Skull cleaning service...

Ursus21

Ursus21

Active member
I am a sponsor here, but mostly that involves my artwork. However, I also have a little side business cleaning skulls. I use dermestid beetles to clean the meat off. Then I degrease the skulls and the final process is to whiten them. I charge $35.00 for skulls the size of coyotes, bobcats, foxes, and similar sized skulls. That includes return shipping. I would also consider bartering for hunting related items such as custom calls, knives, DVD's...ect. (Pretty much anything predator hunting related would be considered.) Anyway, what I want to know is if anyone would be interested in a service like this here? Just testing the water so to speak, to see how much interest there might be. Below is an example of a bobcat from last year.

Front view
bobcat2.jpg


Side view
bobcat3.jpg
 
I think it'd be a great service to offer PM members and $35 seems reasonable. What is the normal turn around time? And do you do larger skulls like Deer, elk, bear, etc?
 
I would be.

I can't promise I would get something cleaned every year, but after doing a few skulls myself, $35 sounds like a much better deal than spending the most of a day doing it myself.

Would you ever do buck deer? I realize there would probably be more for shipping and work, but any ideas on price?
 
If I was to go kill a coyote or cat tomorrow and wanted you to do this skull service, what's the process of getting the head to you?
Whack it off, throw it in a plastic bag, then in a box and give it to USPS? lol
I think the cat skull looks very good. You and the beetles make a good team. Nice work.
 
First off, WOW! That was some quick responses. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised as predator hunting was one of the reason I got into the skull cleaning biz to start with. I wanted a way to display all these cool predators and their impressive mouth full of teeth. Professionally cleaned skulls seem a great way to do it. One thing just led to another...Anyway it's something I enjoy doing in conjunction with hunting.I do other kinds of skulls up to large mule deer. I am not set up to do skulls as large as elk, moose, or caribou.

The process for shipping is to skin the head out ASAP, remove as much meat as possible (eyes, tongue, large muscle meat) and then deep freeze for at least a week. Then either wrap it up super good in plastic bags for deer sized skulls, or with smaller skulls like coyotes and fox just put them in a zip lock bag. The whole idea is to prevent leaking blood while shipping. The postal service gets a little funky about that. Go figure. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Put the wrapped skull in a box. Use wadded up news paper to both pad the box (protect the skull) and help insulate the skull. Then ship it via USPS Priority if you think it will get to Montana in 2 to 3 days, or Express Mail if you are concerned about it arriving fast enough. One little hint the more meat you remove, the lower the weight charge on your shipping costs. Just PM me for an address to ship the skulls to.

Below are some prices of skull cleaning services for various skulls. Remember these prices all include return shipping.
Bear Measurement = Length + Width
Under 19” $95.00
19” to 22” $125.00
22” and Up $150.00

Buck Deer $95.00
Mountain Lion/Cougar $95.00
Javelina $95.00
Pronghorn Antelope $95.00
Wild Boar $125.00
Wolf $95.00
 
Utahheadgear, sounds good.

cjg beef:
Turn around time depends on the time of year. During the busiest time October through January turn around might be a little slower. Generally however, turn around time should be 3 months or less. The beetles clean the skulls quickly and the whitening doesn't take that long. The time consuming part is the degreasing. If done properly it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. Most coyote sized skulls only take about 2 weeks to degrease. Greasy skulls like bear and wild boar are more like 2 months, sometimes longer if they are really greasy.
 
I have a few that I was thinking about bleaching.I have the skull from my first coyote,a bobcat skull I found in a packrat nest,and a prairie dog skull with a perfect hole in the middle of it from a .22lr that looks pretty cool. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
dustinyotes, (cool name by the way).
The cost of a badger is the same as a coyote or fox. The price drops to $30.00 for weasels, skunks, martin sized animals.
 
Quote:
I would be.

I can't promise I would get something cleaned every year, but after doing a few skulls myself, $35 sounds like a much better deal than spending the most of a day doing it myself.

Would you ever do buck deer? I realize there would probably be more for shipping and work, but any ideas on price?



What he said. I don't think I ever want to do that again, although I love the look of a predator skull, so $35 would be well worth it to me.
 
Looks VERY interesting to me.

You kind of already answered this, but should a person dig out the brains before they send it, too, along with the eyes and stuff?

Nice looking work there!
 
OKRattler,
I wish I still had my first coyote skull, but it was many moons ago and heaven only knows where it is now. Oh and that prairie dog skull sounds like my favorite prairie...the kind with a bullet hole in the skull. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

javafour,
no need to remove the brains as I have a slick little water-displacement tool I built that takes care of brains. It makes a normally tedious, messy, and generally time consuming process only last a matter of seconds. Which is very cool in my opinion...that and it's kind fun believe or not.
 
I asked you about a deer skull with a plaque over on 24hourcampfire but I forgot to ask what if the skull has been outside for about a year now. I highly doubt that there is any eye or brain matter left inside but I know that there is some old hide and hair still on it. Would you take it the way it is? There would be no reason to freeze because it is all dried out. I can send photos if needed. Do you have any pics of deer or anything on plaques so I can get an idea of what it might look like. Thanks

coyoteman23
 
I have been doing all mine by hand for years boiling scraping lots of time in it sound like you have a good price and those beetles do a great job.
 
Coyoteman23,
I prefer fresh skulls. A deer skull that is all dried out like you describe would be better off being cleaned by some one that uses maturation. (Letting the meat and hide slowly decompose in water.) Not my cup of tea, but there are plenty of people out there who do it that way.

16gauge,
Yes, you are correct $35.00 for a coyote skull.
 
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