Best way to clean out elk brains?
06-18-2018, 07:42 PM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 2
Best way to clean out elk brains?
I hope this kind of question is allowed, so sorry if it's not. Not sure where else to look 
I've got an elk skull that we found while hiking out on my balcony right now, there's no skin or flesh on it but the brains are still in there and rotting like crazy. What's the best way to clean it out? I currently live in an apartment and have a plastic bag over the bucket the skull is in to contain the smell, mostly to avoid complaints. I'd love to know if there's a way to get it clean at home, but if not I do have access to a friend's farm. Just want to get all the gunk scooped out before I throw the skull into some peroxide for a day or two.
Image of the skull is attached. Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!
I've got an elk skull that we found while hiking out on my balcony right now, there's no skin or flesh on it but the brains are still in there and rotting like crazy. What's the best way to clean it out? I currently live in an apartment and have a plastic bag over the bucket the skull is in to contain the smell, mostly to avoid complaints. I'd love to know if there's a way to get it clean at home, but if not I do have access to a friend's farm. Just want to get all the gunk scooped out before I throw the skull into some peroxide for a day or two.
Image of the skull is attached. Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!
06-19-2018, 11:20 AM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 6,357
What a truly bizarre question! If it were me, I wouldn't have collected something that stinks or if it didn't stink until I got it home, I would then throw it out when I was at home and it started stinking.
But . . . answering the question you posted. If the brain is trapped inside the skull, you could drill a hole or even a couple of holes into the brain case, for example from an underside of the skull where it would be out of sight, and then flush out the rotted brain. Be careful doing all of this -- drilling and flushing -- as you otherwise are likely to come into contact with some biologically hazardous material. You don't want to breath it. You don't want it getting in your mouth and swallowing any of it. You don't want to get it in your eyes. You don't want it getting in your ear canal. You don't want to suffer a minor cut during the process and let some of that putrid stuff infiltrate your body. You don't want that crap inside your house. Great caution ought to be observed. Finally, if you can't do this with this level of caution . . . it might be the wisest course to throw the darn thing away.
But . . . answering the question you posted. If the brain is trapped inside the skull, you could drill a hole or even a couple of holes into the brain case, for example from an underside of the skull where it would be out of sight, and then flush out the rotted brain. Be careful doing all of this -- drilling and flushing -- as you otherwise are likely to come into contact with some biologically hazardous material. You don't want to breath it. You don't want it getting in your mouth and swallowing any of it. You don't want to get it in your eyes. You don't want it getting in your ear canal. You don't want to suffer a minor cut during the process and let some of that putrid stuff infiltrate your body. You don't want that crap inside your house. Great caution ought to be observed. Finally, if you can't do this with this level of caution . . . it might be the wisest course to throw the darn thing away.
Last edited by Alsatian; 06-19-2018 at 11:22 AM.
06-19-2018, 01:03 PM
#3
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Montana
Posts: 550
No need to do any drilling, the spinal cord hole in the back of the skull leads directly into the brain cavity. You can use a stick, wire, or maybe just high pressure water to flush out that cavity.
Your skull will have to be completely clean before you put it into peroxide. The peroxide that you buy in the grocery store is only a 3% solution and isn't much good. My taxidermist told me to go to a beauty supply store and buy their 40% peroxide.
My taxidermist sends skulls to a guy that has beetles that completely clean skulls. He also boils skull caps with antlers, but that stinks.
When I hunted in Mozambique, the camp staff simply buried the skulls, and the bugs in the ground cleaned the skulls.
I once tried to clean a black bear skull by putting it on a large anthill under a bucket with a large rock on top, but the neighbor's dog found it and ate it.
There is a thread on one of the other hunting forums about skull maceration where you just keep a skull in warm (80*) water and the bacteria clean it. This method also stinks so you need a tight lid on the container, and it may take up to a year for it to completely clean.
You also might ask this question in the Taxidermy forum.
Your skull will have to be completely clean before you put it into peroxide. The peroxide that you buy in the grocery store is only a 3% solution and isn't much good. My taxidermist told me to go to a beauty supply store and buy their 40% peroxide.
My taxidermist sends skulls to a guy that has beetles that completely clean skulls. He also boils skull caps with antlers, but that stinks.
When I hunted in Mozambique, the camp staff simply buried the skulls, and the bugs in the ground cleaned the skulls.
I once tried to clean a black bear skull by putting it on a large anthill under a bucket with a large rock on top, but the neighbor's dog found it and ate it.
There is a thread on one of the other hunting forums about skull maceration where you just keep a skull in warm (80*) water and the bacteria clean it. This method also stinks so you need a tight lid on the container, and it may take up to a year for it to completely clean.
You also might ask this question in the Taxidermy forum.
Last edited by buffybr; 06-19-2018 at 01:14 PM.
06-19-2018, 01:29 PM
#4
Fork Horn
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Up on the Milk River
Posts: 459
Find somewhere to put It outside where no one will bother it or it will bother you, insects and birds will do a good job, by fall it will be pretty dang clean. Put it up off the ground somehow, so rodents do not get at it. My neighbors just throw there's on a shed out back, just takes time....
06-19-2018, 03:03 PM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: west central wi USA
Posts: 2,242
Not only the brains are your problem, it's also the massive amount of tissue in the nasal cavities. That'll need to be removed as well. I usually boil my deer skulls in water with a healthy dose of automatic dish washer liquid. The soap helps pull the oils out of the bone and the bleach helps clean things up.
06-19-2018, 04:53 PM
#7
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 2
What a truly bizarre question! If it were me, I wouldn't have collected something that stinks or if it didn't stink until I got it home, I would then throw it out when I was at home and it started stinking.
But . . . answering the question you posted. If the brain is trapped inside the skull, you could drill a hole or even a couple of holes into the brain case, for example from an underside of the skull where it would be out of sight, and then flush out the rotted brain. Be careful doing all of this -- drilling and flushing -- as you otherwise are likely to come into contact with some biologically hazardous material. You don't want to breath it. You don't want it getting in your mouth and swallowing any of it. You don't want to get it in your eyes. You don't want it getting in your ear canal. You don't want to suffer a minor cut during the process and let some of that putrid stuff infiltrate your body. You don't want that crap inside your house. Great caution ought to be observed. Finally, if you can't do this with this level of caution . . . it might be the wisest course to throw the darn thing away.
But . . . answering the question you posted. If the brain is trapped inside the skull, you could drill a hole or even a couple of holes into the brain case, for example from an underside of the skull where it would be out of sight, and then flush out the rotted brain. Be careful doing all of this -- drilling and flushing -- as you otherwise are likely to come into contact with some biologically hazardous material. You don't want to breath it. You don't want it getting in your mouth and swallowing any of it. You don't want to get it in your eyes. You don't want it getting in your ear canal. You don't want to suffer a minor cut during the process and let some of that putrid stuff infiltrate your body. You don't want that crap inside your house. Great caution ought to be observed. Finally, if you can't do this with this level of caution . . . it might be the wisest course to throw the darn thing away.
