Cow elk skull by maceration

[Tony Nile]

Going to Euro mount my sons cow elk skull, am considering maceration vs boiling. How important is water movement for maceration?   Could I put the skull into a water filled plastic tote with the lid on and leave  it in my backyard for a few days before pressure washing it?   Or is there more to the maceration process?  If its skinned and brains removed before going into the water how rank will the smell be- as in my neighbors smelling it? I'm on a 1/3 acre residential lot, so they will be about 100 ft away from the property line.  

[CatfishKev]

I could be wrong but I believe maceration is when you leave it in the tote underwater the entire time for it to allow the microbes and bacteria to completely clean the skull.  As far as I know you don't need any water movement at all you can literally just let it sit in there and do its thing but it will be stinky like super super stinky.

[Mcdowell25]

Water movement is not required to macerate, but be warned.. the smell is unlike anything you have ever experienced. Change the water every couple days, seems to help.

I do 50+ euros a year from deer, elk to bear. I tried macerating once, will never do it again. There are some other euro guys I know that like it. Their quality is high, but for me it’s boil all the way! 
 

 

[Big Browns]

On 7/19/2023 at 9:02 AM, Tony Nile said:

Going to Euro mount my sons cow elk skull, am considering maceration vs boiling. How important is water movement for maceration?   Could I put the skull into a water filled plastic tote with the lid on and leave  it in my backyard for a few days before pressure washing it?   Or is there more to the maceration process?  If its skinned and brains removed before going into the water how rank will the smell be- as in my neighbors smelling it? I'm on a 1/3 acre residential lot, so they will be about 100 ft away from the property line.  

The smell is from another world!!!!!

Call me, I'll help you out.  928-595-1554 

[firstcoueswas80]

You sissies clearly haven't been around enough dead bodies in the desert. 

[bigorange]

Friend buried his in the yard and let the ants clean it…no idea how long it took or how it compares to maceration but he was pleased with the result. 

[CatfishKev]

18 hours ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

You sissies clearly haven't been around enough dead bodies in the desert. 

To be fair, if I'm doing some crap in the backyard that smells like dead bodies in the desert my wife will likely have an opinion about it.  

[PRDATR]

18 hours ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

You sissies clearly haven't been around enough dead bodies in the desert. 

Different smell altogether Casey. Neither, in any form is one I would wish on anyone.

[muledeerarea33?]

9 hours ago, bigorange said:

Friend buried his in the yard and let the ants clean it…no idea how long it took or how it compares to maceration but he was pleased with the result. 

Dad lost a 115” whitetail that way. Dog dug it up. Found it months later destroyed! This was early 90’s though, before scores were really popular with common folk.

[CatfishKev]

1 hour ago, muledeerarea33? said:

Dad lost a 115” whitetail that way. Dog dug it up. Found it months later destroyed! This was early 90’s though, before scores were really popular with common folk.

Bet that dog got fixed like 2 weeks later.

[muledeerarea33?]

4 minutes ago, CatfishKev said:

Bet that dog got fixed like 2 weeks later.

The kicker……. Weren’t our dam dog!

[PRDATR]

21 hours ago, muledeerarea33? said:

Dad lost a 115” whitetail that way. Dog dug it up. Found it months later destroyed! This was early 90’s though, before scores were really popular with common folk.

1890's Right?

[muledeerarea33?]

3 hours ago, PRDATR said:

1890's Right?

Early 1990’s???

[Tony Nile]

We ended up simmering it for a few hours, didn't want to risk the smell.  Thanks to all who replied