Pre boil brain removal tip

[Tropicalmulch]

My uncle and I were lucky enough to kill a couple javis yesterday on our archery hunt and today I tried a new method of brain removal that I thought I'd share. I'm sure there are better ways to do this but this worked well for me.

I used a broken arrow shaft to scrape the brain away from the skull as well as I could. Then I pierced the bottom of a trash bag with the shaft and put the skull in the bag to trap the mess. Used my hand on to kinda back up the trash bag and squirt a little air through the arrow shaft. Brain removed and contained in the bag. Easiest and cleanest way I've tried so far. Hope that's understandable and hope it helps some of you guys.

[rossislider]

Interesting idea. Check out this old girl my son cleaned up yesterday. Probably seen over 100 pigs come through here over the past year. This old girl was by far the gnarliest.

 

[Tropicalmulch]

Wow I imagine the other pigs called her Fiona haha. I was surprised at how well it worked if you have an air compressor give it a try

[jim]

I had a buddy kill one yesterday that looks like that one. I will post picks when I do the skulls. I could not even close her mouth completely she is so old. I think she was slowly starving to death as she had no meat on her bones at all we barely got a zip lock bag full off her.

[BOWUNTR]

A couple bursts from the air compressor and you're done... 15 seconds, tops. Ed F

[Beaton]

After the boil I spray with the power washer the stick a long pair of hemostats in the brain hole and twist it usually comes out in one piece. These are the ones I've done from this year's archery hunt.

[Beaton]

Sorry the 1st picture is blurry

[Lazy-H98]

How do you get that sheen on the bottom pic?  Looks great.

[Beaton]

Mop N Glo

[rossislider]

If you can, clean as much brain matter out as you can pre-simmer. The brain contains a lot of oil/grease. Much of that will transfer to to bone during the simmer, making the degreasing process longer and more work. Having done hundreds of skulls, and trying most everything, we have come to the conclusion that scrambling the brain with a long flat screwdriver (prior to simmer), then pouring/shaking it out the brain hole is our preferred method. 

[Redman]

Pressure washer 

[5guyshunting]

47 minutes ago, rossislider said:

If you can, clean as much brain matter out as you can pre-simmer. The brain contains a lot of oil/grease. Much of that will transfer to to bone during the simmer, making the degreasing process longer and more work. Having done hundreds of skulls, and trying most everything, we have come to the conclusion that scrambling the brain with a long flat screwdriver (prior to simmer) , then pouring/shaking it out the brain hole is our prefered method. 

I know this is an old thread. Never simmer the skull brain in. A little jet of water will blow the brain out , easy breezy beautiful prior to simmering.

Late bull this year. Done in about a week.

[rossislider]

We've come to the decision that spaying raw brain matter with a pressure washer isn't responsible, especially where my son is doing hundreds of euros each year. CWD, while not YET found in AZ, is to big of a risk. A pressure washer spays it everywhere and exposes wildlife, pets, etc. I just don't think it is good idea.

[BOWUNTR]

If you haven't tried the air hose and plastic bag trick.... you're wasting a lot of energy and making a mess. Ed F

[Redman]

22 hours ago, rossislider said:

We've come to the decision that spaying raw brain matter with a pressure washer isn't responsible, especially where my son is doing hundreds of euros each year. CWD, while not YET found in AZ, is to big of a risk. A pressure washer spays it everywhere and exposes wildlife, pets, etc. I just don't think it is good idea.

Yeah doing 100 is much different than doing 1,  it can be messy if you don't put a towel or rag over the hole...but couldn't imagine doing 100 that way either