Macerating a bear skull....

[Fletch]

Not been on here alot as not much to contribute hunting or fishing related... One thing I did start last month was cleaning my bear skull by macerating it... So it's sitting in a bucket of water with lid on and that's in a 55 gal plastic sealed drum... Builds up alot of heat in there on these hot days... Talk about stink... Had it out about a month ago and meat was well on its way to rotting off... Bears teeth were definately show his age as many were broken off... Missing teeth just fell out and need glued back in... Here's a pic... Maybe I'll open it back up later and spray it off...

 

[giles]

Yup, just as disgusting as the text!

 

[Bankfish]

Pretty sure I can smell it thru the picture [emoji15]

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[Buckmaster]

Is the process simply use water or additional chemicals?

 

[Jamie]

you couldn't pay me to clean a skull that way. the taxidermist that did my coyote hide and skull attempted to macerate the coyote skull. she told me she would never do it again, and the results were not good enough to suit me. I ended up bleaching it in peroxide myself, glued all the teeth in place and sealed with clear acrylic. was nice after that. good luck.

I did my own bear skull. boiled in sal soda and Dawn. easy-peasy, and none of the teeth fell out.

 

[Fletch]

Is the process simply use water or additional chemicals?

Simply soak in plain water, changing water till all meat rots off.... Then as Jamie said use peroxide to get it white... Probably be the first and last one I try doing... Boiling is an option as Jamie said, however they say that will shrink the skull and this bear had a rather large head and I wanted to get it scored....

 

[Buckmaster]

I’ve done one bear skull. I boiled it, soaked in warm bleach water for an hour, dried it for a couple days, glued some teeth back in, and then clear coat it. It turned out well.

 

[Fletch]

So yesterday I got brave and opened up the bucket after about 5 weeks of soaking in some very hot temps.... Surprised as it didn't stink that bad... Cleaned up very nice.... Rinsed it off and added new water and about 2 cups Dawn dish detergent... I'll post pics in a week or two...

 

[Buckmaster]

Stinkiest thread ever......

 

[Fletch]

Remembered today that my bear skull was still soaking out by the pool... So before it froze I drained it and hosed it off and brought in garage...All meat is gone, now I just have to glue some teeth back in and give it a peroxide bath...