Burying a Skull

[alabjr]

Ok, so I decided to bury the skull of my first deer ever (a doe) on opening day of the 6 day firearm season. I had no clue what to do and wanted something to remember the hunt by, so I asked the butcher and he said “bury it.” All I thought to ask was “how long?” And he said “at least until spring.” I have to admit I was so shocked by his answer (my ignorant guess at the time would’ve been like 1-2 weeks) I kind of just walked away and drove home before asking any more questions about how to go about that process.

For example... I took his statement so literally that I simply dug a hole in my backyard and dropped the head in there without skinning it or removing any flesh at all, thinking the bugs will do the work in that timeframe of “at least until spring” cleaning off hair, and every bit of flesh, sinew, fat, eyeballs, brains, etc...

 

I still haven’t dug it up because I feel like I’m going to be quite disappointed with the results... so, a few questions:

1. How much longer should I wait before digging it up if I want to pull out a completely cleaned off skull?

2. Can I still implement a different tactic if I dig it up sooner than later and the bugs haven’t cleaned it completely?

3. Any other suggestions or advice for now and/or future? (I don’t think I’ll save any more doe skulls, but if/when I shoot bucks in the future I plan to simply cap them to just display antlers and make the whole cleaning process easier)

[electric10162]

I can't answer your questions but can offer some advice. I put a container with a cinder block over my skulls. Wait a couple months, remove, and hang on a fence post to bleach it in the sun. I'm guessing your buried skull could be fairly cleaned of any flesh or brain by now.

[Herd Buck]

You did it right... the longer you leave it the better I’d wait until June to dig it up.

it’s going to be stained brown and may still have some skin or whatever on it but you should be able to easily spray it off with the hose. Once fully cleaned off you can either bleach it or spray paint it with flat white spray paint.

If you YouTube it there are a bunch of videos. 

[Kype]

im not a pro but i always skinned my skulls, then boiled them. for the love of god boil them outside. then cleaned them up some more, and 2 coats of white paint after everything is gone. i still have skulls in good condition after 10 years. 

is that the right way to do it? absolutely not. but it worked for me. 

[alabjr]

5 minutes ago, Herd Buck said:

You did it right... the longer you leave it the better I’d wait until June to dig it up.

it’s going to be stained brown and may still have some skin or whatever on it but you should be able to easily spray it off with the hose. Once fully cleaned off you can either bleach it or spray paint it with flat white spray paint.

If you YouTube it there are a bunch of videos. 

I’ve watched a bunch of videos since December, but there are SO MANY strong opinions on what’s the “right way” to do it that it’s more confusing than helpful sometimes haha. 

I also noticed a lot of guys talk about having to degrease the skull. Will I have to do that before bleaching or spray painting?
Side note: I’ve also seen guys on YouTube leave it stained brown, saying they like the kind of antique or archeological look. I guess I’ll see if I like it when I dig it up next month. Thanks for the input!

[Kype]

these are two i did. the noses are only broken from moving twice and my daughter accidently knock it off the wall.  but yes boling will make the nose and eyes sockets brittle. best to buy the beatles. or have a taxidermist do it. 

[Herd Buck]

The bleach will degrease it if you choose to go that way...if you go with the oil based spray paint you don’t need to degrease it. 

[Sharpdogs]

I just finished doing this.  I shot and buried my skull around the end of October.  I buried with everything in tact.  I placed a bucket on the antlers and buried the skull in my garden up to the antlers.  This week I dug it up.  The was still a lot of fur and matter but it came off within seconds with the garden hose.  I will be boiling it in peroxide this weekend as the final step.  Here is a picture before I buried it and then after I hosed it off this week.

[Recurve hntr]

Skin them out. Boil them and clean the rest off. Don’t boil them to long. Don’t put bleach on them. Go to Beauty supply store and get 30 or 40% peroxide. Brush that all over skull and put it in the sun. 

[bushden]

You can have them looking like this in 2 days. Burying them for months is the lazy way out and they are never as good and clean. Here are mine with instructions how to do it the next time.

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by bushden
Added instructions

[Ringwoodfrank]

I skinned and buried mine in November. Hosed him down and soaked him in a bleach/water mixture. 

[Devil Horns]

8 hours ago, bushden said:

You can have them looking like this in 2 days. Burying them for months is the lazy way out and they are never as good and clean. Here are mine with instructions how to do it the next time.

 

 

 

This is the way I do mine too. I have done about a half dozen this way and they come out great. 

[MRMCR]

The ones I did I didnt bury it.......just securely covered it.....took about 6 months....the small beetles did eat the flesh......but still had skin to pull off with pliers.......I have about 6 hanging over doorways etc.  outside.......sometimes an animal lover comes over and gets freaked out.....one time at Christmas I stuck a red light bulb through ones nose and a family member couldnt eat her dinner looking at it......LOL.......

[Integracingsr]

I did the same years ago. I buried it and left it until June/July. Almost everything was gone by then. Hosed it off and left it outside where the mice and critters couldn’t get to it to chew on the bone and let the sun bleach it. 

[JFC1]

You're getting lots of good advice here that, at least in my reading,  basically says "don't overthink it."  Bushden gives detailed instructions that really work, well (I've followed them.) But I can't tell you how many times I've buried a skull lazily in the fall, dug it up in August/September, hosed it off, put it in the sun and/or bleached it a little and have had it come out beautiful. There are plenty of shots and descriptions of just that here. The only thing I'd add is that it's good to leave it a little longer than expected, especially if there was a cold winter when worms and germs weren't so active in the ground. And of course put a metal bucket over anything with antlers so they don't get gnawed by rodents.