PEAX Equipment

Skull care

WIbiggame

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Wisconsin
Wondering what you all do if you harvest a bull? Hunting with 2 other guys for 2 weeks. So if we get one the first couple days what should we do with the skull and antlers to preserve them. Do we skin the head and make sure to pick all the fat off the skull and just leave it hung up or what. Would like to know for both shoulder mount and euro mount. Also we are in bear country. Thanks in advance.
 
I have only ever done euro mounts for deer/ elk, and for those it doesn't really matter what you do to them. I did a euro for a buddy who had left the head sitting in the yard for a month, skin on and had started to rot. The thing smelled awful but the euro came out fine. If it were me I would skin it out and clean it up as best you can so you aren't hauling extra weight out of the field and so it doesn't smell quite so bad after a couple of days.

I've never done a shoulder mount on a deer/elk but I have killed spring bears on backpack hunts and with those I just skinned the bear and left the skull in for a couple of days until my buddy tagged out or we ran out of time. I stretched out the bear hide in a tree 2 twice and once just packed it in a cooler with ice for a couple of days. Every time I have killed a bear I've had to keep it in a refrigerator or cooler until I could get to a game warden to check them, and did so with the skull still in. All my bear rugs turned out great and I have never had problems with hair slipping. I think as long as you are keeping them cool you probably don't have to skin them out, although if you know what you are doing skinning them out is definitely the way to go.
 
Wondering what you all do if you harvest a bull? Hunting with 2 other guys for 2 weeks. So if we get one the first couple days what should we do with the skull and antlers. Thanks in advance.

Place strategically in bed of truck - preferably propped up on coolers or beer boxes. Drive up and down the main street at nearest town, sure to hit local Walmart/Scheels/Bob wards parking lots... This is typically done for several consecutive evenings.
Some will park in front of local bar/tavern but make sure you have at least one wheel up on curb so as to draw more attention. :cool:

Kidding, of course. After cool twilight photos of rack against wall tent, we always left in horse trailer or hung in tree. Rinse at local car wash when de-mudding the truck for the ride home.
 
I recommend you skin the head out completely and save the cape. Even if you only plan on a skull mount. A Taxidermist will likely be interested in the cape and the skull is easier processed without rotten dried hide in it.
 
Thanks everyone appreciate it! Festus I laughed so hard this sounds exactly like our Wisconsin 9 day gun deer hunt. Shoot buck, put buck in truck drive around until meat is rotten than cut antlers off. Some people.
 
If it is going to be early on in your hunt I would recommend skinning the head, removing the bottom jaw, remove as much muscle tissue as possible so it doesn't stink near as bad or get maggots and try to get the brains and eyes out as soon as possible, those will start smellin bad soon. Considering you won't have a car wash near by, the best way I've found to get the brains out is to try and get them as cold as possible and then use a gasket pick set to pull as much of the brains out as possible. https://www.amazon.com/JC-Performan...F8&qid=1503347632&sr=8-3&keywords=gasket+pick
If I know I will be boiling out the skull relatively soon, I try to leave as much muscle as possible on the skull because it comes off easier as a larger chunk
 

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