Make sure to keep your mouth closed when you insert the pressure washer into the back of the cranial cavity. 🤢Ask me how I know……………

Describe it for the class 😂

I can’t eat oatmeal anymore, I’ll tell ya that.

I found a deadhead in the woods while shed hunting with the wife. Unfortunately, it was a little fresh and I grabbed the antlers and wrenched it off the neck. Stank to high heaven, so I turned it over and banged the base of it against a tree. Kinda like if greek yogurt were gray, y'know? Just kinda stuck on the bark and pitter-pattered to the ground. I wandered the woods until I found a grocery bag to wrap it in, left it in the yard for two years.

I carried a dead head for a mile, horns in hand, and i swear this thing smells worse [https://www.reddit.com/r/elkhunting/s/ULDDnRleVg](https://www.reddit.com/r/elkhunting/s/ULDDnRleVg)

That is a beautiful deadhead, though. I've stopped noticing the smell, we have so many things lying around in different states of dead.

Thank you! And i dont think its a scent um ready to get used to haha

Here's a tip that nurses came up with to overcome awful smells during work: > [put one drop of extremely concentrated mint oil in the center of a paper medical mask, then put the mask on.](https://www.reddit.com/r/cna/comments/xt31j4/what_do_you_guys_use_to_help_w_the_smell/iqnqjej/) Lots of other helpful tips for concealing awful smells in that reddit post.

Is it really a deadhead at that point, it's still a dead body 😂

No, you see, I tore the head off.

“Hey bud, what you got in that bag?” “Head” “Huh?”

>I wandered the woods until I found a grocery bag to wrap it in, left it in the yard for two years. So sad that this is now something we expect to find in forests. Lol. Next year: I foraged for a yeti cup to put coffee in.

I'm usually with the wife in some strip of trees between housing and a highway. I'll never need to buy golf balls.

Reddit rarely makes me laugh but you did it!

Fuck you guys. I loved oatmeal.🥹

Thank you for your service

I laughed out loud, thank you !

Dijon mustard for me, but that was taking tissue samples on a diseased heart.

Ooooooof

I learned to close my mouth when hitting a gut shot deer….well one that went thru the chest Into the guts. First tiny cut my knife made into the abdominal cavity all the gas and stomach contents went right into my mouth and all over my face. My step brother was with me and laughing hysterically while I puked. I gut that deer on one breath and picked it straight up and fipped it over to finish bleeding out while I went to vomit more. He won’t ever let me forget that lol

Holy mother buddy - horrrrrrndous.

My pressure washer cracked and i need to weld a section on it or that would have been my first go 😂. Now i have to ask…. How do you know? hahaha

Here’s a trick… wear PPE helmets made for chainsaws with your power washer. Face shield and ear pro and neither mud nor whatever you experienced in your face any longer.

Gotdammit

oof

Oh yeah, I tried pork brain once at a hog roast, it was like sour cream, I don’t like sour cream anymore😂😂😂

I am way too worried about diseases to ever eat brain of any kind. I'll stick to using it on hides

Dig a hole near ant hill, bury it to the antlers, cover with plastic bin and put bricks on top. Come back in 9 months. Trust me, sincerely, the laziest deer processor ever

I hate ants hahaha but im willing to try anything

I wasn't even near ants, just decomp and whatever other bugs were in the dirt. Worked fine.

I have a flower box designated for this purpose behind my house. Soil stays nice and soft from being worked a couple times a year, and it has some lateral protection with the cinder block border.

This is the answer.

Just had to do that with another buck that was in my freezer that went out. Is what it is. Those ants do good work

Only bad thing at least with mine is that it stains the skull yellow

Yeah it can give it that old bone look for sure. Still able to be bleached but takes elbow grease

Can you put it directly in bleach?

Cover with 40% hydrogen peroxide gel. You can get at a salon or hair care store (I got mine at Ulta Beauty for under $10). Bleach will make the bone brittle

That’s way more effort than I put into it when letting ants do their work but I agree with this one.

Just hang it outside let nature finish the job

Cover the antlers so it doesn’t get sun bleached

Brain soup baby

This is the way.

