sous vide euro failure

[EYJONAS!]

Side note this happened. I dropped my bull with hide on before I cape and boiled him... gonna try and fix him. Little arts and craft project.

Never had this happen kind of a piss cutter.....

 

[MTLabrador]

Boy and I thought I got bent over to get my elk cut and wrapped for 400 bucks.

Makes me feel like that's a win now

I absolutely hate skull cleaning, but that price made me break out the old boiling pot. Turned out pretty well.

 

[trb]

The main problem IMHO with boiling is that it can go off the rails if you aren't careful.


These I "boiled"
View attachment 166588
View attachment 166589

The head on the far right has now turned a blueish color and is kinda flaky...
View attachment 166590

This one went off the rails...
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Boiling inside... like a house not a garage isn't a good idea. I haven't had a garage for the last 10 years.

@KayakMacGyver maceration works well... but again not conducive to living in an apartment... also good look doing it in MT in November-December. Further IMHO it takes exactly the same amount of effort as using a sous vide machine.

I came up with using a Sous vide machine
1. So I could do it inside
2. So I leave it while I went to work without having to worry about it
3. I wanted consistent results
4. I was tired of picking

Couldn't agree more... and I entirely mistyped last night. I did NOT mean boiling, I always tried to keep it steaming but definitely not boiling. In my defense, I had a root canal and had heavily self medicated when I posted that.

Also....that buck on the left is impressively wide!

 

[MThuntr]

The degreasing step is where you separate good work from great work and where I see the most error occur. This is where you're warm water comes into play most critically. Avoid using any chemicals or additives in the skull, as like others have mentioned it can have adverse effects on the skull quality over time. The best thing you can do after you get the meat off is heat the water to 130 degrees and use good old Dawn dish soap (or any other heavy duty degreaser), changing the water frequently. Boiling skulls causes brittle bones and bakes grease into the skull. 130 degrees is the recommended de-greasing temp by any competent taxidermist who is dialed in on the euro mount game. Low and slow is the name of the game.

I think this is where my error started. I didn't swap out water enough and should have added some Dawn. I have a Costco sized jug of the stuff and as a single guy that's like 5 years worth even when I cook.

I'm going to order some of that whitening powder as I made another giant mess with the liquid/cream stuff. The bull skull is happily coated with peroxide and wrapped with plastic wrap. He's out of the way for the time being. He did get cooked for 24hrs at 140 and I noticed extra floaties but his skull plates did start to separate which tells me I may have overdone it a touch but I'm not concerned with that and some tiny drops super glue will take care of that.

Luckily this is a practice skull. I have a tiny whitetail buck deadhead that I picked up (I'm afraid to bring that into the house actually), 2 antelope deadheads that have been boiled but not bleached, 1 mule deer from this year and 1 frozen antelope buck from a couple years ago to do too. The only reason I started with the elk was he was starting to get funky and I had no room in the freezer. Of course it's 25 degrees now so that was probably a non-issue.

I'm definitely going to try the recommendations I've read so far on the next skull especially being more vigilant with the degreasing process.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I used to boil until someone showed me how it weakened the bones causing pieces to flake off. It's much better to do it with low heat and the sous vide really works well for me and you can do it in a plastic bin. The real serious people say you have to macerate but that is one nasty job.

The lining in the brain cavity always seems to be a pain to get out... I'm about ready to start sawing the bottom of the brain case off so I can access it better.

MAKE SURE YOU POP OUT THE EAR CANALS BEFORE YOU START COOKING THE SKULL. A lot easier to access and clean brain material with those gone. Also they retain a lot of odor.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I think this is where my error started. I didn't swap out water enough and should have added some Dawn. I have a Costco sized jug of the stuff and as a single guy that's like 5 years worth even when I cook.

I'm going to order some of that whitening powder as I made another giant mess with the liquid/cream stuff. The bull skull is happily coated with peroxide and wrapped with plastic wrap. He's out of the way for the time being. He did get cooked for 24hrs at 140 and I noticed extra floaties but his skull plates did start to separate which tells me I may have overdone it a touch but I'm not concerned with that and some tiny drops super glue will take care of that.

Luckily this is a practice skull. I have a tiny whitetail buck deadhead that I picked up (I'm afraid to bring that into the house actually), 2 antelope deadheads that have been boiled but not bleached, 1 mule deer from this year and 1 frozen antelope buck from a couple years ago to do too. The only reason I started with the elk was he was starting to get funky and I had no room in the freezer. Of course it's 25 degrees now so that was probably a non-issue.

I'm definitely going to try the recommendations I've read so far on the next skull especially being more vigilant with the degreasing process.

Yes, you can use plastic ties and super glue to pull nose or skull plates back together. I don't mind the cracks. Makes it look more "natural." Like a weathered skull you'd find in the field.

 

[RobG]

MAKE SURE YOU POP OUT THE EAR CANALS BEFORE YOU START COOKING THE SKULL. A lot easier to access and clean brain material with those gone. Also they retain a lot of odor.

Thanks. I assume you mean the oblong ear bones. I've never been able to pop them out after they are cooked but I didn't know there was a reason. I'll try before it is boiled.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Thanks. I assume you mean the oblong ear bones. I've never been able to pop them out after they are cooked but I didn't know there was a reason. I'll try before it is boiled.

I use a square tip screwdriver (#6 or #8), drive it into ear canal with a hammer, and pry it loose. Look for some videos on the net.

 

[CMF]

I probably just need to submerge it for a while in warm water to get the last bit off the pedicle. I didn't have it submerged so that part had a whitish almost skin like layer that didn't come off with the pressure washer that hardened back up when it dried. I thought using the paper towel would work while simmering but it didn't break it down enough.

I did 24 hours at 150 and 24 hours at 140 for both the elk and deer and the elk actually came cleaner than the deer. I still had a little nose cartilidge on the deer that I pulled out with a needlenose pliers. I kept the nasal sinus bones intact on both. Had a little scare when I got done pressure washing the elk and noticed it was missing both ivories. I sorted through the bits and pieces in the grass and was able to find them both though.

Glad you found the ivories. Mine are in the grass at a campsite in New Mexico, if someone hasn't found them yet, lol. Hopefully I get drawn again one day and I can look for them.




For the guys saying boiling has problems in the long term, do you have any examples? I'm not saying boiling is the best way, but I have skulls that are 10 years old and don't have any issues other than the first one I ever did has yellowed a little because I don't think I degreased it.

I do usually have trouble with the nose bones falling out on my whitetails, but they're easily glued back in. Is that avoided with maceration or sous vide or are you guys still seeing that?

The only one I've seen flaking is one that a buddy did and he used chlorine bleach.