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Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: emac on October 04, 2013, 09:54:28 AM

Title: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: emac on October 04, 2013, 09:54:28 AM: I am going to do a skull mount on my deer this year and was just wondering if anybody had any suggestions on a pot i should get to boil it in.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: h20hunter on October 04, 2013, 09:56:23 AM: Which ever one the missus won't need anymore.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: 2MANY on October 04, 2013, 10:02:44 AM: I went to the feed store and bought one of their galvanized, circular, feed tubs.
About 30'' diameter and a foot tall. Fill with water and heat outside on the crab cooker burner.
A pot big enough to boil up an elk skull will come in handy someday.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: boneaddict on October 04, 2013, 10:04:31 AM: I did the same thing, but takes forever to heat up. I've used the blue porcelain one and I have used another cheap one that I cut so antlers fit into it. Get what you can and boil away.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Cleve on October 04, 2013, 10:17:02 AM: Word of advice. Just simmer the skull. If you boil it to hard it will make the bones brittle. Just simmer it enough to make the meat tender so it is able to be taken off with ease.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: NRA4LIFE on October 04, 2013, 10:19:14 AM: It really helps to put a little bit of Borax in the boiling water. All the meat and shmang on the skull turns jelly-like. Do not use an aluminum pot if you use the Borax. It will eat right through it. I also use an old porcelain coated steel pot that my wife was going to throw away at one point. My dedicated horn boiler.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: emac on October 04, 2013, 11:09:53 AM: i already checked around the house and we don't have any big enough laying around. Last year i buried the skull for 5 months and then pressure washed it. It turned out pretty good. I just don't have the patients to go that route this year. How long do you have to simmer or boil it for. Does it stink when you are doing it. Don't wanna piss of the neighbors
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: troyspinetar on October 04, 2013, 11:13:32 AM: Tag
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: NRA4LIFE on October 04, 2013, 11:24:41 AM: I simmer it for 15-20 minutes at a time, remove it and pick away as much crud as I can. Then start with fresh water and a little borax and repeat. It usually takes 3 or 4 cycles like this to get the skull really clean. The first simmer can be a bit stinky, not too bad though.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: lewy on October 04, 2013, 11:34:15 AM: Its an all day affair. Boil, pull out and pick at it, repeat. When you near the end it becomes very tedious. The more time you spend on it the better it will turn out. For me its about a 15 beer project :chuckle:
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Buckmark on October 04, 2013, 11:38:04 AM: I agree with lewy, it takes all day but if done very slowly it will turn out fine.
For a pot, go to goodwill etc....
Do it outside on the camp stove, very slow simmer to just steaming hot water, allday, remove like said periodically and scrape/clean/brush off (a stiff plastic brissel type brush works great, looks like a giant tooth brush)...
Oh, and if you scramble the brains and remove as much as you can before boiling it helps also..
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Alchase on October 04, 2013, 11:42:13 AM: Do this in a well ventilated are!

I did one in my apartment about 20 years ago. It days to get the smell out of my apartment.

My neighbor was gone for a couple weeks, and arrived home the following weekend from when I did my skull. He walked in his apartment, and it smelt like someone died in there.
Of course I knew nothing about it. :dunno:
LOL
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: NRA4LIFE on October 04, 2013, 11:47:03 AM: Yes, the skull boiling project does have the smell of death around it. I'm with Lewy, there's something about a skull boil that really makes you want to consume mass quantities of beer. Makes for a fun day.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: lokidog on October 04, 2013, 11:57:31 AM: You get a better quality skull by letting the bugs (you don't need dermestids) do the work, boiled bone often gets brittle and you often lose the nasal bones as well.

Find a place where the critters cant get to it, put it in a plastic bag, not too tight though so the bugs can get in, and leave it for the winter. This should be skinned and you can also cut as much meat off as possible to speed things up.

