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Clean An Entire Bear Skeleton

Discussion in 'Skulls and Skeletons' started by Erika B, Sep 16, 2020.

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  1. Sep 16, 2020 #1
    Erika B

    Erika B New Member

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    1
    Hi folks,

    Some friends have a several-day old road-killed bear on their property, and have offered it to me. I got a legal tag for it from the state. Several questions for the forum:

    1. Is the pelt even worth bothering with at this point, several days after death? If so, what special treatment should it get?

    2. I’m not in a hurry, and am considering just burying it and letting the worms and grubs do the first pass at cleaning, especially given that it’s pretty rank at this point. Is this a good plan? If so, any special steps to take?

    Thanks for any advice!

    erika
     
    Robert Baker likes this.
  3. Sep 16, 2020 #2
    13 point

    13 point Well-Known Member

    3,913
    8,305
    Goldsboro MD
    No on the hide , it can’t be saved. Not sure what your plans are for it but if it was rd killed , bones could be shattered and a mess . Scavenger could pull apart and run off with bones , if you bury it , put at least 2 feet down then a foot of dirt and a metal screen or hardware cloth across that dirt and dirt on top of that so nothing will dig it up leave for a year and go dig up . You will still have work to do but it won’t be to bad
     
    Robert Baker likes this.

  5. Sep 17, 2020 #3
    Sea Wolf

    Sea Wolf Well-Known Member

    13,667
    1,822
    Taxachusetts
    If you are serious about it, put on some gloves and get busy. Skin it and remove as much meat and the guts as possible. The hide is no good at this point. Separate the four legs and put them in their own containers. This way you are dealing with a less scrambled mess of bones to figure out. I would even go so far as to put each individual paw in it's own container.

    Use the Search function on here and look in the Skulls and Skeletons section. Research maceration macerating skull macerating bone maceration skeleton and so forth. Experiment with different search terms and get reading. You will need to rot it clean and you need to start before it gets so bad you can't work on it.

    Google The Boneman Books and buy Lee Posts book on mounting a bear skeleton.