Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

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Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

Post by Kelsey Cooter » 11 Oct 2018, 7:49 pm

I got my 1st stag on sunday the 30th and have been working towards a clean skull for a European mount. Amongst all the videos and write ups on the net I found an Australian write up on how to clean it and have being doing everything pretty much how he recommends.

It has been in water with clothes washing soap for 10 days because I only had dish washing soap that was heavily dyed and i was worried about turning the skull blue or green. Been hitting it with the gerni every few days, but its still pretty smelly so today i got into town and bought colourless dish washing soap for it, so i gave it a little hit with the gerni and threw it in fresh soapy water tonight.
My questions are,
It is still pretty smelly even though I can't find any muck left in the skull anywhere, so will it continue to smell for the couple of weeks that I have it in water? Or should the smell have stopped by now?

And also on his rack there's a dark scabby kind of stuff between the small ridges, I'm guessing left over from from the velvet. It kind of peels away, alot of it came off with the gerni but alot more didn't. what's the best way to get them clean? I wanna keep the natural colour as much as i can as i don't really like the look of artificial colour people use.

http://www.sportingshooter.com.au/lates ... euro-mount
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Kelsey Cooter
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Re: Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

Post by Stix » 11 Oct 2018, 7:57 pm

Sorry Kelsey, never done it before so i cant help you out.

I just wanted to pop in n say that looks great...!!! :clap: :thumbsup:

i want one...!!!
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Re: Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

Post by Die Judicii » 11 Oct 2018, 8:01 pm

After simply cutting and pulling off excess meat and cartilage etc, I woulda just found a big ant nest, and laid it next to it for a week or so.
(tied up in case dogs etc could carry it off)
Let nature do the work for you.
The sun will also dry, bleach, and deodorize it, and the ants do a damm good job for free.
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Re: Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

Post by Oldbloke » 11 Oct 2018, 8:18 pm

Seems nappysan is the go.
I just used the search box at the top of the forum


viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9178
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Re: Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

Post by Daddybang » 12 Oct 2018, 6:16 am

As dj said an ants nest works well :thumbsup:
If you don't have an ants nest handy boil it for a while in nappysan or detergent then find a sunny place for it to dry for a day or two. :thumbsup: :drinks:
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Re: Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

Post by marksman » 12 Oct 2018, 11:49 am

Daddybang wrote:As dj said an ants nest works well :thumbsup:
If you don't have an ants nest handy boil it for a while in nappysan or detergent then find a sunny place for it to dry for a day or two. :thumbsup: :drinks:


+1 :thumbsup:
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Re: Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

Post by Pythonkeeper » 12 Oct 2018, 3:33 pm

Congrats on getting your first stag.

It shouldn’t smell at all mate, maybe it smells a bit cos you had it standing in water for 10 days, the meat probably went off and got a bit funky so the smell/flavour has gone into the bone. Maybe try boiling it for a couple of hours in some oxy action nappy sanitizer and a few drops of dish washing liquid then leave it out in the sun for a few days. I did this with a stinky cat skull that I found, had to repeat the process twice to get rid of the smell completely. You could also try boiling it in a peroxide and bicarb mix, try to avoid getting the mix on the antlers though as it can cause discolouration.
Also, make sure you got every bit of meat out of the brain and sinus cavities, it’s easy to miss, if you haven’t already, pop the ear canals out as it makes it easier to get into the brain cavity both to visually inspect and to remove any hidden gunk.
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Re: Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

Post by Bigjobss » 12 Oct 2018, 4:15 pm

Pythonkeeper wrote:if you haven’t already, pop the ear canals out as it makes it easier to get into the brain cavity both to visually inspect and to remove any hidden gunk.


This.
Ive seen a few mounts where this hasnt been done, very easy to miss as it initially feels like you shouldnt be doing it
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Re: Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

Post by Bent Arrow » 12 Oct 2018, 10:20 pm

Have a look at this post

http://www.bowhunting-forum.com/showthr ... -pig-skull

It's a good idea to wrap the antlers in alfoil to keep the boiling water, bleach and degreaser off of the antlers as it will discolour them.
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Re: Cleaning the skull of my 1st stag

Post by Kelsey Cooter » 12 Oct 2018, 11:18 pm

I leaned away from putting it in a tree or on a nest because that would require patience, and patience is not a strong point of mine haha
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