:twocents:
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: erk444 on October 04, 2013, 12:30:31 PM: Also, sodium carbonate works great to turn the meat to jelly too. Thats PH up at the spa or pool store. I can get the meat off a deer skull in about 3 1/2 hours, so it is a long process, but it doesn't have to take all day. Getting the brains out first is a good idea too. Just stand back a bit when you spray the hose in the brain hole.....can get a little messy :chuckle:. I used to take the eyes out before simmering, but I've found its easier to leave them cause it all knida comes off in one big chunk if I leave them. If not, I have to pick at all the little pieces which takes awhile. All I remove now is the skin, bottom jaw, and the brains. Everything seems to come off together....mostly. I do euros for my taxadermist friend when he gets busy. If you do enough, you pick up little things that help. And as said before, make sure you got some beers handy!
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: deer_hnter on October 04, 2013, 12:31:36 PM: Tag
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: WARHORSE on October 04, 2013, 12:36:48 PM: Quote from: lewy on October 04, 2013, 11:34:15 AM
Its an all day affair. Boil, pull out and pick at it, repeat. When you near the end it becomes very tedious. The more time you spend on it the better it will turn out. For me its about a 15 beer project :chuckle:

I must have done mine wrong it took me 16 beers :chuckle:
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: coachcw on October 04, 2013, 12:48:44 PM: bugs
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: lastmk8 on October 04, 2013, 12:49:44 PM: I did this two years ago with a raghorn elk and the results were fantastic. Like other have said, do not boil it, a prolonged simmer is all that is requried. I also let mine simmer for much more than a few minutes at a time, a few hours probably, again, not boiling, just a mild simmer. Borax does help with the grease being produced as you are "cooking away". Will it stink.... yea, probably a little bit, not overpowering, but then again, it's just the neighbors right? I think most of the "stink" will be the water you have to get rid of, so think of that beforehand.

I probably did three good simmers over a couple days on the project, took my time, especially fishing out the remaining skull contents and nasal passage area. In the end it came out great and I couldn't believe I had just done that myself. After a few days drying out real good I then started applying the hair salon peroxide. I think it was the Clairole +40 in a paste, it's really a thick liquid vice a paste. Took care in doing that, again, probably three coatings of this stuff (don't forget the rubber gloves, this crap will do a number on "live human flesh".!!! In the end it was a great project, first time I had ever done anything like it. Can't wait to do it again, maybe a deer this time. I had planned on doing that last year to a weird basket rack bent horn whitetail I shot, but before I got to it a varmit (probably a racoon) decided he wanted that head more than I did and ran off with it, tag and all still on it!!

Maybe if I find time this weekend I'll see if I can scrape up pics of the process and post them here.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: lewy on October 04, 2013, 02:45:12 PM: Here are a couple bt bucks, both boiled. Although not as perfect as some of the taxi's work on here, I think they turn out pretty darn good. Have never had an issue with them getting brittle. I am still fine tuning my de-greasing method.......
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Fletch on October 04, 2013, 04:12:19 PM: Get together with your hunting friends...pay $50 on ebay for some bugs and start feeding the skulls to the bugs...Ive done the simmer and scrape thing for years...borax, pool grade peroxide etc....bugs are far easier...
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Blacktail Sniper on October 04, 2013, 06:15:52 PM: Sorry to thread jack, but about how long does it take and how many bugs are needed to do a skull?

I have a coyote skull in the freezer I'd like to do and wondering about which method to use.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Kc_Kracker on October 04, 2013, 07:34:54 PM: do bugs take care of the later creeping grease?

to the OP: a HUGE canning pot ot wally world is under $30, off CL prolly $20, its around 5 gallons but VERY wide
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: sirmissalot on October 04, 2013, 08:12:52 PM: Bugs don't help the degreasing process at all, macerating does help it along but degreasing is still needed.

I did the bug thing for a few years, not at all worth it to me. Macerating is simple and fairly quick, and you don't have to keep it heated year around to keep the bugs alive and feed them on a regular basis... Plus bugs stink. Macerating stinks but only for the week it takes to do a skull.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: lokidog on October 04, 2013, 08:25:53 PM: Who would buy bugs? Mother nature provides plenty. None of my skulls seem greasy??

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk 2
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: SevenD on October 04, 2013, 08:43:44 PM: Ive done three of mine and a couple of my buddies. Just kinda winged it, but they turned out all right. Ive tried the hair bleach before, but didnt seem to whiten them all the way. Thanks for the advice on the products mentioned, Ill have to try those to see if I can whitten them the rest of the way. Hopefully going to build some wall mounting plaques for them this weekend.

