cooking up a great dish - antler soup

[wabi]

horn soup.JPG

Just asked Michael if he's ready for some soup and he said - NO!

(actually I'm cleaning the skull so I can mount the antlers on a plaque)

[CDN Taxman]

You got a good wife letting you do that indoors! I did mine the garage a few years ago on a Coleman Stove!

Mike

[one shot scott]

MMMMmmm meat head soup, thems good eats

[ninepointer]

LOL ! That's exactly what I was planning to do this weekend. I can attest to the fact that the Coleman stove in the garage method makes for a happier marriage .

[dutchhunter]

this does work but i was told to keep the horn out of the water as nuch as possibleéit will coues the horn to go white and will loose calcium and start to crumble after a while DUTCH

[bob1961]

when i clean the hair, hide and meat from my antlers i just skin them and hang them outside and let the birds do the work....you will be amazed how many birds will take advantage of the free meat scraps, i hung a whole skull once and the eyes were first to go ......bob

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[vixenmaster]

I just cut the rack out of skull & salt the meat/hide scalp area & let it dry.

[wabi]

This is my first attempt at boiling the skull, and it seemed to work fine.

skull.JPG

I'll look for some wood to mount it on tomorrow. Probably mount it to the wood base, then cover it with leather.
My son wanted it to hang in his room.

Took about 3 hours for all the tissue & skin to cook off. Odor wasn't that bad, my wife didn't even make any threats about getting even.

[gerald strine]

I skin the fur off before boiling cuts down the time to a 1/2 hour

[Hoss]

I do that outside ifn im in a hurry ....if not I just tie rope to it and throw it in the pond...a few months later shes as clean as a whistle..nice rack wabi

[strider23]

when i clean the hair, hide and meat from my antlers i just skin them and hang them outside and let the birds do the work....you will be amazed how many birds will take advantage of the free meat scraps, i hung a whole skull once and the eyes were first to go ......bob

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x2
When I was a younger buck I had an older cousin that took me under his wing when it came to hunting. After I got my first buck (a nice spike that I was very proud of) he showed me that same "hanging" technique. We hung it from a tree limb for a couple of weeks and it looked like it had been prepped by a professional.

That's what is so great about this website. So many different views on how to do something and you can still get pretty much the same result.

[bob1961]

i don't boil or let soak in pond water or any water due to the skull plate can seperate at the lines you see as a Y shape on the skull top....i soaked a small 7 point skull in the ground to let the bugs get it clean, but it stayed fairly wet and bout a month later i took it out, still had the skin, hair and brain still in it boy what a stinky mess that was, i had to cut the top plate off and junk the rest....within a year the skull plate fell apart at those lines every buck has on it's skull plate i got it glued back together but why go through that if not needed .........bob

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[wabi]

Last time I hung a deer skull/antlers outdoors it was gone the next morning.

Some options just don't work well in town.

I figured it was probably dogs that got it (it was only about 4-5' off the ground) but you never know. Some people will steal anything they can get their hands on.

Tried laying one on an anthill and in 3 months it still had dried meat/flesh on it? Kick the anthill and the little ants would swarm out, but they didn't clean the skull.

The option I've used for the past few years is the salt method, but I thought I'd try something different with this one.

[Shotnbeer]

i did this once with a bear skull. I boiled in the drive way and got up early so the kids next door weren't around. Sure as shoot they show up and asking what am i doing. Making bear head soup I told them. When will it be done they asked . Couple hours I replied. Stop back. Well I finished boiling the head and set the bucket behind the truck. While I was cleaning the skull off I heard what sounded like someone gagging. Yep the boys stopped back to sample the soup.

[bob1961]

It's my understanding that adding a little Preparation H to the mixture will fix that.

i don't think he is boiling that end of the deer bob ........bob

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