Skull Cleaning Using Maceration
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2017
- Learn how to clean animal skulls professionally without boiling them! Maceration is an all natural way that allows bacteria to clean the tissue off of a skull while not damaging the bone.
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Just harvested an alligator last weekend. It is currently in the freezer. I live in Florida. Do I need to thoroughly thaw before putting it in a bucket of water? You also mentioned removing the hide before going in the bucket, would I also need to try to remove the skin?
This was an excellent video. You taught me everything I needed to know in the first few minuets and kept my interest with a great experiment. Well done and thank you!
Hey glad I can help! Thank you for watching Katie :)
Working with marine sewage treatment plants, we use a blower to oxygenate the water and maintain the bacteria colony.
The reason why you need to change the water is because the bacteria outgrow the habitat and use up the oxygen, by flushing the habitat you maintain the growth at a stable level.
Having a warm environment boosts the reproduction of bacteria.
So from my experience, I imagine having a tank that is heated and has a blower will give the best results with regular flushing.
Sean Quinn- thanks for the explanation on it! Makes a lot of sense.
I beg your pardon: you change the water to get rid of the bacteria’s waste product, which at too high a level, becomes poisonous to the bacteria. Like fish in an aquarium without a gravel bed full of ammonia-eating bacteria, will kill themselves with their own waste product. The added O2 is either too high an O2 range for your favored flesh-eating bacteria, or favorable to one of their foes. Temperature affects the speed of the chemical reactions essential to life. The optimum for that group of reactions is slightly over 101F, where your temp goes when you’re sick. I think I might experiment with a tank kept at 100F, water run through a charcoal filter, and changing out half the water every day to get rid of the waste while keeping the bacteria count high. Just fun.
@@NMranchhand you know your shit
@SUPREME OWNERSHIP I have. I retired.
@SUPREME OWNERSHIP you need to be more specific. What are you referring to?
This is awesome. I collect skulls. I don't hunt, I just find them. Because I hike but live in the city I have Many different kinds of skulls. Usually I just let nature take its course in my back yard. This is not a consistent method. some get cleaned well and some seem to mummify. Boiling is out, but soaking for awhile maybe just the ticket. Will this weaken small skulls, like bird, squirrel or even a mouse? What about the peroxide bath?
That's great Frank! So it will not weaken skulls. What will happen is that connective tissue that might normally keep a skull together will be cleaned making the skull come apart in places. Water does soften bone but it will harden back up once dry. So, no, it will not weaken the bone, you just have to be gentle with it in the process. I simply use 3% peroxide and soak just as long as needed to whiten, for a small skull that might be a few hours a large skull a few days.
I have always said you dont need to hunt to get skulls thanks
What's funny is I have been macerating skulls since I was a kid and just found out what the process is called(I'm 43)! Lol! Thanks for the informative vids. It's really nice to see wholesome people with such an interest. God bless you!
Haha thanks Gwendolyn!
What a great video!!! Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge. Very grateful.
This is amazing! I’m new to skull and bone cleaning, and iv been considering maceration as it seems easier than any other methods, and this just convinced me even more! Thanks for this video mate!
hey- i'm new too! was wondering how clean should a skull be before this? have you tried it??
@@scairk I have tried this, and when I do it I try and get all the fur/skin off and any loose hanging pieces of meat. The more meatier the skull/Bone is before maceration just means you will have to leave it in longer :). Hope this helped!
Your welcome we did this in Woodbridge. Heard you are in Manassas!. Whitening was done with soaking it in peroxide in a 5 gallon bucket
Looking forward to trying it! Thank you, everything was well explained.
Great video!! Again thanks for being an open book and sharing your techniques.
Sure thing Tim, Thanks for watching!
Best one I’ve seen searching for this info. Thanks.
Thank you! I’m definitely going to try this method. I’ve tried someone else’s method of boiling the skulls and not only did they start to fall apart, but it takes hours to pick the rest clean and it’s so hard to tell if I got all the brain out as well. Hopefully this will work a lot better for me!
