Thread: Cleaning Stag head

Hi Guys after a bit of advice shot my first stag in the weekend and just want some advice on how to clean the skull up and get it looking good so I can have it on display cheers.

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Nice work, I skin my heads and boil them in a big pot till soft and then water blast it. Leave it to dry for a week then done. Im personally not a fan of bleached white skulls so just leave it as is after waterblasting.

A big scoop of washing machine powder in the water helps get the fat off. If you leave the skin on its good to pull the meat off with.
Open the skin from the antlers to the nose.

Also be careful if you use the waterblaster. My missus pointed it down the spinal cord hole into the skull and got covered in cooked brains, gees did I laugh!

Cheers for all the tips guys appreciate your help.

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Don't boil them for too long, the bone goes brittle and discolours. You're best to watch the sinew and meat on the fore head and nose and once it starts to contract/peel off, then hit it with the waterblaster. Get the nozzle in the spine cord hole, blast the brains out, otherwise it'll go stinky. Just watch for back spray

Originally Posted by JoshC

Don't boil them for too long, the bone goes brittle and discolours. You're best to watch the sinew and meat on the fore head and nose and once it starts to contract/peel off, then hit it with the waterblaster. Get the nozzle in the spine cord hole, blast the brains out, otherwise it'll go stinky. Just watch for back spray

Awesome cheers for that will give it a go this weekend.

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First of... Congratulations on your first head

You need a big pot, you can get some big ones for $30-40 at the Warehouse which is where i got mine and easily big enough for Reds.

You can boil the head on the oven or if like me i have a gas ring burner and do it outside as I need to keep the wife happy!

You need a digreaser of sorts, i normally squirt in a head of dish washing liquid or tip in some washing powder.

Before i put the head in the water i take off the skin, jaw bone and as much meat, eye balls as possible and as the head cooks i take it out every now and again prying out as much meat as i can or just using the water blaster and then putting the head back in to cook some more.

If you don't have a water blaster at hand just pry off as much stuff as possible and then pop down to your nearest wash world preferably late at night... done that a few times!

Once you've got all the flesh off, brain out etc then you need some hydrogen peroxide which you can get at the chemist.

There's various methods from wrapping the skull in rags, shoving rags up the nasil and in the brain area then tipping the peroxide over the skull or what i do now which is get a tin foil oven tray, hydrogen peroxide and a small paint brush and just paint it on getting into all the nooks and crevices... i generally do this three times but in between coatings you can leave it where it'll get some sun and that will also help whiten it.

If you wanna see some good videos check out "Whitebone Hunting Creations" on Youtube as he does it professionally and does some really interesting skulls.

A mate of mine told me a trick that I have been using.
Head skin, cover the head with a black plastic bag, tape around antlers, cut a couple of holes in bag to let the flys in....walk away.... Leave in the sun a month.
Then water blast to clean.
Works well if you are not in a hurry