Euro antelope question

[shootem]

I had a buddy of mine do a European mount on last years antelope. Beetles were used to clean the skull. I got the skull back and set it on a cabinet inside the kitchen. After sitting there for a couple days, my wife informs me that the skull stinks. She looks inside the skull and to her amazement there is meat and what appears to be a dead beetle inside the skull. I can't take it back as my buddy lives in another state. Is there a chemical or something I can use to get rid of the smell? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[mulebuck]

A few directions to go here. If I were you I'd ship it back to him and have him fix it. Especially if you paid him for services. Does he know about the issue?

You could always soak or simmer again. Not sure how he "finished" it exactly so tough to give direction. Also depends on how perfect you want it or what you can live with. Maybe post a picture or two of your findings.

 

[Packout]

LAST EDITED ON May-04-17 AT 10:36AM (MST)[p]Don't send it back to someone who obviously has no clue what they are doing? Find someone local, who knows what they are doing, and get it finished right.

The whole beetle craze is ridiculous. Some guys think they can buy a beetle colony, let the beetles clean the flesh, and they are done. There is so much more to it than simply cleaning the flesh off the skull. The skull needs to be degreased, whitened, stabilized, dried properly, etc.....

It doesn't matter if a guy uses beetles, boils, or other methods. Any method can be used to do it right, but there is may more to it than just cleaning the skull. I'll hop off my soapbox now.

 

[mtAl]

I agree, send it to someone local who knows what they're doing. If you try a homegrown solution, high likelihood it will stink forever.

 

[Bowdeadly]

Are you certain that the sheaths were removed and cleaned off the cores?

 

[Millsworks]

LAST EDITED ON May-18-17 AT 00:12AM (MST)[p]I am a taxidermist that does skulls here all the time that have been botched up.
First see if the horn sheaths will remove. May be glued on or worse, they may not have been removed at all. This is bad. But if you can't remove them then you will need to bring a large pot of water to boil. This pot must be large enough to mostly submerge the skull, completely is best but if not, you can flip it around to let it soak good. Add some pine Sol for a little oder help and dish soap to degrease. Let it soak in the hot water until the water is luke warm.
This should loosen the horn sheaths enough so the horns will remove.
Scrape the awful from the bone inside and out. Clean inside horns best you can. Scrub if needed.
When all meat is removed you can now move to next step.
Bring two gallon of peroxide to a boil. This should be enough to cover the skull. Cheap stuff is fine.
Only boil the skull for 15 min. or so.
Remove and check for meat or cartilage, remove all you find.
Allow the skull to dry completely.
Rinse horns sheaths out with hot soapy water. Let them dry completely.
The drying should be done in well ventilated area.
When dry check again and reassemble the horns with acrylic caulk as a glue. Just a little though.

Hope this helps.