Any ideas on design??? :dunno:
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: The Weazle on October 04, 2013, 10:23:48 PM: I would think that a couple hour soak in some simple green would degrease it? :dunno: Not a complete skull under soak, but a good spray down and let it sit for a few hours?

I put all of my skulls in a tree all winter...I skin them, pick as much as I can, then stick in the tree so it won't come out easily. the antlers are kind of bleached, but a wipe down with varnish makes em look good, and kind of antique'ed...
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Muleyslyr on October 04, 2013, 11:02:40 PM: Clearly you have got some good ideas from everyone. There's a lot of ways to do a euro. In my opinion why wait months for bugs or other things when you can do it in an afternoon while you're watching football? You can get a pot at Walmart or Target for $10-15. I use the side burner on my BBQ, outside of course. One suggestion if boiling it..wrap with tin foil the part of the antlers that are resting on the edge of the pot as they will sometimes blacken if over boiled. 20-30min max is all it takes boiling. The rest of the time is picking all the meat off. A scalpel works great btw.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: irishevox on October 05, 2013, 01:13:17 AM: cabela's sells a kit online for like 59.99 check it out... all you do is set it in there plug it in leave it sit for 8 hours and done.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on October 05, 2013, 01:49:54 AM: What some don't understand is, whether your boiling or simmering your degrading the bone of the skull as a result of the heat. Especially the smaller more fragile bone, like the nasal bones. Your also permeating the grease into the bone making it more difficult to get out. The harsher the chemicals people use in the water to demeat and degrease aids in the degradation of the bone.

Anyone ever wonder why there boiled/simmered skull has a chaulky surface?

A quick spray down of any degreaser is not going to degrease any skull. Your just going to degrease the surface. You have to degrease deeper down into the bone. That requires multiple soaks in a degreaser with regular changes.

Bleach should never be used to whiten a skull.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Alchase on October 05, 2013, 08:30:08 AM: :jacked:

Lewy, love the live edge table as well :tup:
thread Unjacked.

LOL
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Smossy on October 05, 2013, 08:44:19 AM: I boiled mine in a normal house pot, I still use it to cook with to this day :tup: Never would of known. Nothing a good ol' SOS pad cant clean up.
Also not sure if anyone mentioned this but when your cleaning the skull, use alittle "Dawn" Dishwashing liquid soap, It's a great degreaser and makes all the difference. I even put a small amount in my water as it simmered, No problems.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Smossy on October 05, 2013, 08:47:00 AM: Quote from: Michelle_Nelson on October 05, 2013, 01:49:54 AM
What some don't understand is, whether your boiling or simmering your degrading the bone of the skull as a result of the heat. Especially the smaller more fragile bone, like the nasal bones. Your also permeating the grease into the bone making it more difficult to get out. The harsher the chemicals people use in the water to demeat and degrease aids in the degradation of the bone.

Anyone ever wonder why there boiled/simmered skull has a chaulky surface?

A quick spray down of any degreaser is not going to degrease any skull. Your just going to degrease the surface. You have to degrease deeper down into the bone. That requires multiple soaks in a degreaser with regular changes.

Bleach should never be used to whiten a skull.
Soaked for a week or so in some Dawn :tup:
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on October 05, 2013, 10:23:19 AM: One week isn't long enough. By adding the dawn to the boiling water you are degreasing it some.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Smossy on October 05, 2013, 10:34:56 AM: Quote from: Michelle_Nelson on October 05, 2013, 10:23:19 AM
One week isn't long enough. By adding the dawn to the boiling water you are degreasing it some.
I wasn't sure, atleast its a start lol. Im still a noob in every department.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Bulldozer77 on October 06, 2013, 09:10:48 AM: Quote from: Smossy on October 05, 2013, 08:44:19 AM
I boiled mine in a normal house pot, I still use it to cook with to this day :tup: Never would of known. Nothing a good ol' SOS pad cant clean up.
Also not sure if anyone mentioned this but when your cleaning the skull, use alittle "Dawn" Dishwashing liquid soap, It's a great degreaser and makes all the difference. I even put a small amount in my water as it simmered, No problems.
:yeah:
I do it this same way smossy. The dawn dish soap works great! I would simmer it in dawn and pull it out once in a while and scrub it with a wire brush. After that I will pack every inch of it with a dry mixture of borax and rock salt. This finishes the drying process. After that, I soak it in hydrogen peroxide (not bleach!!) Until it reaches the desired whiteness.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Alan K on October 06, 2013, 09:44:05 AM: Quote from: 2MANY on October 04, 2013, 10:02:44 AM

