SHED HUNTING THREAD - PICs INCLUDED

[pureinsanity]

I am not doing anything with it right now. I am just hoarding it. I have 3 people that want to buy it from me how it is already. Just debating if I should keep it for down the road or shine her up and sell it

[mrklean]

have a good old fashion bidding war with them

[pureinsanity]

It would look good on the bow of a boat. Nav lights coming out the nose!

To bad this long horns didn't have those horns pointing down! Could be sort of a brush gaurd on the river

[WalleyeChamp]

I'd just call a local Taxidermist and ask them what they use for European mounts. You'll find the correct way to do it there.

[TonkaBass]

Jk, nice night find! That's pretty cool to find one with a flashlight!

[Mojoe]

Hey guys! Thanks for the post!! I always like seeing pictures of any shed and hearing the story behind it. My first sheds last year were 1/11-1/12. So getting pretty excited now!!! I Have only been out on one little area so far but will be out again soon. Cant wait to see that 1st one of the year again!!!!

pureinsanity, what you want to do with that skull is boil it. A fresh deer skull takes 6+ hrs of time to really get them looking nice. With that one there you will want to do at least two boils. With the 1st batch just use water along with a tablespoon of bleach to kill any bacteria. Try to go 3-4 hrs if possable. Longer will not hurt. You may have to keep adding water as you go. Like said.... any amount of bleach will pay its toll on that bone. use a screwdriver and if needed a knife to work out any tissue but dont dig to hard. Let the water do the work. Also try to keep the steam off the horns. That alone will dis-color the area a bit. I have hung foil around the lower half of the horns and it helped a lot. Still trying to improve that!

You will not be able to get all the skull in the water. Take a ladle or something to keep pouring that boiling water over the top of the skull and around bases of the horns. The fresher the skull the more you have to do this. That bone has to get hot enough to blow the blood out. The guy that showed me this said count to 500 time and keep going till you cant stand it any more . Usually need a beer brake in between. Older ones you still want to do this so you dont get a water line. Older ones you can to a much shorter boil and less pours on top.

Second boil you will want to use peroxide. I usually go 2 parts water and 1 part peroxide. I honestly do not know what is right or wrong there that seems to work pretty good. Just make sure you are in a well vented area. That boiling peroxide cant be good for the lungs. Once you do this you will see the peroxide work into the bone and release alot more material than you would expect. It will start to turn white pretty quick. After a bit the tissue in the nasal cavity will release on its own and the hard cartilage around the ear cavity and base of the skull will be a lot easier to get out as well.

If you have any questions let me know here! If I was you I wouldn't give that find up unless I knew the guy. Not may guys get to have that in there bone collection.

[SSSTaxidermy]

First of all, the first thing you want to do is try to get each horn off. There is a bunch of tissue/meat behind horned animals such as Longhorns, Antelope, Dahl Sheep. Antlered animals dont have this, such as deer, elk, moose, etc. If you don't, you will not only get grease running down onto your mount after time, plus that tissue back there will rot/stink and could attract bugs. So you will want to get this off. Not sure how much expirance you have with European Mounts, but here is the jist of a process you could do. The easiest way I get animal horns off is to sweat them off. Meaning, tie them up in a plastic bag, and keep in a heated area. After a day or two, pending how dry they are or whatever, you might be able to twist them right off. These can easily be attached later when it is complete.

Then you can go ahead with cleaning the skull.

I would suggest NOT boiling. Boiling is pretty much the worst way to go. Better would be Beetles, maceration, even simmering. Additionally boiling can cause the skulls to crack and cook the fat into the skull and also break down the bone structure. At most simmer not boil. I would also steer away from using bletch, as this will eat away the bone and could leave it chalky or flakey. Pending how much flesh is remaining, baking soda will help break that up safer, to were you will either be able to use water pressure or air pressure to remove all flesh.

Second of all, I'd be careful boiling (Heating) peroxide. Chemical reactions can take place even with the pan u possibility be using for boiling. Be VERY careful with H202 (peroxide) and heat......VERY flammable, EXPLOSIVE! I'm not sure if you get this same type of reaction from the weaker peroxide you find in drug stores. But I know the much stronger stuff I use for skulls, can't be heated.

I'm not saying MoJoe's advice won't work for you, but I do hundreds of skulls a year. I know there is more than one way to skin a cat, but thru experiences this is what I know. I don't use simmering, maceration practices anymore, as I've migrated, for a number of years now, to dermisted beetles.

If you got any questions let me know

Just be careful...and good luck.

[jkcmj]

I found they sell cow skull and horns in Mexico all cleaned up and polished for $40. When I was visiting my brother in Texas, I drove down and bought like 5 skulls and horns and thought I'd make money. I tried selling them in the paper for $100 each and got no calls. I took one to a consignment auction and it went for $25. I ended up giving one to my Dad, one to my brother, and have the last two sitting in the basement. I wouln't spend to much cleaning and polishing it if it's money you hope to make!

[Mojoe]

Hunting 24 7, thanks for the info! No bad feelings here but honestly most guys in my shoes have no reason to keep dermisted beetles on hand. It sounds like you get to work with lots of skulls. I myself am a jealous man. That sounds like a great way to do it and lots of fun to boot. I should have been a bit more detailed with those instructions. Also never thought of being able to pull those horns off. That would be nice with deer!! Working around them is a pain in the butt!