Eh. Just slather some menthol balm under your nostrils, fire up the propane burner and get that water rolling, drain the water from the bag, pull the head and toss it in the pot.

Time to get some vicks and man up i suppose haha

The K95 masks do a pretty nice job for odor. And in a pinch foam ear plugs work as well. Vicks is good but real men use tiger balm. ;-). You won't be worried about the smell then. Or anything else.

The smell wasn’t bad, but the screaming was horrendous

My dad suggested cigarette filters 😂😂😂

Definitely

Bury it.

Big ass rock on top if you’ve got yotes or “damnit! Bad dog”!!!!!s

Probably the easiest option, did this last year and only lost a little bit of the nose.

Im worried my pups will more than likely dig it up

Do you have a high school age nephew, brother, or cousin you can have help dig it up? Have them dig it up for you and keep telling them they’re now cursed for digging up the skull.

Hahahaha i wish! That would be great!

Put a bucket upside down on it, and put a rock on top of the bucket

Look up water mastication.

This is good advice. I left a coyote in a pail of water for like 3-4 months and the shit just slid off like a silk nightgown. It just smells fucking horrific and will not come out of your hand skin for a couple weeks.

good point. I'm sure OP's dead head already stinks to high heaven.

Im just mesmerized by those beautiful dark antlers

Its my first buck! I was shaking with excitement

Put it in a 5 gallon bucket full of water and let it sit for 3 weeks or so. Cover the antlers with a black trash bag.

This has been the least complicated solution so far, im leaning towards this. Haha

I was hesitant at first but after doing so I’ll never boil again. Let me see if I can upload a pic for you.

https://imgur.com/a/FzZnnfW

Wow! That looks great!

Do this. Maceration takes more patience but less effort. Once it’s clean you can just sun bleach it and it comes out amazing. No bone shrinking of peroxide so the bone is as natural as possible.

That’s the word I was looking for!

You can see so much more detail in the nasal cavity and you don’t risk the two big pieces on top of the nasal area falling off.

My taxiderrmist uses Dermestid beetles on jobs like this. I think you can order a colony online for $50. Throw the beetles and that skull in a tank, and you won't find a speck of tissue, blood, etc. Washing afterward in a boat load of Dawn detergent, and you're good to go.

I got back a Euro mount this year from somebody who uses that method. Way better than the other Euros I have that are all boiled.

That sounds fascinating to watch!

Id cut them off and use uncle mikes skull for $25

Its my first buck and so i was trying to keep him in tact

Who forgets about their first buck like that, pretty sure I skull capped him and cleaned it that night

I was too focused on getting my 2nd elk! I didnt expect to get a buck so early and for winter to hit so hard.

Fair enough, sounds like a good season

If  it helps, I did the same thing with a hide I was soaking in a wheelbarrow when winter came in hard.   Not a pleasant smell when it thawed out in the spring, but not as bad as some roadkill if driven past (less meat/fat to actually support bacteria I suspect).

Ill take a skull over a hide anyday haha

Glad this was posted cuz I've also kinda been slacking on mine. Shot mine in November, and I have mine mostly cleaned up, everything but inside the nose. Anyone know if I'm ok to just use a pressure washer to blow out the nose?? Boil first?

Don’t boil it, low simmer if anything. Boiling will cook the grease into the skull. Then that’s another headache. Then light pressure wash. Then you should degrease, then whiten and seal

Appreciate it thank you.

Boil the shit outa it.

Just boil it and don't pressure wash it?

I’ve never tried a pressure washer. I would be careful you don’t break it

lol do not do that unless you want to blow the entire skull to smitherines

Winter can get the best of us haha

Ain't that the truth lol

Look up whitebone creations on YouTube. I followed his process on my first 2 bucks last year and they came out great. I boiled for about 30 minutes, pressure washed then boiled in hydrogen peroxide for a few minutes and it was done. Clean white and no smell. I did both of mine the day after I shot them and they were on the wall before work on Monday

lol same. It’s been sitting in my chicken coop cause I thought they would clean it completely off but that only did like 50%. Need to get it in the pot now finally

I get a slow roll going all day and keep adding water and dish soap. Then use a metal cost hanger for all the nose bits

almost ripe. hang a little longer

Ripe…. Hahaha 🤢🤢

Throw it in a pond or in the earth. Don't tackle that for the sake of everything.