I went to the feed store and bought one of their galvanized, circular, feed tubs.
About 30'' diameter and a foot tall. Fill with water and heat outside on the crab cooker burner.
A pot big enough to boil up an elk skull will come in handy someday.

:yeah:

The last couple years I've been boiling up all of our skulls from WA and ID, which is generally 4-5 deer skulls. It's nice to do them all at once and just rotate which one you're picking meat/flesh off of. :twocents:
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: sirmissalot on October 06, 2013, 09:54:19 AM: I have old skulls I boiled when I was young, nearly all of them have gotten chalky and flaky, and a couple even the horn had begun to degrade and chip off.

Many DIY skulls posted on here are missing most if not all of the nasal and sinus bones. To some people that doesn't look bad but to me it's really unfortunate. I would attribute most of that to the fact they were boiled which as Michelle said is very hard on the bone. To each their own, here's a young blacktail I did a couple years ago with beetles.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: sirmissalot on October 06, 2013, 09:57:32 AM: Here is how they should not look. Unfortunately I paid for this taxidermist to ruin this skull...

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.tapatalk.com%2Fd%2F13%2F10%2F07%2Fu9eve3a5.jpg&hash=d822b071a901cb3ef04d4d338e3d8d85f84da44b)

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.tapatalk.com%2Fd%2F13%2F10%2F07%2Fena4uma9.jpg&hash=b0b2a2517b4fd29caa5216fffeb4dae19739b7b8)
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Timberstalker on October 06, 2013, 10:40:49 AM: Wow. That thing is rough.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Ranger91298 on October 06, 2013, 11:03:06 AM: Me personally I would never boil the skulls as it makes the structure of the skull weak. Once I get an animal I immediately put the skull in a 5-gallon bucket that costs $3.00. Fill it with water and then put a normal aquarium heater in the water. You turn the heater up to its highest temperature. If the antlers are sticking out use a piece of wood to lay across the top of the bucket to keep them submerged. After a week of sitting in the water it smells TERRIBLE but about 90-98% of the meat is off the bone. Dump the nasty water and be careful to watch for the teeth that have fallen out of the skull. I then fill it up a second time and let it sit for another 3-7 days depending on how much meat is left. After the second sit there should not be anymore meat left on it. Then I put dawn dish detergent in the third bucket and let it sit for 3 days to get the grease and smell out of the skull. At the end of that I wash the skull off and let it sit outside for about a week to let the smell dissipate and allow the bone to dry. If you do this try not to let the bottom of the burr get into the water as it will take the color off. I then use a craft glue gun to put the teeth back in. Here in Hawaii I have done this with 5 Axis Deer, 6 Boar, 2 Mouflon Sheep and 5 Feral Goat skulls and they have all turned out perfectly white & intact. My neighbors didn't like the smell too much but my skulls look great.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: trophyhunt on October 06, 2013, 11:05:40 AM: Wow that is bad!
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Ranger91298 on October 06, 2013, 11:13:54 AM: sirmissalot, sorry your skull turned out like that....
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on October 06, 2013, 01:22:48 PM: Bulldozer77, why do uou pack the skull with borax and salt? The skull will dry on its own in a few days.
Title: Re: Pot to boil deer head
Post by: Bulldozer77 on October 06, 2013, 03:31:39 PM: Quote from: Michelle_Nelson on October 06, 2013, 01:22:48 PM
Bulldozer77, why do uou pack the skull with borax and salt? The skull will dry on its own in a few days.
more so if there is any tissue that I missed on the outside or in the brain cavity.