I killed a possible Boone and Crocket mt lion. I was told not to boil the skull it shrinks it, is this true? Someone else told me to soak the skull in peroxide to clean off the excess meat, does this work and if so will it harm the skull?
Are there any measurements you could take of the head still in the cape that would give a possible indication of Boone and Crocket potential?
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If you want to have the skull measured for Boone and Crockett,you have to skin it and manually let clean as much meat off as possible.Just take your time and spend 2 or three hours trimming it off with a sharp knife.When you sever the head from the neck,use a knife and not a saw.If a saw nicks the back of the skull,it may remove valuable fractions of an inch of bone that could be measured.After manually cleaning,let it dry in a cool place,like garage or basement.It has to air dry for at least 60 days before being officially scored for B+C.After it is officially scored you could then send it to someone to have it properly cleaned.In the meantime,if you want a rough idea what it scores,you need to measure the greatest width and greatest length.The width will be on the cheek bones(zygomatic arch) and length will be upper front teeth to back of skull.Measurements are taken with lower jaw detached.You can set the skull on a table and stand a book up against each cheekbone and measure between them,ie.using the books like a carpenter's square.You can also take the measurements with calipers,though that's not exactly how it will be done officially.It will get you close though.The width and length totalled equals the B+C score,the minimum which is 15".It takes a hell of a big skull to score 15-very few do.If you cat doesn't make the minimum,don't think it's not a good cat.A lot of nice cats don't make it.Good luck with it.
Bob,
You got a nice cat there. Even if it doesn't score high in the B&C it sounds like a once in a life time harvest. I'd recommend you take it to a taxidermist who has experience in doing European mounts.
There are many ways to clean the skull. Whatever you do, don't boil it. It makes the skull fragil and breaks down the collagen. (Learned that from Cur)not to mention it will shrink, which is the last thing you want it to do.
Bob, don't take a chance that may have ill effects on your trophy. Get the cat done right. Try hidetanning.net there is some info there if you plan on doing it yourself.
Joe