2020 Saskatchewan chonker

[Rack Daniels]

I checked my measurements again and came to the same very conservative score.

Did you have to glue any teeth back in? Or an hour with the oxi at low simmer won’t budge them? Looks so good! Paper towels and sweating brilliant too, since I don’t want to boil with the peroxide, as I’ve done with all my ungulates… I’m soaking info like a sponge from HT. Currently discouraged myself to boil my own bear skull- thanks to the horror stories online. Been in freezer since I got him Memorial Day.. Thank you for sharing!

 

[SaskHunter]

Did you have to glue any teeth back in? Or an hour with the oxi at low simmer won’t budge them? Looks so good! Paper towels and sweating brilliant too, since I don’t want to boil with the peroxide, as I’ve done with all my ungulates… I’m soaking info like a sponge from HT. Currently discouraged myself to boil my own bear skull- thanks to the horror stories online. Been in freezer since I got him Memorial Day.. Thank you for sharing!

Low simmer and oxi did the trick. Just be careful around the teeth with the pressure washer and it should be fine. Bears don't need much time to simmer and the oxi works real well on them. I did my 2021 bear in about 2hrs start to finish with the same method. All and all, I shot my 2021 bear around 0800 and was home 3hrs away with a clean skull and deboned meat on ice by 1900hr...

 

[Rack Daniels]

Low simmer and oxi did the trick. Just be careful around the teeth with the pressure washer and it should be fine. Bears don't need much time to simmer and the oxi works real well on them. I did my 2021 bear in about 2hrs start to finish with the same method. All and all, I shot my 2021 bear around 0800 and was home 3hrs away with a clean skull and deboned meat on ice by 1900hr...

Since it has been in deep freeze for weeks would you make any adjustments on boil time or thaw? I have a few questions actually but don’t want to hijack a badass post that deserves its own applause. Can I pm you with some more questions? Again congrats and excellent job!!

 

[SaskHunter]

Since it has been in deep freeze for weeks would you make any adjustments on boil time or thaw? I have a few questions actually but don’t want to hijack a badass post that deserves its own applause. Can I pm you with some more questions? Again congrats and excellent job!!

PM away! Also, if anybody reads this, 100% thaw those heads before simmering.

 

[skull]

I’m not recommending boiling or simmering skulls, this is why

Bone is primarily made of calcium phosphate and collagen. Collagen provides a flexible network for the strong calcium phosphate to bind to, as by itself calcium phosphate is quite brittle.

Collagen starts melting at about 160°F, and the deterioration rapidly increases once you read about 180°F. If you’re boiling/simmering skulls at 212°F, you are absolutely destroying the collagen fibers in the bone, leaving you with a fragile calcium phosphate shell that can easily break, crack, peel, etc.

The other negative is the fact that high temperatures like those involved in simmering and boiling actually force grease deeper into the bone, making degreasing nearly impossible and take much much much longer.

Beetling or macerating does not damage the collagen in the bone, and macerating actually begins degreasing the bone at the same time it defleshes it.
Good luck

 

[dgc1963]

Been watching your posts this spring and was looking forward to the pics of a dandy bear on the ground thats a great bear love the color