My cleaned boar skull

[switch]

Well after a healthy soak in the whitener, my boar skull came out pretty good. The beetles tore through it and the skull didn't need too much degreasing. I'm working on an oak base to hang it. This one weighed 277-pounds and took two from a 30-06 to bring down out at Tejon.

If you look closely you can see an animal tooth sticking out of the side of the boars nose in the first picture. About 10:00 from the large nasal hole in the center of the picture. I'm still not sure what it is, and it ain't budging.

The other picture is of a few animals from this season.

 

[snoopdogg]

Very cool--thanks for posting up.

 

[Brettski]

switch, I had to throw on some shades to look at those skulls, nice work, they are bright white!!

 

[THE ROMAN ARCHER]

wow, Switch the predatore hunter,

very nice collection thanks for sharing!........tra

 

[el_vaquero]

Very nice collection there.

 

[wyemjohnson]

definitely very nice work!

 

[arizona hunter]

Cool skulls! You did agreat job cleaning them.

 

[mxfireman]

Those look awesome! Post a pic up when you get it mounted on oak!

 

[DEERSLAM]

Very nice work switch

 

[Gomer76825]

pearly white piggies, very nice

 

[traf1er]

Nice Skulls!! What did you soak them in?

 

[switch]

traf1er, I use a high concentration of hydrogen peroxide. I let the skulls soak for a few days and then let them dry in the sun.

 

[traf1er]

Thats alot cheaper than having the taxidermist do it for $125.00. i have a boar skull i need to clean that i shot at Tejon. thanks!

 

[culdeal44]

Can you explain how you clean the skulls.I know that you used hydrogen peroxide , but how much. I have to clean a bear skull that I kill last year. Thanks

 

[switch]

After I shot the boar, I skinned out the skull and removed as much meat as possible. I also removed the eyes, tongue and brain. I then put the skull into my dermestid beetle colonies and let them eat it down to the bone. It took about 4 days to completely clean. I then degreased it in a chemical soak for about 5-days and then let it dry for a few days. I then let it soak in hydrogen peroxide for 4-days and then put it in the sun to dry...done.

 

[BrysonHesperiaResort]

Dermestid beetle colonies- ? Does that mean that you have a bunch of beetles ? This whole procedure is very fascinating to me, thank you so much for sharing your information. I get everything else, just wondering about the beetles? How do you keep them colonized? Do you have to feed them when they are not chomping on one of your skulls to keep them alive? Thank you Switch... Deedy

 

[grtwythunter]

Deedy, beetles are the way to go for skull cleaning. You do have to keep them fed no matter what(I've done 50+ so far this season) so it's a little tough for a hobbyist to keep a colony, then there's the smell.....

Here's a few pics of the process, taken over a 24 hour period.

Traf1er, you'll find alot of taxidermists use a beetle service and you're just paying a marked up price.

Scott

 

[grtwythunter]

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[grtwythunter]

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[grtwythunter]

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