Awesome lil comparison, appreciate it!
You bet, thanks for watching!
Nice one Hunter. Thanks for sharing the knowledge mate. You re a good teacher. Thanks again for the video. Take it easy.
You bet Dennis!
Good to know, thanks for replying I'll give it a try!
The fine details preserved on the skulls are amazing, museum quality. Much better than the aggressive smashing, cooking and pressure washing the other guy does.
Well, I wasn't going to say that out load but yes! lol Thanks for watching :D
Love your video, very informative…great job.
thanks for the info mate I now know how to clean skulls/bones AND you actually saved me a bunch of time by showing what way works the best. thank you much appreciated.
Sure thing Dean! Thanks for watching!
U.S. Skull Hunter no problems mate. subscribed to ur channel by the way.
Awesome!
Learned a lot from this video. Thanks so much!
Awesome video bud! Very good info, thanks!
Thanks Jonathan!
Right on! ...awesome video can't wait to try this!
Nice! Here is a more recent video I did on the topic but with a buck skull ua-cam.com/video/YoMLietd3KQ/v-deo.htmlsi=4z7El2kd6ms7Su0O
Seriously the most informative video, Thanks 🇦🇺
U r a great inspiration to me! I just hope that you provide us lots and lots of such informative and artistic videos...
Good luck for your work...
Greetings from India!
Thanks Abhijeet! I have a whole list of videos I am working on so I hope you are able to stick around and see those too :) thanks for watching!
Super informative, thank you so much for making this video! Have some pig skulls that I have been struggling with for a while now as living in an apartment leaves me unable to bury them, and cleaning them by hand has not been working very well, but thanks to this I now have an effective alternative! :D
you bet Liahona! Let me know how things go :)
Awesome info!! Thank you for your time and knowledge😁
You bet Dan!
Hi Hunter. I can now report backnon my findings after doing maceration on a Bluewildebeest and an Impala. The results - UNBELIEVABLE!!! So the BWB had already gone through bleaching and carving and multiple cleanings, but it had brain matter stuck in the cavity that I just could not get out. After just one week of maceration, the entire brain cavity was clean, and even most oil from the skull had "disappeared".
Then Impala was a skull that was out in the sun for about three months. It was not really even cleaned propperly - just cooked so it has hair and skin on it. I started the process, did a water change after 7 days, and then after another 7 days I took it out. HP hosed it down and to my absolute surprise - it came out clean. Each cavity and hole was cleaned out completely! Even the tough skin that still had har hair on, simply tore off with the hp hose.
One thing it does seem to do, and I might be wrong - but it seems as if the process does cause the bobe to become a bit more brittle. The thickness of the impala front nasal cavity had become almost paper thin.
Also, both skulls still do have a very slight smell. Is there a way to get the smell out completely? Maybe washing in dishwash liquid?? Any advice one this?
But all in all, incredible results. Thank you hunter for the amazing channel and teaching us your ways.
That's great to hear man! I have not noticed the nasal cavity becoming brittle, however, maceration will get rid of cartilage that would otherwise keep things together. Not sure that's it, hopefully the results will improve with the next skull. K, so basically if the skull is still smelling there is still grease/matter in the bone. I pretty much go by the rule that if the water still smells its not done yet. You could degrease the skull and then see if that takes care of the smell too. I can't remember if we talked about degreasing but if you need help let me know :)
very good video! will definately try this in the future!
Great to hear! I did a more recent video on buck skulls if you are interested ua-cam.com/video/YoMLietd3KQ/v-deo.htmlsi=4uFBADYel8cxbkrC
dude you are amazing love your videos keep up the great work
Thanks fro watching Jean!
Best description I’ve ever heard about the smell of this process “the smell is out of hand (control)”. I’ve got a deer skull macerating in the back yard right now and it starts 20 feet out Min.
Haha yeah that is a good way to say it
Nice video man, I would love to see 2 video follow-ups.
1. Maceration vs Boil - why you went this route, pro/cons, etc.
2. Your setup - where do you keep them during the week, how are you running your heaters, your prep steps, degreasing, samples of what you do after (nice bone carving vids BTW - but what else?)
