I found a 12-point atypical whitetail deer in February of 2005 that was apparently killed during the winter. It was too beautiful to leave laying so I tugged the rack and skull away from the animal and packed it out of the woods to my car. Fortunately it was still frozen and had a good population of beetles working on it.
I put it in a 5 gallon bucket packed with leaves and put it in my shed and kept it moist so the beetles could continue cleaning it.
It's now June and hot so I removed the leaves, filled the bucket with water (the antlers suspended it nicely) and set it in the sun. Cold water maceration cleaned it nicely with 2 or 3 water changes. I also added some biodegradable laundry detergent with enzymes to the final soaking. Only a small amount of scraping was necessary around the base of the skull, above the teeth, and on the forehead. Works beautifully!
After cleaning, I sat it in the sun to dry for several days then used 40 volume peroxide creme thinned with the 3% stuff available anywhere. I turned it several times then let it soak overnight but I didn't want it to be unnaturally white. It had fallen on its left side and there is still some blood staining the facial bones above the teeth and I like because it's part of the deer's story. I decided not to treat these remaining stains and slight discolorations.
I applied several coats of satin wood finisher based on the recommendations from this forum. The debate over linseed oil vs. wood finisher for the antlers here is interesting. I was somewhat overzealous when scrubbing the antlers and lost some of the natural staining but they still look quite nice, especially toward the bases.
I haven't decided how to treat the antlers. I'm leaning toward simply using the same spray-on urethane that I used on the skull and not risking messing it up with a bad stain job. I'm leaning toward the urethane because there seems to be no debate over using linseed oil vs. wood finisher on the skull and since both are porous bone it seems to me that what's good for the skull should also be good for the antlers. I wanted to go ahead and protect the skull but don't feel rushed to make a decision about the antlers. I see both treatments have their staunch supporters and I'm sure both work well.
I'm VERY pleased with the results so far and have no cracked teeth or other problems that some have mentioned in this forum. Even the smallest and thinnest of bones are well preserved. I believe letting nature clean a skull slowly is the best if you have the time.
I can't wait to have it scored!
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I'd love to see it! As far as the antlers, I like to just leave them how they were on the deer - Shiny antlers look unnatural to me - but some disagree. I guess it is personal preference. Send me an email if you have a pic =)