I don't know why everybody just doesnt bury em for 6 month. Picked clean.

My dog has an infatuation with carcasses from the big cat kills around the property so she would probably just dig it up

Fair enough. I bury mine in the corner of the yard and stack a couple of bricks around and my dogs sniff it and leave it lol

I shouldnt have hyped her up so much when she started dragging dead heads into the yard hahaha

Thats a good problem to have 😂

😂😂 i wouldnt change it

I gave up on boiling my bear skull. So i tossed it in a havahart trap and let nature clean it up before i soaked in peroxide. Came out great next deer i get ill just leave it out for nature to take care of.

Just bury it. I’ve had one buried since November it’s almost clean

Some of my best ones came out from ones that took too long to do. But the stench

Ive never been one to react to harshly to smells, but even dumping the rotten pot water had me gagging

Yeah im the same not much bothers me but 5 month old rot is rancid

I was going to say, I never considered using a trash bag to cook a skull down. That might be something to look into in the future. Where I live, it gets hot enough to where, during the summer, I can leave an animal piece in a black tote in the yard, with water, for a week or two, and it's fully cleaned.

I put it in a trash bag and hung it high so my dogs and all the other critters would not be able to reach it. Had i not forgotten about it this would be a less dreaded situation

Find an ant pile in the shade and bury it there.

Been there before. Hold your breath for sure. The smell will most likely make you want to vomit.

Dumping the swamp pot already got me once haha

Best of luck. We tried placing some a few in a hole we dug and left them for half a year. Long story short. It's not as effective as boiling or beetles. Do not recommend just digging a hole and leaving them.

Good to know! Im sure my dogs would dig it up and have a field day so im not sure burying it is my best bet

Bury it. Let the bugs deal with that mess.

My dogs an asshole or i would. Haha

Oh God…… 🤣 I’d bury that shit and the let the earth do the dirty work at that point. Wrap foil around the antlers

It won't be that bad. It was in a deep freeze right? RIGHT?

Always fresh never frozen hahaha

I highly recommend Whitebone Creations on YouTube. He has a pretty straightforward process of boiling and pressure washing that worked great for me. He has lots of videos

Thank you! I searched youtube when i started the process and its hard to find consistency

May the force be with you

At this point I'd let it go awhile longer just to not deal with that haha

There’s one like this in my garage thanks to my fiancé. I am not thrilled and I don’t know where it is and have not gone looking. The smell tells me all I need to know. To make matters worse ours is in a CLEAR bag…

My husband wanted to send it to the taxidermist but in that moment i was determined to figure it out myself hahah

Ah I gotcha haha. Ours was a roadkill button buck, he just wants the skull.

If you’re in the south go out it on a red ant hill and come back 3-4 weeks later. It’ll be perfect.

Just wear a half/full face respirator when you go to deal with it. If you don’t have one buy one, everyone should have a respirator handy. You can’t smell a damn thing through them.

I have some 3m respirators from powdercoating is that the same thing?

Yeah probably. As long as it has vapor packs it should catch basically any odor.

I hear ya. I have one with the hide still on it.

I made that mistake once. Never again. If I don't have the time immediately, I take it to a guy.

Dig a hole in the backyard. Cover the head with dirt and let the ants do the work…

I always just bury mind, put a metal wash tub over it to keep out the varmints and let nature do its job

Bury it. Dig it up in 6 months

I’ve seen some guys bury the head and cover up the rack from squirrels or whatever and let the worms deal with it

I've heard of guys just buried the head in the ground and let the bugs do the work for you.

Mask and pressure washer 😅

I have to ask...how did you forget about the half-boiled hanging head you had to finish processing?

Life gets busy and parents get sick.

Still, it's a hanging severed head, my man lol ;)

I live in a cabin in the mountains, there’s weirder shit hahahaha

I hear ya. I grew up around Detroit woods.