Anyways, just some ideas on content I looked for on your channel and figure others will too.
Cheers!
Hey Rick, Thanks! I really appreciate the suggestions! I should do those videos, I felt like I was getting too long on the maceration one so I cut out as much as possible, but a follow up video would work. Thanks for watching man :)
US Skull Hunter you got it bro. Probably the best complement I can offer is I usually boil but am going to give this a go. Thanks!
had almost decided to go to dermastic beetles til i read a book last night, ...im back to maceration... thanks for the videos, ive learned a lot
Nice! Yeah dermastid beetles are a lot of work. Thanks for watching Ron!
Awesome video! Didn’t even know this was an option. Just on question can you do this do a deer buck skull without damage to the antlers?
I've made it this far thanks to your video! Thank you! Now, what do I do next? Before i start carving? All of the carving videos I've seen focus on the carving method and style. I want to use a bleached skull with simple Dremel work, is there more preparation to the surface of the bone after after I've cleaned it? What about preserving the bone from natural wear and tear like becoming brittle?
This was so informative, thanks! ☺️
You bet Ruya, thanks for watching!
Extremely good video...Well Done
Thank you :)
Thank you. Doing this now with duck and chick skulls. Very cool. Subscribed too! Very thorough and I understood.
This is definitely a hobby I want to get into now
Really good video, man. I've been using this method for YEARS because I'm really lazy and even I learned a few things from watching this. So Thanks!! I've never skinned my specimens before, though, but if you say it'll be faster if I do, then I just might. I'm just really lazy and I don't mind my buckets sitting for a while.
Hahaha yeah I know what you mean :) Thanks for watching!
Not sure why you're confusing lazy for clever. You're obviously not lazy...
This was SO interesting! I enjoyed watching and learned a lot. I'm wondering about he type of bacteria that does this process, and if something can be added to catalyze the process. Some bacteria like salt, some like starch, some prefer darkness (possible a hint with the results from your black bucket as well as the increased heat). Great video! Thank you!
Thanks Karen! Yes, there is a LOT to learn about the actual process of the bacteria and the enzymes they produce. If you think about it companies and governments pay big money researching this topic for waste management. THANKS for watching and if you have not already watch my latest updated video on the topic ua-cam.com/video/YoMLietd3KQ/v-deo.html
AWESOME! Very informative!!!!
Well Thanks Jondavid! Glad you liked it :)
In my experience, the cold water maceration is most likely to leave the grave wax gunk on it, and they're more likely to need less degreasing and have less of the waxy texture when the water stays hot or warm. I'm in Georgia,so in the summer the water stays a pretty constant hot temperature but in the spring and fall the water stays cooler and they end up pretty gross
Thanks for the input! Nothing beats maceration though eh!?
Very cool video very informative appreciate it to starting to do mine
Nice!
Awesome videos man , great job. I found a dead boar here in Florida, the spine and head are all intact, also found a gator head, going to try the bucket method I think bc it’s 90 here almost everyday. Thanks again!
Hey Nick! Sorry for the delayed response. That's great man, let me know how it turns out!
Thanks, great information. I have 2 beaver skulls I need to do. Can I use chlorinated city water or would I be better off with pond water? Also, how do you think it would work to put the skull in a perforated container for protection and sinking it in a pond?
This was wonderfully useful stuff I enjoyed the comparison.
You mentioned smell, I don't have the sense of smell so this story concerns a friend telling me that a black bird had hit an office window and died. I put it in a plastic bag and a card board tube and left it in the office during summer on a Friday. I forget this fact and on Monday my colleagues noticed a stench and thought it was the drains. I confessed and took it home. And boiled it up in a pan!
I miss my old skull collecting days as I didn't know what I was doing but had fun.
Haha that's funny. I bet your colleagues never forgot that :)
U.S. Skull Hunter they didnt
Great video ! Thanks for the info. I just finished macerating a cat skull, it has come out great ! Sadly I lost a tooth in the process... I have yet to apply your tips from the last video and go see a butcher or two to get skulls ! Sadly in France a lot of animals are affected by laws and regulations regarding what can be donewith their remains...
