Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Skull maceration

Thanks for the pictures. That skull looks as good or better than by any other cleanig method I've seen,. I hope I can find a spot that works as well on mine.

Elk skull after 12 days via maceration. Still needs more soaking then degreasing before peroxide treatment.

Shiit that’s fast. Whatcha usin for heat?

The wheelbarrow is brilliant. I have one sitting here, full of rainwater as I walk around looking for a container to soak a caribou skull.

Glad to see the thread still alive. I've done 3 or 4 elk and 6 antelope this fall so far. Have 2 deer in the hot tub now. If a guy can keep water at 90-100 I am getting elk completely clean in 7-9 days. Then degreasing them. Few pics of bones from this fall.

Flexible 15-20 gallon tub from ranch supply store. Think its a livestock watering or feeding tub. The fish tank heaters will not melt it. And it fits say an elk skull and a few deer or antelope at one time. I put 3 tank heaters in this one.

Looking great! My wheelbarrow leaks lol, otherwise seems like it would work good. Wondering about air circulation under the water though. I do mine with stuff just resting on the ground. But can't argue with good results like you are having.

Actually using an old cooler. Wheelbarrow was used just to prop it up between water changes.

Using 2 aquarium heaters. Keeps the temp just under 90

I've sort of stopped doing water changes. I can't tell too much difference one way or the other. It does smell less if a guy swaps water around day 4. I just hate messing with it more than I absolutely have to.

The coolers can work great. I need to get mine out from behind barn, kind of forgot about them.

12 days ago.

I do agree that water changes probably halt the process. I limit them. When I do change, I leave some of the original water to act as "seed bacteria ".

Also, I replace with warm water, not cold.

Thats a dandy looking bull. He'll be a great euro mount.

Thank you! I added a 2nd heater. Without water circulation it takes a while to get the whole cooler warm. One heater on each end seems to do the trick.

I usually degrease in acetone but that skull is too big. Going to try dawn for this Elk.

Wash out cooler well and dawn with heat will do it. I have been doing all mine like that.

Few things I have experimented with this year:

1. After macerating, boiling antelope skulls minus the sheaths in sal soda water and also in oxiclean water. That seems to have worked well for degreasing and much faster. About 15 minute boil. Have done dawn on most though still.

2. Boiled an elk for a guy that was headed out of state in 48 hours. That took 2 hours of my life and was about like I remembered it. No desire to boil any other skulls as maceration for me is less time and better product.

3. Have used a 1800 psi water sprayer to remove any stubborn meat deposits on back of skulls. I can hook it to hot water in my garage. This has been good on larger bone but you have to exercise caution on any thin bone areas. Jury is out on this as it is easier to just drop back in rot bucket.

If doing antelope skulls, I have been working the sheaths hard to get removed in 1.5-2 days. Then I soak in dawn water for a bit and it with toothbrush to remove any odors. This seems to work good.

Good luck and hope more give this a shot.

Just checked on the 2 deer and antelope that hit the rot bucket Sunday night. They are 90% clean with all eyes, cheeks, brains etc cleaned out. Waiting on nasal cartilage to go and then can wash in hot water and dunk in dawn on Sat night is the plan.

Thought it may be helpful to show start to finish again. This elk came in today after being skinned, jaw removed and trimmed a bit 7 days ago. Owner was going to boil but decided to have me do it. So today Oct 20th at 2 pm he entered the hot tub. Grabbed one of my coolers I had forgotten about lol. I'll post a follow up picture on Monday and again when fully cleaned.





I have used that 4x4 and a larger flat landscape rock to keep them from bobbing to the surface. All this is is a 10 gallon cooler, 10 gallons of water and 3 tank heaters(I suspect one of them is not working well).

Dawn of a new day. 2 weeks to the day and time for Ultra Dawn soak.

How much you charge for elk?

Day 6, probably about 5.8 days actually. Got busy and didn't change water ever. Head is fully cleaned and now in degreaser. Key is keeping temp up 24/7.

Almost done

What’s going on in the last picture with the head in plastic wrap?