was horrible.  I had a fish tank heater die on me and I didn't realize it for a few days and the water froze.  Had to start over.  PITA.  The skull (along with a bear of my own) turned out really nice and the guy was happy.  I was pleased with the end result.
BUT...  I went back to boiling and picking the next season.  The deer I do are generally for myself and my boys.  I don't need museum quality.  They hang up on the wall and you can't see those little feather-size bones anyway.  It just wasn't worth the smell or the time to macerate.  If I were a taxidermist, had a dozen tubs and fish tank heaters and customers that were expecting top quality and it was my job (meaning that I would be checking water temps and progress each day, and I were nose-blind), then I would macerate (maybe... more likely I'd probably have a beetle colony). 
Just my 

That makes sense. Thanks

[7mmfan]

I'm on week 4 of a modified masceration process of my bear and deer skull from this year. I change the water every week and add more soap and keep the stock tank heater going. The skulls are both 100% clean of any meat or brain matter as I pressure washed them both 2 times in the process. The grease, oil , and brown "stuff" that continues to come off those things is unbelievable. I'm sure most of it is the bear but still. I guess the point is I dont see how it's possible to be done start to finish in hours if hot water and soap continues to pull grease almost a month later. I'm convinced this will yield a better product than a one day job.