Ahh I see. Well, I hope you get some luck finding some skulls! Thanks btw :)
Thank you for setting up such a great experiment! I used to boil skulls but didn’t like the change in the bone. It also required considerable degreasing. Questions for you: 1)would adding Rid Ex toilet enzymes harm the skulls at all? A friend suggested it. 2)What measures do you use to protect yourself from inhaling or handling the bacteria laden skulls? 3) why not leave the bucket open to the air?
Sure thing! 1. I personally would not recommend it just because a product like that is always going to have other additives that could potentially harm/mess with the process. What I would recommend is adding chicken broth (you can buy it at the grocery store in liquid form) to the water to help jump start the bacteria. 2. Gloves and a face mask are all that's really needed. 3. If you leave the bucket open you loose heat, you loose water as it evaporates, and you allow flies to lay eggs in the water. So you really don't want any of that to happen.
I was wondering about this. I had accidentally left a fish in my cooler after fishing one summer. After a few weeks something started to smell and I couldn't find the source. I needed to use the cooler, and I opened it up and found the smell as well as all the bones from the fish. Not one piece of meat on them. It made me wonder if this was a viable option for cleaning other animal bones and skulls. Thanks for the great videos you put out. I'm just getting started in the hobby, so you knowledge is very appreciated. Thanks again.
haha that's one way to do it! That's pretty cool actually :) Yeah maceration is by far the best way to clean skulls in my opinion :) Thanks for watching David and let me know how things go!
amazing video, really educational 👍
Thanks Muhammad! Glad you liked it :)
I love when the algorithm sends me outliers like *SKULL HUNTER* lol
Thanks for telling me how to hide the bodies
Great informative video thanks
Thanks for watching Norman!
Impatient as I am I'd be tempted to put in one of those pouches you put in septic tanks to keep them healthy... No idea if that'd help, but worth a try!
I have a couple questions:
Do you just use hydrogen peroxide to degrease them?
Will the water kill (or help) lawn grass if dumped over it?
Also, as a biology/environmental science major, warmer water is probably more beneficial for the bacteria to work faster (most living things including bacteria get cold and slow just like our fingers in cold weather).
to degrease is just water and dish soap
and maceration water fine for the grass
@@aven5380 if anyone the water will help the plants
Just found your channel and I have a few questions.
1) Why do you have so many skulls.
2) Why are they sheep skulls.
3) Have you ever tried the skull with the aquarium heater in the black bucket to see if you can speed up the process even more?
Cool channel, and I enjoyed the video. Very interesting, never seen anything like this.
Thanks for watching Seth. 1. I specifically got all those skulls just to make this video. 2. I wanted skulls that were all about the same size so it was just easiest to go o the butcher shop and get sheep heads. 3. I have not, although it may very well make things go faster. Thanks again!
Hot water maceration works better than cold because the bacteria like warmer climates and will propagate better in warmer climates than colder climates causing the organism to rot faster. Thank you for making this video.
Thanks Jeremiah! Yes, you are absolutely right :)
I'm the 1800th subscriber!
Thanks! You deserve a price or something haha :) thanks for watching Eryn
Great video and good job! How do you de-grease a skull?
Thanks Rick. Use the same setup with a bucket and aquarium heater. Add dawn dish soap to clean water and change it out maybe once a week. Deer skulls are going to take a few weeks if they are really greasy. But if it was macerated it could take less.
I usually put them in my garden with a heavy clay pot upside down over them and let the bugs deal with it. I’m totally going to try it with the bucket and water! Thank you!
Nice! Yes, the ol' clay pot works too :)
I water macerate using hot water and add some Dawn dish soap to aid in degreasing. This year I kept the buckets (my daughter and I both shot nice bucks) in our attached garage and changed the water every 2-days to help avoid any smell.
Nice Tom!