The peroxide I use is your standard Hydrogen Peroxide "Topical solution" pretty diluted from the stuff you have I would assume. You can pick it up at wallmart or target for about 2-3 bucks per Qt. Usually use about 1.5 qts to 3-4 qts or so of water. I use an old electric heating element (similar to one on an electric stove) out in the garage and can not tell you the capacity of the boil pot. It was and old one that I was kindly granted to use from the wife to destroy . Its about 14" inches in diameter and maybe 6-8" deep. With that old single element it will not come to a full boil with the bone in there but pretty close if you give it time. Have not had one crack yet. We have had the lower jaw section from bears break in two. Most the damage done in the past was from trying to hard to remove the tissue to early and with a sharp knife. I will admit this is a pretty redneck job. By no mean a professional job but works? Hardest part IMO is getting the brains out "sorry". That may be graphic to some but true. This one pictured here cost me about $15 total between the wood, peroxide, hardware and some time.

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[walleyehunter80]

mojo did method you use take the hide off also or did you skin it first?

[Mojoe]

You will want to remove as much as you can by hand with a knife. Take off the hide and remove the lower jaw, eyes, and as much meat and brains as possable without gouging the bone. This alone can take some time if you have not done it before. What you cannot remove at this point will get easier after its in the water for a bit. Do not work to hard on the nasal cavity or the roof of the mouth. That will come out with ease after a while. Like cooking a bone in roast. There will come a point where it just about falls off the bone. Just keep working at it as its in the water and in between the two batches. It would be nice to have another skull near for reference. If you need reference pictures I can provide! A pliers is also nice to have near while doing this!

[jkcmj]

Now that I am back at my computer I thought I would add an "as it was found" photo for my last find on the 3rd. I also took a photo of a large tree that has been utilized for a rub tree for many, many years and shows the scars and healing cycle from the abuse... One of the coolest I have found.

[ANYFISH2]

I love the photos guys keep it up. FYI be carefull with the regs of state parks, you can't remove anything including bone/antler. Just a heads up.

[sticknstring]

Nice finds jk - you're on a roll this season! Where was that taken sans snow?

[pureinsanity]

Dang I wish we had ground cover like that right now! where you at that there is NO snow?

And yes you cannot take anything from a state park. at least don't get caught taking them.

[jkcmj]

Yeh, if you look at the boot prints in the state parks, there likely is not an antler left by season end! I don't spend much time in state parks do to the competition being so high, I usually can get permission on the majority of the farms where I stop to ask, so areas to shed hunt have never been an issue for me. I found this antler in central Iowa, where all of the south slopes are snow free and only about 2 inches of crusted snow on the north slopes. You go an hour north and there is over a foot of snow, quite a differnce!

[lungdeflator]

Pulled a camera off my alfa alfa bale the other day and looked at 500 pics of does and fawns and 3-4 bucks, but they looked like they shed a few weeks ago. I think all my antlers are buried under 3' of snow. Its going to be a long winter....

[shedaddict]

Went out for a quick hike tonight to an area in the metro. Did not pick up any sheds, but I saw a really nice 10pt right at dark. Anybody seeing shed out deer in the twin cities metro?

[HooknHorns]

Seen a few on cam that were shed so we walked a little bit. Found a match set to a small six that I gave to a youngster in the group.

[dag_1980]

So I have been trying to talk mY wife into bow hunting for the past couple of years and finally this winter she said she WOULD like to try it. So for Christmas got her a coat, bibs, and boots. Now I had to try and get her even more interested. What better way then going for a "nature hike" to break in her new hunting clothes and boots. So we went out on Monday and went to a farm where I have trail cam pics of a couple bruisers.. .. So we walked for a while with knee high snow and the wife wasnt to thrilled but I wasn't gonna turn back... so we continued to a picked bean field and I told her we needed to walk to a standing corn field that was 1/2 mile away.. after some looks from the wife we marched over to a side hill next to the standing corn.... I walked the top and she walked along the bottom and half way through the walk I hear " I think I found one",, No you didn't, I said.. " No really I did" I head over to her and shure enough she found the left side to a buck I named "showtime" ( I have 3 yrs of trail cam pics of this buck)... Needless to say I was pumped.... We walked for another 45 minutes looking for the other half in the standing corn and nothing... so we headed back to where she found the first one and She walk the top and I the bottom... About20 yds from the first shed the wife was trying to walk down to me and she got caught in a vine and fell down... she stood up and said" look here are some more deer beds... Wait I think i just found another one" .. are you serious I said....." Yes I really did".. I ran through the snow like it was melted and wouldn't you believe it the matching side to the first one.... I was jacked at this point.... The wife says" If i hunt this year I'm hunting right here!!!!" So the wife goes out for the first time EVER and finds two sheds from a buck i've been trying to kill for 3 yrs... I think she is getting the FEVER and I love it....

[dag_1980]

here are some pics of the sheds I talked about in the previous post. What do you guys/gals think?

[jkcmj]

That's what keeps ya going! Holy Shiit

[walleyehunter80]

wow, congrats to your wife on the great find, and congrats to you for gaining a hunting partner for life. It will be awesome for both of you when she scores on her first deer

[paceman]

Very Cool Rack. That buck has some character. I think it would be pretty sweet if your wife shot old showtime!

[sticknstring]

For sure, it only seems fitting now. Great finds & way to get her hooked!