Pressure washing skull

[rossislider]

11 hours ago, HuntHarder said:

Do you boil first before pressure washing?  How long do you boil if you do ( mule deer.)  I used to boil around 3 hours with dawn and water and the pick out the remaining meat.  After watching some videos online pressure washing, I am just wondering if this is a better way.  One of my taxidermists pressure washes, the other one still boils.  

I prefer to bring the water to just below a boil and maintain that heat level until that tissue that covers the the nasal bones and top up the skull split and pull away from the bone (usually 10-20 minutes but the bigger and or older the animal, the longer it tends to take). Once that happens, I remove from the heat and let them sit in that water for at least 30 minutes. The water is slowly cooling, but still working on the tissue without continuing to heat and weaken bone. We then spray with the pressure washer to remove all tissue. If you go careful inside the nasal cavity and know where to spray, you can USUALLY get most of that soft tissue out without damaging those inner nasal coils. Forceps and needle nose pliers will usually take care of the rest.
Maceration or beetles is definitely safer for the bone, but if you live in a residential neighborhood like us, maceration isn’t an option. The smells that come off of that are TERRIBLE and carry a fair distance. We have done a handful of bears, lions, pigs, etc. using maceration on a friends property, on rare occasions. Maceration works great, but be prepared to burn all of your clothes after and for your skin, especially hands, to smell awful for a couple of days. Soap alone won’t get rid of it, only time or stronger chemicals. However, with maceration, if done correctly, little to no pressure washing is necessary. Generally most of the remaining tissue will come off with a hose. That and pressure washing with maceration will spray that foul nastiness everywhere and you will be covered head to toe in it. I unfortunately leaned the hard way.

We don’t want beetles around our home so go to a friend if that should ever be necessary.

If you decide to start doing this a lot, invest in some good waterproof commercial fishing clothing, bib and jacket (like commercial fishermen wear in bad weather) and a face cover (like a clear untinted welding mask). It is worth the investment to keep yourself dry and clean, especially in the colder months. We still kick ourselves for not spending the money on this gear sooner. It makes a HUGE difference when you are spraying for hours. We get some funny looks from people driving by. We have been asked if we are cooking meth by some neighbors in jest (if you have seen Breaking Bad, you know).

Good luck, hope some of this helps.

[longshooter]

Power washing works great

one of the ranches i hunt in Mexico power washers the skulls and they come out pretty good

 

 

[HuntHarder]

Thanks for the tips guys.  I'll attempt this after February so I can do the Javelina skull as well.

[briant_az]

1 hour ago, rossislider said:

I prefer to bring the water to just below a boil and maintain that heat level until that tissue that covers the the nasal bones and top up the skull split and pull away from the bone (usually 10-20 minutes but the bigger and or older the animal, the longer it tends to take). Once that happens, I remove from the heat and let them sit in that water for at least 30 minutes. The water is slowly cooling, but still working on the tissue without continuing to heat and weaken bone. We then spray with the pressure washer to remove all tissue. If you go careful inside the nasal cavity and know where to spray, you can USUALLY get most of that soft tissue out without damaging those inner nasal coils. Forceps and needle nose pliers will usually take care of the rest.
Maceration or beetles is definitely safer for the bone, but if you live in a residential neighborhood like us, maceration isn’t an option. The smells that come off of that are TERRIBLE and carry a fair distance. We have done a handful of bears, lions, pigs, etc. using maceration on a friends property, on rare occasions. Maceration works great, but be prepared to burn all of your clothes after and for your skin, especially hands, to smell awful for a couple of days. Soap alone won’t get rid of it, only time or stronger chemicals. However, with maceration, if done correctly, little to know pressure washing is necessary. Generally most of the remaining tissue will come off with a hose. That and pressure washing with maceration will spray that foul nastiness everywhere and you will be covered head to toe in it. I unfortunately leaned the hard way.

We don’t want beetles around our home so go to a friend if that should ever be necessary.

If you decide to start doing this a lot, invest in some good waterproof commercial fishing clothing, bib and jacket (like commercial fishermen wear in bad weather) and a face cover (like a clear untinted welding mask). It is worth the investment to keep yourself dry and clean, especially in the colder months. We still kick ourselves for not spending the money on this gear sooner. It makes a HUGE difference when you are spraying for hours. We get some funny looks from people driving by. We have been asked if we are cooking meth by some neighbors in jest (if you have seen Breaking Bad, you know).

Good luck, hope some of this helps.

Hahaha I had to laugh about the maceration smells that you talked about. You’ve seen pictures of my barn so you know why! 
the orange hand cleaner that they sell at auto parts stores, works good to get rid of the smell. 

[briant_az]

9 hours ago, HuntHarder said:

Anyone tried this yet? I've heard good things about it.  Im thinking of giving it a go. My pressure washer is electric and claims 2300psi, which should be plenty.  Kind of getting sick of spending 150$ on such an easy job.  

Sometimes it’s easier to pay someone else than to do things yourself. That’s not always the case with everything though. Some guys much rather pay someone else to deal with their skulls. I’m grateful for those people. Also if you want I can save you a little bit of money if your close to Chandler. I only charge $100 for Coues and $125 for mule deer. 😂

www.hdskulls.com

@rossislider Probably knows more about the process than a lot of guys that do it. Any advice that he gives will be good advice! 

[Flash]

Some quality advice so far. I'll just add that I tried this for the first time a couple months ago on a few deer. There is definitely a learning curve but totally doable with less cost (depending on how much in supplies you need to purchase).