I have 3 buffalo head, and am a decorative painter, how do you go about removing the fur, and the inner contents.. can you let it decompose naturally, or is there a special technique.. any help you could give me would be appreciated..Thanks. Sandra
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Best bet is to either put in a drum out in the heat and allow flies access, or to submerge the head (after removing all vestiges of flesh and hair that you can with a knife) and let it set for a few months. DON'T TOUCH THE WATER, just change it and then DON'T TOUCH THE WATER. If you make the mistake once, you won't repeat it ever again. In a few months, remove the head, hose it down (the last residuals will wash away) then bleach with peroxide or allow the sun to bleach it naturally.
Go with George's advise. I soak all of my skulls and this method works great. I touched the water - ONCE. My hands stank for four days even though I used several tubes of toothpaste and everything else in the book. From now on it is triple layers of strong gloves and long thonges.
Well I'm state of shock you two agreeing on something! george and evelyn............what this forum does to us all........lol good advice by the way.Im doing one of thease suckers today going to try and boil it! caint leve things in water here to many smells for the nabuors to complain about,let you know how it works out
Kiwi
there is anouther way you can do it take them to your loca taxidermist and pay him or her to do them for you, that's there job like you are a decorative painter not saying you arent able to do them i just beleve everybody to there own and the job gets done rigth!
Kiwi's o/p
Try putting the heads in a clear garbage bag and set outside for the flies. Do not close the bag! The clear plastic will sweat helping to keep the hide moist. The flies will take care of the rest within a couple of weeks. when all of the fly larva is gone you will have a pretty clean skull. Remove any excess hide with a sharp knife. Then whiten with the 40 volume peroxide. This way you will not have to worry about the rancid water getting on you or any pets, children, etc.
Hope this helps!
Later
Grouseman
just boil it for 1-2 hrs take all large chunks off ,then boil again 30 mins. Then use pressure washer and your done in 1/2 day no smell, I use a cast Iron bath tub from the second hand store, with large burner under it, I can get 4-5 buff skulls in at once and have them all done the same day, Just DONT over boil !, Then use peroxide as stated above! Have fun, Tim Ü
BOIL IT, BUT AS TIM SAID, DONT OVER BOIL OR THE "GLUE" BETWEEN THE SEAMS IN THE SKULL WILL SOFTEN AND SEPARATE. BUT, BEFORE YOU BOIL, SKIN THE HEAD , PULL THE EYES, AND BEAT THE BRAIN TO A SOFT PUDDING BY WAY OF THE SPINAL OPENING THAN SLING THE CONTENTS OUT.