Lots of people have questions about doing skull mounts so I figured since I had 3 to do this morning I would take some pics.





The victim...the tools...my tools vary sometimes. I use scalpels just because I always have, sharp, quick change, disposable. I usually wear gloves and would suggest that you do but I was in a hurry. BE VERY CAREFUL...TAKE YOUR TIME...GETTING IN A HURRY MEANS GETTING CUT!





Here it is after the cuts and begining the skinning. I work my way down the sides on both sides and then work forward from the back to the chin.





Here it is after being skinned down to the jaw.





Victim de-skinned.





Then I take the scalpel and cut around where the jaw bone attaches to the skull, removing as much meat as possible. Then grab the bottom jaw and pull down as you push the top of skull away. This will separate the jaw from the skull. I try to trim as much as I can close to the skull at this time and leave it attached to the jaw.





This is how it appears from the bottom when jaw is removed.





Now the eye removal. First I cut around the eye socket/eyeball to separate it a bit. Then I use my finger to push the meat down as I work the scalpel between the bone and the meat/eyeball.





Here is the eye ball removed.





Here is the view from the back side after the eyes are removed.





I use a piece of rebar and hold the skull over a bucket. I work the rebar in a pumping motion to kind of liquify the brain and shake as much out as possible. I usually go back and remove any large pieces of meat that are left and then wash off the skulls and antlers.

Here are the 3 skinned out skulls ready for the next step.





I put the skulls in a cooler and fill it with enough water to cover the skulls and in a day or two I'll check them to see how they are doing. I use an aquarium heater to keep the water warm.

Great post. thanks

The water thing is kind of short maceration. I first did and still do because sometimes after I get them skinned out I don't have time for the simmer process so instead of letting them sit around and the meat getting hard to remove or refreezing them I just put them in water. After they sit in water the bacteria begins to break down the remaining tissue/meat making it much easier to remove. Usually most of it will spray of with a water hose. I never use a pressure washer because it could blow the little bones on the front of the skull across the yard and if you aren't careful it can cut into the bone. After I get as much meat of as possible with the hose then it is simmered which gets anything left off. I let them dry completely and see if they stink...if they do then I simmer them again and check the brain cavity good to make sure I didn't miss anything in there. If they are non-stinky then I whiten them with 20%-30% by volume peroxide from a beauty supply store. Wash them off good and let them dry. Seal them with satin acrylic and mount on a plaque.

I had posted this before but I guess it was lost in the house cleaning. Anyone have anything they do that is easier please post away!

Thanks Skull-
I had been wanting to see it broken down like that! Great post, thanks for taking the time!

Maceration = A Beautiful thing. I'll never simmer another one....piss on all that.

Do you not degrease the skull before you whiten it?

So a few days soak and the skull is ready to wash off? I have never done a cool water masceration. I have used a stock pot for the skulls I have done in the past. I have done yote, coon and bobcat skulls before, but the deer I am working on is the first deer skull I've ever done. I looked online to see how others degreased theirs and saw that most people put liquid dishwashing soap in the water. I tried that but wasn't happy with it. I then put liquid laundry soap in the pot and simmered it. I left it in the soap for about an hour. I still have 2 spots on top, above the eye sockets that have some yellow from fat. I think if I had simmered it for a couple hours in the laundry soap, it would have got all the fat out.

I do a simmer to get the flesh off and then do another with clean water and Dawn to degrease.


Furflyin: I use the aquarium heater to keep the water about 80 degrees or more. Time just depends. Sometimes a couple of days...sometimes more. Have a couple to do so I'll try to remember to take pictures of the simmering part.

Thanks. You ever keep any funky water to use as a "starter" for the new batch? I left 2 yote skulls in a 5 gallon bucket of water for about 6 months. I put the bucket under the drip line of the barn. If you made soup out of puke, I imagine that's similar to what I had in the bucket.

Good posting Skullworks. I just done one, myself. I boiled mine for about an hour and a half in stead of soaking. I will try the soaking business on the next one.---Good Job!.

I have but never that long. LOL!

How do you mount the skull to the plaque?

Last time I did a skull mount, I obviously did it the hard way. It took my way too long. From start to finish, how long should it take?

I put a screw in mine through the flat piece of skull just below the spinal column opening. Drill a hole first. I do multiples at a time and really haven't kept a time for doing one. Simmer time for both steps I do should be less than 2 hours. Skinning time just depends on how used to it you are.

How'd you get dem teefies so white? I think I'm going to have to take a dremel to the one I'm doing.

I put my skulls in liquid peroxide. I fill a plastic tray up to just below the antler burrs and wrap the skull in white cloth and soak it with peroxide. The teeth are immersed in peroxide.

Here is a closer view of the toothies. This is one of 3 vampire deer I've done.