Help getting hide off.

[TGF]

My son shot his first moose last year at age 13. I have kept his little rack for memories sake. I just cut it off with a chainsaw and removed the brain matter. The hide is nice and tight on top of skull. Someone told me to bury it (string attached) in manure pile and the bugs will clean it up real nice? I don't want to ruin it though. Any confirmation this will work? Or can you steer me to a link on here of similar topic. Thanks
Terry

[416]

http://www.taxidermy.net/ ...a wealth of info for your reading pleasure:grin:

[Byson]

i have done a bear skull this way once it turns out fine but know i boil my skulls with borax and sea salt and than the meat just peels off

[TGF]

Is it OK to boil the antler as well? I think I will need a big barrel for boiling. I have boiled bear skulls as well and this works ok.
Thanks for the link 416. I'm off to work and will check later.

[mainland hunter]

dont boil the antlers, wrap plastic around them,and keep them out of the water, even the steam will discolor them so thats why the plastic is needed

[TGF]

So the way the antlers go there is no way to boil the skull without getting the antlers in the water.

[Walksalot]

I use a large canner, the type you process food in, and fill it up until the water is just bekow the antlers. Throw a couple of handfulls of borax, Twenty Mule Team works well, and then cover the top with tin foil wrapped tightly around the base of the antlers. A little vent hole in the tin foil on the side of the container will direct the steam away from the antlers. This process will cook the hide and meat off the skull. Make sure you don't cook it to long or the bones at the end of the snout will detatch. Then take an air hose or a pressure washer and carefully blast away all the clinging pieces. Let it dry for a few days and give it a shot of hydogen peroxide and this will bleach the skull white. Ordinary house hold bleach will discolour the antlers but hydogen peroxide will not. Then take the skull and turn it over and imagine if you were going to hang it like a picture. Take a 5/16 drill bit and drill a pocket which will accept a nail head so you can hang the skull on a wall.:D
Hey, you have just done an european mount and saved yourself a pile of money.:cool:

[TGF]

I didn't do european mount. Well I did sort of. I just cut with chainsaw just the skull cap off, so basically just the bone that encompasses the brain area. So I'm left with the flat bone plate that runs from antler to antler.

[dime]

It does not seem to be a problem if a little steam hits the antlers, and you are right that it is just about impossible to boil them without part of the base of the antlers being submerged in water. Just boil outside so it does not stink up the house. I usually do mine out in the shed with a coleman stove, water with a little borax, boil for less than 20 minutes so the antlers do not come loose.

[Walksalot]

I didn't do european mount. Well I did sort of. I just cut with chainsaw just the skull cap off, so basically just the bone that encompasses the brain area. So I'm left with the flat bone plate that runs from antler to antler.

I know what you mean, I have done a few that way.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v373/walksalot/IM000356.jpg

[TGF]

Exactly that way. But the only problem with moose is the antler comes more out the side instead of up like the ones in your picture. So hard to boil without boiling the antler too. It is his first moose and I don't want to mess it up. You always remember your first but the ones in between become a blur. My first moose (Oct 8, 1978 ) had a 59 inch spread on it. My dad was taking it off the skull with an axe and he hit one of the beams taking a chip off of it. We krazy glued it back on, but he still feels bad about that. I'm kicking myself in the butt for not doing it when it was fresh. I'm sure there is lots of ways and I'm just looking for the best way to tackle such a project. Thanks for the help.
Terry

[Walksalot]

Get a turkey roaster and it should work fine.

[~T-BONE~]

Walksalots process will work just fine but something to add into it is to drill ot below the brain and stir up the brain itself after boiling for a bit then take your comppressor and blow the contents out using the drill hole with the brain matter coming out the base of the skull.Our if you would like my brother inlaw has hide beetles which takes care of the whole process. all he does is flesh and peroxide his proocess usually takes 1 to 2 weeks providing the skull hasn't been salted our partially dried out. He normally charges about $75-$100 per. If anyone is interested PM me.

[TGF]

Yes the hide is very dry. And the brain was removed when I chainsawed the skull last October. So now I'm left with a dried hide to the skull cap. It doesn't have to be perfect as I will be covering the skull cap with velvet.

[Walksalot]

I shot an elk years ago and just a little while ago took the hide off with a chizel and a hammer. Hammer the chizel between the hide and bone and lift up. Should come off like a hot damn.

[TGF]

Good idea. Sounds pretty basic and crude. I like it