Boone and Crocket bear

Originally Posted By: lon0121Originally Posted By: NdIndyI got a phone call tonight asking me to look at this thread. 1st off, great bear, congrats. 2nd hold the horses on your plans. You want the skull either bugged or macerated.

Definitely don't boil it. I did more euro's last year than most will see in a lifetime. Boiling ruins more skulls than you can count. At best you do it right and you end up with a forever yellow skull that you'll never get the grease out of. The heat sets in stains and short of a can of spray paint it will never be white.

You also run the risk, the really good risk, of it just falling apart in the pan. If you use sal-soda or similar to help with the tissue and aren't mindful of the heat, constantly, you'll end up with bone chips.

Boiling and bleach is the best way to end up with a pile of white powder that I know of.


So what I'm saying, don't boil it.

Power washing also has a habit of blowing a skull into pieces. Bad enough when it's your 5th deer of the season, probably a nightmare in your situation.

If you want to do it yourself send me a PM, I'll send you an instruction book on how to finish once the flesh is gone. You can go 100% on your own and get good safe results, you can have someone just bug it and get good safe results, or you can have someone do the full job.

Lastly you need to slow down and expect a whole lot of patience required from this point on. Bear are greasy animals, it can take months to fully degrease so you'll have a nice and permanently white trophy. Deer can take a couple weeks, or a couple months. Each skull is different and trying to speed things up just leads to a bad trophy.

Bears and pigs are much worse on the amount time they'll require to be fully done. But if you're patient you'll be very happy.

No reason not to wait until all the measuring is done before you deal with the skull if that's allowable by B&C.

Misc. skull pics
http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q45/NdIndy/Skull%20Works/unused/

http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q45/NdIndy/Skull%20Works/

Actually, anyone can PM me their email address and I'll send the instructions out. I'm only doing bugs this year, all my equipment is broken down for a remodel, so it's bugs and instructions for everyone. But I'm only charging $25-$35 so I don't feel too bad
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best advice!


Re-read this post and follow the advice... Beautiful bear that would be a shame to screw up. If any questions remain contact anofficial B&C representative closest to you.

As for the rug, a lot depends on the color phase of the bear. Our bear in Oregon range from blond to cinnamon to dark brown to jet black.

The colors of felt material can effect to final look of the rug. I've had different colors of brown, beige, and cream used for brown color phase bear and we've used shades of gray and even red with jet black ones.

Here are a couple of examples of variations used on two of my brown colored bear.... Sorry I can't find my brown full rug pictures today..

29-2838Bigbear-5.jpg


2bears500SWlarge.jpg


Congrats on a very nice bear......
 
I went with the same color brown on the bottom as you and then a rust or dark red for the top. But I can't seem to be sure on anything anymore, after this boiling thing I keep second guessing myself.
 

Originally Posted By: Super White Hunterdid you shoot those with the pistols.

The top bear was shot with the S&W Mod. 29-2 8 3/8" 44 Mag shown in the picture. It was a huge bear too. The bottom right bear was actually shot with my S&W Mod. 57 6" 41 Mag. (the one pictured with the bobcat in my avatar picture). The 500 is a recent purchase and I'll be hunting both bear and elk with it this year.
 
Originally Posted By: Super White HunterI went with the same color brown on the bottom as you and then a rust or dark red for the top. But I can't seem to be sure on anything anymore, after this boiling thing I keep second guessing myself.

The odds are your skull will still be fine for B&C measurement. Bear are very thick boned and the skull can take a lot of abuse. You may get a tiny bit more shrinkage than using other methods but unless your bears measurements are hovering around the minimum scores it shouldn't matter much. Let us know how the official B&C measurement comes out.....

The following pictures are examples of what your skull should look like prior to official measurement...

BearSkull-2.jpg


BearSkull-6.jpg


BearSkull-8.jpg
 
that skull looks great even the stuff inside the nose is still intact, somebody did a great job on it.

I don't think I could hunt bear with a pistol I am a horrible shot with one, I think I will stick to my rifle or even a bow.
 
The Boone and Crockett Club produces two books. One is the "Awards" Book and the other is the "Records of North American Big Game," which is the "All Time" Book. You can be included in both books if you reach the "All Time" minimum score. You can be included in the "Awards" book if it doesn't...

The "Awards" category measurement minimum for Black Bear is 20.

The "All Time" minimum for Black Bear is 21.

Shrinkage can be a very difficult occurrence to predict. Your bear measures 21 2/16 green. In my opinion it's going to be very tight for you to make the qualifying "All Time" score... Keep your fingers crossed. I think you're easily "In the bag" for at least the "Awards" book... and that too is a recognition you could be extremely proud of..

Either book inclusion would permit you to lay claim to being recognized as having a trophy included in the Boone and Crockett Book... Not many people can make such a claim..... no small feat when we realize thousands of Black Bear are taken every year..

Let us know when a decision is made... We're pullin' for ya!!
 
this thing started at 21 5/16 if I miss the all time by 1/16 I will be heart broken.
like you said I will be happy with both books or just one, to me it's a trophy even if there were no books. I will let everyone know in mid november what happens.
 
Did the officiall Boone and Crocket score yesterday and ended up with 21 1/16, made it by the skin of my teeth. It shrank a quarter inch but I am still happy my name will go in the all time book, now I need to go for number 1, Ha.
next year maybe I will find a elk big enough to go in.
 
Nice!
They killed a black bear in my area last Monday (PA week long archery bear season) that weighed 744lbs field dressed, with an estimated live weight of 875lbs! Supposedly the 2nd heaviest bruin killed by a hunter in the world! We grow them big here in PA!
I'm sure that one will make the book.
Our 3 day rifle season started yesterday here. The local check station had three bruins brought in over 500lbs.
 
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