Awesome video! I learnt so much watching. Do you have a video concerning degreasing the skull?
Thanks for watching Umbalaba! Not yet, but you would just use the same setup and use clean water and about 1/2 cup dish soap for 3-4 gallons and just change every 3-5 days till de-greased.
Thank you very much! :-D
I just uploaded a video specifically for buck skull so you might find it helpful! ua-cam.com/video/YoMLietd3KQ/v-deo.html
Neat stuff. I had no idea it was so simple and so effective. :-D
I know right! Thanks for watching :)
Great video! Thank you!
How do you degrease after masurating a deer scull?
Do you use hot peroxide? What strength?
Great work!
just dish soap and water actually!!
great video - thank you. i have a question regarding antlers. the 4 point buck i just harvested has a beautiful dark red/brown rack, will leaving the antlers in water bleach out/change the color? or should i just cover the skull and leave the antlers out of the water (would end up only being a shallow bath though). thank you in advance of your answer.
If you want to get the skull completely submerged without changing the rack color, here's what I do. An appropriate sized bag for each antler, and electrical tape at the bottom so the water doesn't mess with them. Been do that with customers' skulls for a year now. Same process for the degrease and whitening. Hope I could help!
I live in your neighborhood. I recognize your street and saw my house on this video LOL. I would identify places but i dont want to DOX myself. Love and Light!
Hahaha that's crazy! Are you into skulls or was this just a random video suggestion??
How long do you put them in the mix to whitening. What’s the ratio for the soak and do you use the heater?
thanks for this videos, it was interesting for me there was a time when i wanted to clean and keep skulls, have i discovered these at that time would have been helpful
Excellent video! I will be trying my first skeletons soon, starting with some bigger pond turtles (around 10 inches), you think the maceration method won't be damaging on the (I guess) rather fragile skeletons?
Maceration would be the most gentle method. However, due to how well it cleans the bones of turtles do come apart from each other. I am still trying to figure out how best to clean turtles
Use the aquarium heater and install a toilet tank water valve with float to constantly feed clean water into the bucket. Put a hose valve and a hose on the side of the bucket at the bottom then slowly leech the dirty water into a garden by adjusting the flow. The smell will be minimal if done gradually.
Ahh I see, Thanks for the tip Alex!
Just wondering do you know what temperature you set the water heater at and do you think if you increased the temperature would it make the process faster?
11:39 you look like murr from impractical Jokers
lol you know what, you are absolutely right. Gotta work on my ferret face lol
Thanks a lot for the wealth of info. I was given a knobby buck with little 3 inch long antlers. It is winter so I have it inside but never dumped the water since I put it in 2 weeks ago. I guess I better dump it. I wonder if nasty city water (I have) vs well water makes a difference? The city water is loaded with chlorine and fluoride so maybe that slows it. I filter the crap before I drink it but not using that for the bucket. Thanks again sweet video! So far I have learned how to do lots of stuff on UA-cam including brain tanning hides. Learning more and more ways to use less of the critter I get
Hey TJ! Yeah probably a good idea to change the water :) SO I actually use city water and it works just fine. Any chlorine in the water doesn't seem to inhibit the bacteria from growing. Thanks for watching and glad you are learning some good stuff!
@@usskullhunter great glad to hear that will work too!
Does the flesh/gunk get trapped in the mesh bags or does it fall out/decompose all the way?
Have you tried taking a rascal and putting a pressure washer to it? I wonder if that would speed up the process to almost instantly ready to go or maybe only a week in the macerator? Good channel I am joy watching it
So yes I think that could speed up the process. I stay away from pressure washers just simply to prevent accidentally damaging the skull. But yes I think you are right.
this helped a lot, thanks
You bet!
What if you incorporated both the oxygen and the aquarium heater together???
Hey Dan! So, I actually figured out what happened. Bacteria that lives in an oxygenated environment is actually very sensitive to the levels of oxygen in the water. By pumping in air i actually elevated the oxygen above what the bacteria could survive in so it killed it. That is why it actually took longer :)
Thanks for the videos! I am working on a wild turkey skull from my son’s first hunted turkey. How often would you recommend I change the water?
