I'm kinda new to the taxidermy, but am really starting to get into it. I have done a couple pheasants and really liked how they turned out. Now I'd like to try a couple of skulls. I found a nice 3-point mule deer on the hunt, brought it home and its finishing up right now. I'm interested in trying pretty much any small mammal or deer/elk/proghorn skull. If you have anything that I could hone my sills on I'd appreciate it if you'd get in touch with me. I live in the central Utah area. Also, the way I did this one was by boiling it removing as much of the gristle as I could, then wrapping it up in hydrogen-peroxide (3%) soaked cheescloth and hanging it on a fence in the sun. Any other ideas as to how to do this, good experiences, bad experiences would be helpful! Thanks all!
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This will sound odd, but my fave way to find skulls and skeletal remnants is like so: In your area, if you know where the animals cross roads frequently, trek around the sides of the road (sometimes inward of up to a mile) and you may find some animal not fortunate enough to make it far from the site of it's road injury.
Also, go where the water is. I can't tell you how many animals I have sourced from streamsides and pond shores.
If you are not the sort that is faint, I also recommend fresh roadkill. It involves a bit of stomach, but there is plenty of material to train on.
Outside of the many professional tomes on prepping skeletal remains, the simplest prep is like so:
boil and clean (as you did, boil too long: heat makes the bones brittle); salt the heck out of the inside; lots of even sun for a week. A final brushing should clear off any remaining 'matter.' A quick exposure to bleach will give it a sun-bleached look, but beware: bleach breaks organics down. If you immerse too long, it will jelly-up on you or become way brittle when dry.