Cleaning a deadhead

[Bulldog0156]

Anyone have any success getting the stink out of a relatively fresh deadhead? Normally I just cut the antlers off and be done with it, but I found a nice 160" deadhead that's in great shape other than the stink. I figured I'd try to boil out the nasty but have never tried with anything other than a fresh kill. I'm pretty sure he got shot last fall and was not recovered, so he's had some time to soak it all in...

 

[duckhunt]

I had one just like yours and took it to a guy that boiled and bleached it. When I got it back there was no stink at all.

 

[gman82001]

I found a rotted moose in late oct that was most likely an archery kill someone lost. Once the game and fish checked it out they gave me permission to go get it. It was pretty much as nasty as you can imagine and made the entire neighborhood stink for a bit until hunting season slowed down enough and I found a barrel big enough to boil it. But once it was boiled and the meat off it wasn't any worse smell wise than any other euro I've done. it did take a bunch more bleaching coats though because the skull plate was almost black from the decomposed flesh staining it. ill try and dig up some pics later as well

 

[Bulldog0156]

Sounds good, I'm going to give it a try.

 

[antlerradar]

Just so you know it is illegal to keep a dead head in Montana that did not meet its demise by natural means. Lion kill, winter kill, EHD you are good to go. Unrecovered by a hunter or a road kill not so much.

Antlerradar

 

[gman82001]

Here's a few pics of how I found it and the finished product as well as my first attempt trying to boil that big goofy skull lol I gave up on the wheelbarrow and found a 55 gallon drum and cut it down but it was still a pain just the way the antlers come out of the skull... You can see the gold tint in a few places on the skull and those were the places that were basically stained black by the dead meat sitting there so long. Some guys spray paint them white but I didn't do it.

 

[Bulldog0156]

This thing's nowhere near as nasty as that moose was. Its only got a little bit of skin, and the bugs were doing a pretty good job on it.

 

[sbhooper]

Boil it in baking soda. Clean it up and then soak it in water/peroxide mix.

 

[Paul j m]

I would simmer it very gently for about 8 hrs change the water halfway and refill again add about 300 ml of dishwashing detergent to the water each time once this is done most of the smell should be gone leave in a dry place like the shed for a week and then peroxide the head I do this with 40 vol peroxide ( hope they use the same terminology in the USA) peroxide will also work on some of the smell. The best approach to peroxide is to coat the skull with a generous coating I use a paint brush and make sure you tape up the corinets so they don't loose their colour. If possible put the skull in front of a heater or boil the skull prior to applying the peroxide it works faster with heat, continue process until you have the desired shade of white the more peroxide the whiter it wil become hope this helps. The only other thing I do is if there still appears to gunk stuck anywhere get rid of this with a pressure cleaner. good luck.