When it comes to hunting, one of the best parts for many of us is taking and cleaning trophies. Whether it’s a rack of antlers or a pelt, they make for impressive talking pieces. One of the favored of deer hunters everywhere is a nice, white skull. It’s something of an involved process, but if you follow these instructions we can show you how to bleach a deer skull to a sparkling white that will leave you the envy of your hunting friends.
Make sure to gather what you need before you get started. Since the process will take a few days, we’ll list them in the order you’ll need them to give you a good overview of the whole thing and you can definitely purchase things as you go.
- Deer Head
- Sharp Hunting or Skinning Knife
- A Pot Large Enough for the Skull
- A Two By Four Big Enough to Fit Across the Pot
- Hydrogen Peroxide of at Least 6% Concentration
- Spray On Clear Coat in Your Desired Finish
- Optional: A Plaque or Log
If you’re averse to boiling, you might want to look into deremestid beetles and if you’re not the type who’s willing to raise them yourself then there are services available online which can handle the cleaning process for you with them. You’ll definitely want to invest if your deer is a true trophy, as it reduces the risk of damage from boiling.
The hydrogen peroxide can be a bit difficult to source in large enough quantities and chemical suppliers are generally unwilling to sell them to private individuals. It is, however, used for bleaching hair and is available through hair product suppliers quite easily.
Do not attempt to use bleach in lieu of hydrogen peroxide, it will damage the bone irreversibly and makes for an inferior whitening agent anyways.
How To Bleach A Deer Skull- In 5 Steps
1.) Cleaning the Skull
Before you can even begin the process, you’ll need to have skinned and scraped the skull to get it ready for the further preparations you’ll be wanting to do. Removing the head with a saw before preparation can make things rather easy, then remove the eyes and get to skinning and scraping.
Assuming you’ve cleaned a deer before, the initial part is quite simple but the scraping is a little bit more specialized of a skill. With a good knife, you can make short work of this task. Don’t worry too much about getting every little bit off of the bone just yet, that’ll be taken care of in the next step.
Your goal here is to get as much off as you can without damaging the skull in any visual way, so have at it and try not to scratch the bones.
Protip: You can skip this and the next step if you want by utilizing deremestid beetles, professionals who work with bones often opt to do this but it’s an entirely different skillset if you don’t opt to send your skull off.