Finishing up a little project.

JTPinTX

JTPinTX

Custom Call Maker
Just finished up cleaning and bleaching a few skulls. L to R is grey fox I killed 4 wees ago, my daughters first coyote she killed a 2 weeks ago, and a bobcat I shot 3 weeks ago. Fox and bobcat will go in my collection.

But I am still trying to figure out something cool to do with my daughters first coyote skull. Maybe some kind of clear box with a wood base, with dirt/grass/rocks in it so it looks like it is laying out in the field? IDK. I know some of you guys here might have some cool ideas, something you have seen before.

IMG_3493 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156517515@N04/, on Flickr
 
A nicely finished small oak wall shelf for the skull with a flat back on it where you can mount a 5x7 or 8x10 picture of her with gun and coyote. YOU DO HAVE A PICTURE DON'T YOU?
 
Originally Posted By: jcs271A nicely finished small oak wall shelf for the skull with a flat back on it where you can mount a 5x7 or 8x10 picture of her with gun and coyote. YOU DO HAVE A PICTURE DON'T YOU?


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FullSizeR by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156517515@N04/, on Flickr
 
Originally Posted By: Plant.Onevery cool - what method did you use to clean them before you bleached them?

Well, various. Bobcat I skinned out immediately and put in the fridge for a couple days, then cut off the meat and boiled it. Grey fox got mostly stripped by buzzards really fast, and I rescued it. Threw it in my local taxidermists bug (dermestid) tank. Coyotes all got thrown in a pile, and wild maggots/dermestids burned it down in about a week. Both the fox and coyote got a light boil afterwards just to finish cleaning them up. Bobcat was nice and white already, fox and coyote kind of yellow and still kind of stinky.

Be very careful, very easy to loose small teeth while boiling.

At that point all the skulls needed a whitening up. Especially the coyote. I made a paste using bleaching agent and oxidizer from a skull bleaching kit my dad bought from Van Dykes 6-8 years ago. Brushed it on, let it dry 24 hours, then brushed it off. However, my local taxidermist who I am good friends with says you can get the same stuff at your local beauty supply store. It is 40 strength Hydrogen Peroxide and a stuff they call whitening or bleaching agent.
 
Originally Posted By: JTPinTX Maybe some kind of clear box with a wood base, with dirt/grass/rocks in it so it looks like it is laying out in the field? IDK.


Go to Hobby Lobby and check out their selection of display boxes for sports memorabilia or model cars. One of those is likely to be sized just right. My wife's bear skull fit nicely in a football display box.
 
Originally Posted By: JTPinTXHowever, my local taxidermist who I am good friends with says you can get the same stuff at your local beauty supply store. It is 40 strength Hydrogen ...

Yup. I bought two gallons and whitened a couple hundred coyote skulls with the hydrogen peroxide. Just put five or six at a time in a big glass jar full of it. Only needed to be in there for a few hours. Then sit in the sun.

First fifty or sixty, I cleaned by burying in my back yard. Got real good at putting coyote teeth back in. Got to where I knew which tooth I was looking at in my hand. Rest, buddy with beetles did the cleaning and I just had to do the whitening.

Sold most of them. Good money. Market dried up. Still have maybe seventy five of them scattered around my reloading room. Been meaning to put them up under the ceiling around the perimeter as a crown molding for years and years but have never got around to it...

But yeah, I tried a few whitening methods early on, but the high test hydrogen peroxide is the way to go!

- DAA
 
Well, I went surfing around the internet last night looking at ideas, and then went scrounging out in the country today looking for items of interest. Got some cool materials from an old house, brought them home today and started working. This project is going to take a little while but I think it is going to be really cool when done.

I'm making one mount just for her first coyote. Don't really have a way to describe the idea, so you fellas will just have to wait on that.

But then I have one of dad's old coyote skulls, plus my bobcat and fox. And a set of four hide hangers I won several years ago in HOM that I have never used. But, I have an idea for all that as well. But I gotta find a coon to donate his skull to the project. It will probably take several weeks for this thing to play out Stay tuned though, I will update as it comes together.
 
Those do look nice. I tried to save a few pup skulls throughout different phases of development this year. I wanted small coyote skulls that have needle teeth through adult incisors. Dumped them along a fence to let nature de-flesh them. The nasal and upper bones of their skulls are very bridle while they are young. I went back to collect them and none of them stayed together.

These monkey skulls I glued a magnet on their base and formed wire to give it a suspended look.



Glass globe and eclectic base is most likely not the "feel" you would want for your daughter's coyote skull but the magnet is a good way to keep it positioned.



"Eclectic" is relevant to perspective...
 
Hmmmm, not even going to ask where you got monkey skulls from. I do like that eclectic Young Doctor Frankenstein look, but my daughter probably wouldn't appreciate the dark side of it. My oldest son though, that would be right up his alley.
 
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