mdunc8
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Can you provide some more details about this sous vide method? How much actual picking do you usually have to do?
How to Euro Pronghorn?
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AvidIndoorsman
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I typically do 5-6 heads a year between my own and family members and try to be systematic to get consistent results. This method requires 0 picking it all falls off during power wash, when I use to do them on the stove I had to pick a ton.
Current recipe for pronghorn, estimate time 7-10 days (30 min active work)
1. Fill large pot or cooler with water
2. Set machine for 155 for 90 min
3. Pull out head and twist off horns
4. Salt inside of horns and singe off excess hair
5. Add several cups of of powdered Biz or Oxiclean powdered detergent, make sure it doesn't contain chlorine or dyes
6. Set machine at 145 for 36 hours (elk skull in picture, cover to reduce heat and water loss)
7. Remove head from water and immediately power wash(car wash) make sure to spend a fair bit of time with nozzle inside the skull to blow out brains and ear canal tissue. Be careful around the nose (I just rinse and don't pull the trigger in the nose)
8. Let the Skull dry for 24-48 hours
9. Liberally Cover skull in 40vol developer creme (peroxide) and make a paper machete coating using paper towels
10. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and let sit 7-10 days
11. Rise and let dry for 72 hours. (You can redo the peroxide step if it's not white enough, but if done correctly you won't need to.
12. Use Mop Glo or similar to clean horns, then reattach to skull using epoxy, glue, or bondo. I like 5min set epoxy.
40 Vol developer creme
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FKVYCH...bd03-176fa49d605b&ie=UTF8&qid=1541537991&sr=1
OxiClean
https://www.amazon.com/Oxiclean-Ver...1541538149&sr=8-1&keywords=oxi+clean+dye+free
Sousvide Machine - This is the one I'm currently using, I might get the Anova if I was doing lots of heads as it's a bit more durable.
https://www.target.com/p/instant-po...cBBp-Z9Kqp5GFaRnhSwaAk39EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
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AvidIndoorsman
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Depends on what you are trying to achieve. Rolling boil can degrade the bone and leave it brittle and can cause you to loose all the finer bones in the nose (especially on bears). It is possible to boil it and get a good result but it's really easy to screw up.
Some people don't care about the nose bones... you also can chlorine bleach, this gets it white but causes bone to flake off for years.
I've done or helped (did a bunch early on with my father-n-law) euro mount 28 skulls since 2013 when I got my first animal, I have tried rolling boil, bleach, maceration, beetles, 20 vol and 40 vol cremes and using them with basic white, putting them under head lamps, using a microwave, and the stove. I've used borax, biz, oxiclean, dish soap, and had a couple done by taxidermists. I'm not a professional just really anal and really like them to be perfect and have experimented a ton. The method above has produced the best results and been the least about of work to get the effect I'm looking for.
My method is very similar to the videos above except I use a sous vide machine which allows me to precisely control the temp. The advantage here is that instead of pulling the skull out and picking and rising and then putting it back in you can just let it go un-monitored except for adding a bit of water here and there. I used video method for two years but then this fall I discovered the sous vide method. Now I just drop the skull in right when I get back from a hunt Sunday afternoon, go to work pull it out Monday night and take it to the car wash, do the peroxide weds, and then the next week wash it off. Instead of taking an entire Saturday to do my heads I can spend 10-20min here and there during the work week.
Also I'm doing this inside my 1 bedroom apartment in Denver, I'm not worrying about smells open flames, HOA rules, having the weather be right etc.
Your results may very, and there is no wrong way to do it as long as you are happy with it.
PrairieHunter
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It never ceases to amaze me that people do this inside the house. At the very least use the side burner on the grill outside if you don't have a turkey fryer type setup to use.
I use a wire wheel on a grinder to get the last few pieces off the back of the skull around the cavity takes a few minutes and beats smelling the meat cooking off for a few days.
Cooking skulls in the house, in the same container you cook food in, no thanks. My pot has one use and one use only, my food will never go in that pot period. I doubt many hunters would cook food in their skull pot either, but to each their own. Now every time I see the sous vide I think about antelope skulls, LOL. I guess if you have no place to do this outside that method may be about the only option so I can see why you go this route.
I use a wire wheel on a grinder to get the last few pieces off the back of the skull around the cavity takes a few minutes and beats smelling the meat cooking off for a few days.
Cooking skulls in the house, in the same container you cook food in, no thanks. My pot has one use and one use only, my food will never go in that pot period. I doubt many hunters would cook food in their skull pot either, but to each their own. Now every time I see the sous vide I think about antelope skulls, LOL. I guess if you have no place to do this outside that method may be about the only option so I can see why you go this route.
AvidIndoorsman
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Yeah, with temp control if there is still stuff hanging just let it go another 12 hours. Right out of the bath.
As a guy who’s spent a ton of time scraping and dremeling that area clean for years, that’s just amazing.
