Anyone ever put the top half of a skull in an ant bed to clean it off ?

Someone mentioned this to me and said it worked great. I guess it sounds good in theory.

I had a friend that used to say he did it and swore by it. I never saw the results but he used to say put the skull in the ant bed then put a plastic tub over it with a weight on top to keep dogs from dragging the skull off. Leave it there for a few weeks or so (don't remember how long he used to say) then pull it out.

You mean for an antler mount or a euro mount?

Just for antler mount.

I'm mainly wondering if the ants will clean out all (or most of) the degradable matter left after the skull was cut above the eyes.

For future reference, would it work at all for a whole skull ?

I have seen a couple of guys who use some type of beetles or the euro mount.

There was an ad on cl not too long ago with a guy with flesh eating beetles used for that.

I have heard that too. I have also head that if you tie a stringer to the antlers and throw the head in a pond that the fish will eat it faster.

I have done it on both a partial and a whole skull several times. The ants will get all the fine stuff but will not get any hide that might have been left around the base of the antlers. On a full skull i have still had some cleaning to do but they definitely help out. The main thing is to not leave it too long and to cover the horns really well. I forgot about one and left it there for over a month and the bags came off and the horns started to bleach out from the sun. Good luck.

Cut them off, shake the brains out, spray with water hose and let it dry. It will.dry up and be fine in a few days for an antler mount.

Take some pliers and pull the skin/hair off or use a knife and trim/skin it off. Should take 2 minutes if it is fresh.

Yep and it is easier to skin before you cut the horns off too. That is the toughest hide there is to get off I think.

Unfortunately, I didn't remove the skin/hair when I cut the skull. I shot the buck on 12/24.

I'm guessing it will come off with a knife and some elbow grease ?

Would any liquids (alcohol, vinegar, bleach, moonshine) be helpful for cleaning it ?

Just skin it out and scrape what's left off with a knife. Let it dry a few days and clean it up a little more with some heavy grit sandpaper if it has to be cleaner.

I've got a euro mount that looks great and it didn't give me a minutes worth of trouble. Let me tell you how I did it. Step #1, call Skullworks and arrange to meet him with the head. Step #2, Wait on him to call you back. Step #3, meet Skullworks and exchange money for finished product. Very simple.

I was on the fence about a euro mount on this deer, but your plan sounds much easier. In hindsight, I should have cut the entire head and got a euro mount.

I can always saw off the horns nd buy one of the plastic skulls, but I have not seen one of those up close.

My brother in law has a buck boiler. Just drop the head in and it all boils away. He has done two with it so far and they look good. Im about to put an 8 pt in i killed. His mother works at a beauty supply place and got him some high concentration peroxide to bleach the skulls.

I have my skull from this year buried in poultry litter, letting the darkling beetles clean it up.

started a euro mount today, boiled for 3 hours, and pressure washed, worked great. gonna try and finish tomorrow.

I did it once and it worked great. It was an 8 pt I shot and lost then found what was left in March. Stunk to bad to handle. Put in in a fire ant bed and they cleaned it up.Don't know if it works in cold weather.

Been thinking of getting a buck boiler, anybody got any reviews from personal experience?

Ive seen him do them. Just drop them in and let it do its thing. They come out clean. He does flesh them out obviously but thats about it. They look really good. The nicething about the buck boiler is that you can do it outside and away from the house b/c it stinks really bad. Id givethem a thumbs up.