I would say about every 3 days. Just be careful as there are some thin/small bones on a turkey skull :)
Thanks much! I will go with that.
So would this work with a human body too?
I saw a video with dermestid beetles and it claims they do the same thing.
I am asking because I think it would be cool to have my skeleton preserved when I die vs just being buried or burned.
My method does both, I boil off most of the meat and then let the giblets macerate off. Also I add 3% peroxide to the water and sun-bleach it for a few days. Works pretty well.
Yea I assumed that was probably the way to go, I currently do that when I simmer them for whitening. My final question, what would you suggest if the skull and antlers don’t fit in a container?
Hey Derek! If you dont mind shoot me a text and I can send you some pics on how to do it 540-222-2020.
Grate video I will put heat and change the water often for now on think you for the time it took to do this video well done 👍🏻
You bet. Thanks for watching!
i would be interested to know how many skulls you have actually got and done this to, and what you do with them all!!!
How exactly do you get these skulls? Looking to get into it after finding a whitetail deer head while working, but I’ve never come across an animal skull until now
These videos are really interesting keep up the good work but I was just wondering what is the purpose of cleaning the skulls? What will you do with them after they you've cleaned them thoroughly?
Thank you, I appreciate that. Some people just collect skulls as a hobby and others use the skulls as a medium for art. Thanks for watching!
Some domestic skulls like sheep and cows I will. Others I just use for the videos or use to practice on :)
I've had a hummingbird skull I've had soaking for at least 4 weeks. Seems to be taking forever! I've changed the water twice since the temperature hasn't been very warm lately. I'm not sure if it's the water I'm using, or what.
Hey awesome video! I am currently working on a bird skull but notice a pretty strong smell still after maceration. Is there anything you do after the process other than just letting it dry to eliminate the smell?
I usually clean it by soaking in hot water with dawn dish soap. Also helps to decrease
I have a cat skull that was previously soaked in formaldehyde. Will this affect the maceration process greatly?
Thank you 😊 greetings from germany
Just to clarify you just take the hide off put it in a bucket then change the water after 1 or 2 weeks and when you change water do you clean them or just put them back in the bucket?
Can you use this process for a skull with antlers? Do you have any videos on how you do your bleaching?
Okay, so I’m trying a mix of different methods I’ve seen to clean a raccoon skull I found in my yard. What is decreasing a skull and is it something I need to do? I’m new to this but does that change anything if I don’t decrease it
Thanks. I really appreciate the video. I have my daughter's buck skull sitting in a metal cage and waiting forever. Looks like I'll be moving it to a bucket of water tomorrow.
Great to hear! Let me know how it goes
Do you have a wireless aquarium heater or did you cut a notch in the lid?
Do you reattach the teeth that have fallen out? Super glue? Or hot melt glue?
corpse wax is formed when the fats of the skull/dead body react with alkali and saponify. it feels like soap bc this is the same process that makes soap, basically they take an oil and add an alkali solution then add other stuff like fragrance & color. there could be some explanation for the water being slightly alkali though the carbon dioxide given out by the bacteria should theoretically form carbonic acid & neutralize any alkali ((that could explain why putting an air pump in it made more grave wax i guess))?? I’m failing chemistry so idk about that part but you could try adding a weak acid like lemon juice (vinegar could be a little strong)
Hey thanks for that! I will definitely have to read back through that a few times to remember all that :) So I think I actually did find and answer to why the air pump did not work. Now bare with me as I I speak mostly in layman's terms. So aerobic bacteria grows when oxygen is present, BUT! In conditions where the oxygen levels are elevated this will actually kill the aerobic bacteria. So basically water with very high oxygen levels prevents both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria from growing.