Thanks for your constructive input. Sounds like you have a system that works for you.
AvidIndoorsman
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Totally agree, I got a separate machine for heads and have a designated cooler and pot. Cooking with soap does leave its mark on the vessel, plus I'm paranoid about CWD. To that end I'm try to make a custom Euro cooler... I'm struggling with how to cut antler holes that can be adjusted to accommodate everything mule deer to elk. Also true sous vide cooking requires vaccum sealing the item to be cooked... obviously you can't vacuum seal a head so I'm trying to figure out something to approximate it, maybe a tub full of water within the cooler with both filled with water. If you got any ideas would love to hear them.
This is my cooking setup...
AvidIndoorsman
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Right, I could pay for 2 machines for the amount of havalon blades I went through scraping...
PrairieHunter
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Interesting, the sous machines I have seen were different looking than that. I can see that working quite well on antelope. If it works for you thats all that matters. Will be interesting to see if that catches on with taxidermist as a larger version if that heater/circulator in a stock tank could probably do a bunch at the same time.
AvidIndoorsman
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I was thinking the same thing, a buddy of mine turned me on to sousvide a few years ago, he works in the restaurant industry and has access to a machine that can do 300+ steaks at once. You could easily take that setup figure out a good way to wrap antlers and then do a bunch of deer/elk/moose at once.
Wilm1313,
Are you just putting the head directly in the water bath? Can you post some pictures of your setup? Do you not have problems with debris from the head getting into the immersion circulator itself? My sous vide that i run is more like a crock pot, just a self contained vessel that keeps the water at the right temp, no moving parts. Feel like buying a Joule or Anova now for cooking and seeing if I could fit a skull in this other machine. I can usually get a deer or antelope euro’d in about an hour and a half with a boiler and pressure washer, but there’s a lot of work in between.
Are you just putting the head directly in the water bath? Can you post some pictures of your setup? Do you not have problems with debris from the head getting into the immersion circulator itself? My sous vide that i run is more like a crock pot, just a self contained vessel that keeps the water at the right temp, no moving parts. Feel like buying a Joule or Anova now for cooking and seeing if I could fit a skull in this other machine. I can usually get a deer or antelope euro’d in about an hour and a half with a boiler and pressure washer, but there’s a lot of work in between.
AvidIndoorsman
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Yeah per above I’m still tweaking, I put the head directly in the water with the circulator last time and it worked fine. I have also tried bagging the head. I haven’t experienced issues with debris clogging the circulator, I am worried about the oxiclea eventually damaging the machine, hence why I got a cheap one and plan to see how many heads I can do before it breaks.
I only took a pic of my elk for whatever reason, exact same set up for pronghorn just using a pot. The first pic I posted in this thread is the same setup just with the lid of the cooler slightly off on, with a old blanket on top of that.
I only took a pic of my elk for whatever reason, exact same set up for pronghorn just using a pot. The first pic I posted in this thread is the same setup just with the lid of the cooler slightly off on, with a old blanket on top of that.
Buy some Sal Soda, magnesium carbonate from a taxidermy supply and 40-50 cream developer. Add a 1/4 cup of sal soda per gallon, warm, don't bring to a boil for 3 +/- hrs. Will be clean as a whistle, then 1/2 small bottle of dawn (brings grease out), repeat, again don't bring to a boil. Then mix magnesium carbonate with cream developer till a thin paste. Paint on, wrap in plastic bag let sit a day or 2. Brush off skull, done. I think this is simple and does a good job.
Irrelevant
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WOW that wllm1313 that is amazing. I'm with Madtom that grizzle on the back of the head takes me forever to get off.
Thanks to wllm1313 I'm trying the Sous Vide method currently with a late season bull. Basically the same setup, with the head in a contractor bag in a cooler. For the sous vide machine, i wrapped the circulator part in screen door mesh in hopes of that keeping the gunk out of the circulator part. When i'm done i'll post up if that mesh was helpful or not in keeping the gunk out of the machine itself. Also, regarding keeping the sous vide machine dedicated for only heads due to CWD concerns, I'm thinking i might use this one for normal cooking as well (after a thorough cleaning of course). I realize a standard soap cleaning won't do anything to CWD, just want to get any organic residue off the machine. If the sous vide is cooking meat in vacuum bags, i don't see the potential for any transmission to the meat inside the bag? Am I on the right track with that line of thinking? I sold the wife on getting a sous vide as dual-purpose cleaning skulls and cooking, it would be nice to be able to use it dual purpose without feeling guilty or second guessing. Thanks!
Guys on another site are using fish tank heaters vs sous vide. Same thing, but without the circulation there's nothing to clog. FWIW.
I'd like to try the masceration method, but living where I do and to whom I'm married with, I'm not sure it'd be possible.
I'd like to try the masceration method, but living where I do and to whom I'm married with, I'm not sure it'd be possible.
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