First time maceration

[cjadams25]

My wife is out of town for a couple weeks so I’m gonna try and macerate the skull of a small buck I killed last season. I’ve got an aquarium heater, a 5 gallon bucket, and the skinned skull. I was wondering how bad the smell is when the skull is in the bucket. I’ve read that it’s horrendous when you dump the bucket. I’ve got an isolated location away from the house that I can dump it in. My question is can I keep the bucket with the lid on in the back yard without the stink being so bad the neighbors will notice, or should I opt to hide the bucket somewhere on public land without the heater and wait a little longer? Thanks

 

[PablitoPescador]

Your neighbors might notice but who cares. In my experience the bulk of the really really bad stank is over in about a week…10 days at the most. Putting it on public land you have a good chance of someone swiping it or losing it to the coyotes. I say let er rip!

 

[cjadams25]

You’re neighbors might notice but who cares. In my experience the bulk of the really really bad stank is over in about a week…10
days at the most. Putting it on public land you have a good chance of someone swiping it or losing it to the coyotes. I say let er rip!

Thanks for the advice I’ll get it started today!

 

[PablitoPescador]

Let us know how it turns out! I love maceration

 

[MWH]

After a few days I dump out 3/4 of the water and add fresh water to the bucket but the initial pour is absolutely the worst. I have found it really hides the smell considerably by digging a small hole and pouring the dirty water into and then covering it compared to just dumping it out on the grass because there is usually a lot of solids still. If you have really close neighbors as I do, I have actually buried the entire 5 gallon bucket, tote, or cooler while I have macerated skulls and with or without a heater they have all turned out great but just took longer without the heater.

 

[30338]

Done quite a few of those. Be sure to keep the heat around 90 degrees. Wear rubber gloves. After about 4-5 days the eyes should come out pretty easy. If you took the lower jaw off, that may save a bit of time. As mentioned, I'd dig a hole in a populated area and pour/toss the chunks in there. I've typically dumped the entire first bucket of water and refilled with clean. Seems to be enough bacteria working that this is fine too. If water is 90, have had many heads clean in 7-9 days. Be careful on first bucket dump that you don't loose any teeth that got loose.

Heads seem to turn out great doing this. Have a lot of repeat clients.

 

[butcherboy]

Stretch something like panty hose over the head so when the teeth fall out you can find them again in the bag. Take the eyes, lower jaw, and brains out. Trim off the bigger chunks of flesh. This will rapidly speed up the maceration time. No need to dump the water and add fresh water unless it’s taking more than 5 days. If you change water then be sure and keep some of the original mixed in with the new. I did hundreds of heads this way and be sure to do the degreasing step after maceration. It will take the smell and grease out. Then bleach and seal if you want to go that far.

 

[30338]

CJ, any updates?

 

[cjadams25]

Sorry man I saw this when you posted it and forgot to reply later. Yeah it came out alright. I think I left it in the water too long without changing it. It came out with a bunch of little white dingleberries all over it that I thought would simmer off but I ended up having to pick off by hand and it stayed kinda spotty. I’ll see if I can find a picture it’s not terrible but not great either. Still proud of it though my first buck.