Skull I am finishing up

JTPinTX

JTPinTX

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Most of our pigs generally don't have very good cutters, but every now and then a boar will have a decent set. Extremely rare for us to have a sow with good cutters. This skull came from a sow that was probably 275 lbs, she was on the wet side of a running pivot (last summer, out in short cotton) and we could not get the truck to her until a couple days later, so we did not get to weigh her. I have weighed a bunch though and feel pretty confident on my weight estimation.

She had an underbite or something I guess that didn't allow the cutters and whetters to match right. The right side especially was long and skinny. Not the heavy cutters like a boar has, but long and fine. How she didn't break them IDK.

Skull is turning out nice though I think.

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I did one a few years ago I cannot get bleached out like that… I habe bleached it over and over but it still has a yellowish tint and almost a grease like appearance in the layer of bone… I have never had this problem with deer skulls
 
Yeah. Pigs are greasy, oily things. It is what makes them taste good, lol.

I used to have the same trouble but then a good friend of mine who is a taxidermist game me a tip. Once the skull is pretty much clean, then get a 5 gal bucket, put the skull in it, put 1 cup of TSP powder in it, and fill it with water. Let it set a week, or two, or 3 until the water gets cloudy. Then change the water with fresh TSP, hose the skull off, and go another round. Maybe have to do it a third time if the skull is bad.

After that and the skull has dried then I get a bleaching agent (gel) and powder from Sally Beauty Supply. I will have to look up the names of that stuff to see exactly what it is. Mix the two together and make a paste, slather it all over the skull. Let it sit a day then brush it off/hose it off. When it dries from that it should be good.

Raccoon skulls are greasy too. TSP works there as well.
 
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Originally Posted By: YellowhammerIt also helps to put dawn dish soap in the water while simmering the skull. It really help to get all the far out of the jawbone if you will drill holes on the inside of the lower jawbone. There is a ton of bone marrow in the jawbone which is mostly fat.

I have pictures and details here.

https://www.predatormastersforums.com/fo...421#Post2346421

I read this before a while ago but forgot the part about drilling holes in the jawbone… that makes a lot of sense for a lot of the grease appears to be below the surface…

I did a couple deer skulls this year and just used hydrogen peroxide for the bleach process. Surprisingly they turned out just as white as the salon care bleach. When compared the peroxide ones appear to have a dry texture feel and appearance almost like some of the salon care leaves an over-layer even after being washed off, almost a dull sheen. To me the peroxide has a more natural appearance.
 
Yeah I understand that about the beauty supply stuff, know what you are talking about. I have just used peroxide and baking soda before and it works good. I have not done the drilling holes thing, I bet it helps a lot. The TSP works for sure though, bet it would work great with the holes drilled. That skull has been out of the solution for about 6 months now and no yellowing has come back at all. I get the TSP at the local lumber yard.
 
Thanks Everyone!

TC, I pretty much hunt pigs year round, as long as I can find them. That depends a lot on crop rotations and what is planted where. Last year was not as good, not many peanuts planted. This year should be good though lots of peanuts being planted in areas I hunt.
 
Are the cutters pulled out or inserted all the way back to their original position?

The cutters and whetters should match up when the mouth is closed.
 
Yellowhammer, The cutters are inserted back in to the original gum line as best I can tell judging by calcium deposits. Maybe inserted in a little deeper in the jaw than they were, if anything. I have never seen a sow with cutters anywhere near like this before. I guess just freak jaw misalignment or something. I do think I got the cutters rocked to the rear of the socket instead of the front or something, and maybe don’t have the whetters in the top quite right. But I did not pull the cutters out to make them look longer.
 
Made for a nice skull mount. We don’t see many does like that either, but then I don’t think I ever saw a 275 pound sow either. Or biggest boars rarely get that big.
 
Honestly I see/weigh more big sows than I do boars. The 3 biggest boars I have shot up here in the last 3-4 years have weighed (If I remember right), 285, 247, and 236. Sows though we kill 2-3 a year in the 250+ range. Haven't killed a true 300 yet up here, that I know of. I did kill a big huge boar out west of San Angelo 4-5 years ago that was well north of 300, my only one that big, ever.

When we are pig hunting a lot I carry a good hoist that goes in the back of my truck and a set of scales. I try and weigh most of the interesting ones but it doesn't always get done. Sometimes we are in my buddies truck or in a hurry. Before I started carrying a scale we killed a sow one night that using the hearth girth measurement came out at 285. She was a big pregnant girl and I had that tape pulled tight when I measured. A few months before we killed this one we killed another sow that weighed 278, I did put her on the scales.

Probably why we kill more big sows than boars is the way we hunt. We are mostly doing crop damage control. If we pull up to a field full of pigs there might be a couple of big groups and then some lone pigs here and there. No doubt the lone pigs are solo boars, and probably pretty big. But since we have multiple shooters and are going for numbers we stalk the large groups with sows in them. The main guy I hunt pigs with is a farmer and he wants a high body count. Changing our hunting style would no doubt change the number of large boars we shoot.
 
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