US Skull Hunter i guess that could be the reason why there was more grace wax haha
Hi, thanks for the explanatory video, however you said that many things depend on the scull itself. Can you tell me how to handle very large horse scull? It is clean from flesh but not 100%, there is some bits and pieces here and there, I want to have it completely clean and white. What should I do? I don’t have such large pot to boil it in, even if I find big plastic tub it will not have a lid, emptying will be hard and I don’t know how much bleach will go. Also I live in apartment, it’s currently around 0 degrees cold outside. Please help.
Hey Emilia! SO a few things... first, thanks for watching :) Second, I big tote is actually what I use for larger skulls like a horse. You should be able to fit it in the tote and be able to close the top. I have photos if you want to message me on IG or Facebook I'll send them to you. Yes, it would require more effort changing the water but that's the reality of working with a larger skull. I would highly suggest never to boil a skull, it can damage the bone. And I would also highly suggest never to use bleach, it will definitely damage the bone. Only ever use Hydrogen Peroxide to whiten bones. If you can get a hold of an aquarium heater that should help with keeping the water warm, although you might have to insulate the tote with really cold temperatures. I would not worry about the smell at this point as most of the flesh is already gone, it's usually just the first few weeks that it smells strong. I hope some of this helps!
Thanks a lot, that’s a great idea, I have a huge plastic bag which can do the trick, plus I will put it in the pantry inside if it is not so smelly. I did try to boil it first but didn’t fit well in the pot so it’s for a short time, I hope I didn’t ruin it. It’s my first scull to deal with, a gift actually for my pyrographic activities (I wouldn’t have got so big scull). Your answer definitely helped, I’ll go put it in the plastic bag now, then 50-50 water and hydrogen peroxide and let’s hope that I will have a good scull to work on.
Hello and thanks for the videos. I have a cow skull that is bare from lying in the sun for so long but there seems to still be some slight cartilage left and it has a bad smell still. Would you still recommend this method to remove the final remnants of flesh from deep inside? I do appreciate it!!!!
Hey! Sorry for the late reply. Yes, absolutely. I use maceration for skulls like that all the time.
Great video as always Hunter. Thank you for that. In terms of deer with horns - does maceration have any effect on the horns? Here in South Africa where we have larger horned animals like buffalo and wildebeest, should I soak the entire skull - horns included into the water or will maceration damage the horns. Unlike animals like Oryx, the horns off of these animals cannot be removed. You have been a great inspiration and I will send you a photo of my first skull soon. Thanks!
So maceration does not damage or discolor antler or horns. You don't necessarily have to submerge the horns just as long as the skull itself is all the way under. And change the water often so that grease does not stay on top of the water and get the antlers greasy. Awesome drone video btw and I look forward to the skull results!
I use this water clean method with our buffalo heads. We have an old trailer we put the skulls in until the horns slip off. We started off putting them in when we got them home from processor but the water tends to make the horns flake. So we put them in water after we are able to remove the horns. I'm glad someone is out there making videos on how to do this. When I first started we had to figure it out for ourselves. Also the horn core tends to deteriorate if left in water too long. We leave them in the water for one week and then I pressure wash them. Someone gave me a yak head and it's taken me a long time how to put it in water and not damage the horns. They wouldn't slip off. Anyway I covered them with cling wrap and put the horn in the water. Hope it works.
Thanks Rose! I have not noticed the core on the buffello deteriorate but I will definitely keep an eye on it next time!
I just uploaded a video specifically for buck skull so you might find it helpful! ua-cam.com/video/YoMLietd3KQ/v-deo.html
What do you do with ram skulls to keep horns in place and intact? Do they handle maceration? I have had goat horn sheaths come away before but guess I could epoxy them back on. Thanks.
Hey! Sorry for the late reply. So I don't like to glue the sheaths back on personally so if you get a small thin piece of rubber and stick in in the horn and then put it back on it keeps it pretty firmly in place.
I want to be your friend! I have so many questions!!! I loved this video, but now I have so many more questions!!!
What brand of aquarium heater do you use and what watt. I plan on using 5 gallon buckets and small insulated coolers.
So I use an Aqueon heater that is 100 watt. Really any brand that is good would work, and 50-100 watt is fine.
Would that size still work in the winter or should I try a bigger size what do you think