Last Fall's Bear Skull

[Machias]

That's one of them hillbilly bears from West Virgina (dueling banjo music in the background)   

[Michelle_Nelson]

Michelle, I ended up sending it along with another member to a fellow in Montana who uses beetles. Now I am soaking it in soapy water (Dawn is the soap). Once it is degreased I will bleach it with peroxide. I have never done this before but my friend who took it to Montana has and I will follow his instructions.

I use Dawn as the first stage in my degreasing.  They go in for about 3 weeks or so.  changing the water every other day with a fish tank heater set at 90 degrees.

Bears are not like deer when it comes to degreasing.   If you are using Dawn as your primary degreaser it is going to take a VERY log time to degrease that bear skull.  Especially if you are not heating the water.  Cold water is going to solidify the grease and fat in the skull and dawn will not penetrate neerly as fast.  My Bear Skulls are macerated.  It takes longer to degrease a beetled skull than a macerated one.  From the begining of my degreasing process til the end takes me atleast 2 months and as much as 4 months to properly degrease a Bear skull.

[Whitelightning]

Michelles scull's look AWESOME, what ever she does works very good!

[Rufous]

Michelle, thanks for the tips. Is there a downside if I do not get all of the grease out other than some discoloration? Brian.

[Ray]

It has a lot of character that is for certain.

[bucklucky]

There is a down fall, it will look like crap. It will continue to leach grease and spread if it isnt properly degreaased. Just dont be in a hurry to get it done. Trust me you will be happier with the finished product. I used to beetle my skull, had a colony for a year and a half, then I started sending them out but wasnt getting great results so Im back to doing them myself. I now macerate my skulls. It is a better process all the way around. Easier to degrease.

[Rufous]

I had a previous bear skull bronzed and I really like it. I may end up having this one metalized, possibly in nickel. Do any of you taxidermists know whether or not it is vital to have the skull totally degreased before metalizing or would it be okay to have it metalized if there is still some grease left in the skull?

[Michelle_Nelson]

Yes it needs to be degreased.  The down fall is it will leave spots.  In your pictures I have see a LOT of grease left in that bear skull.  More often the worst spots are in the jaw joint area of the skull and in the back of the bottom jaw.  Also along the back of the skull.

You need to get the grease out.  Doing it right is time consuming but easy.

[scout88]

thats a cool looking skull, curious to what was causing all the corrosion in there

[Michelle_Nelson]

age

[scout88]

oh ok, thought there might have been something else as well

[Michelle_Nelson]

Nope just age.  I've got a Bear Skull sitting done on my rack that the AK F&G figgured was in it's 20's.  Most of the teeth are wore down to roots.  You can see the bone is degraded through out the skull along with inside the nasal cavity.

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,44009.0.html

[scout88]

whoa thats pretty cool, i have never been bear hunting and dont know much about them

[hunterheinz]

Boil the bear skulls in water with Sal-Soda. It can be purchased via McKenzie online. Remove meat and tissues periodically while boiling until completely removed. Let bear skull dry- wipe down with degreaser(dawn or degreaser from mckenzies) and rinse -let dry. Completely cover and soak in 3% peroxide solution(buy at any grocery store) for 4-6 days. Rinse thoroughly-Let dry. After dry spray with a light coat of crystal clear laquer.   

[Rufous]

I called WA Fish and Game and asked if they had aged the bear that I shot last fall, pictured at the start of this thread. The guy said it was 17 years old. That is my oldest so far. My biggest bear, shot in May of 2001 was 13 and I have taken a 12 year old as well as two 10 year olds and a 7 year old. These were all boars. Took an 8 year old sow and a couple younger sows as well. I was thinking this latest one might be in his 20s but even so he ran around the hills for quite a few years, that is until I called him in and settled his hash.

It is great to see some bears hitting the ground already this fall. I hope to be able to get out in early September but I am kind of working two jobs right now and as a winemaker harvest will too soon be upon me. Yikes.