Gang, I have around 150 raccoon bacculum that I saved this year,, I just cut them from the carcass and threw them in the freezer.
Would boiling the meat off them like skulls ruin them?
If it’s not good on them to do that,, what is the preferred method?

Your teeth should work….

In the past I always just boiled them and peeled them, and then soaked them in hydrogen peroxide for a few days.

I just stuck them on a shelf to air dry...seemed to work ok...not squeaky clean but I'm not using them as swizzle sticks,

I saw this a while back.



Keith

That's probably what cleaned mine up, some kind of bug, I wasn't paying attention

!!!!!!!

Macerate them. I put them in warm water, around 90 degrees. I use a salt water aquarium heater to keep the water 90 degrees. Does not smell good but does not take long to dissolve the soft tissue. Then a soak in more warm water with dish washing liquid (I use Dawn). That kills the stink and removes grease. Then soak in hydrogen peroxide to disinfect and whiten.

I do not recommend boiling any bones unless your a making a stew. But if you choose to cook them, keep the heat to a slow simmer and remove them as soon as the soft tissue turns loose. This will minimize the damage that excessive heat will cause.

This is what I do also.

X2

After cleaning, paint with red and white stripes for candy cane Christmas tree decorations

thanks all I have some to do,

I have only keep a few when I was asked for them from people wanting tooth picks. I just let them.dry and scraped them and wrapped them un a paper towel and handes them over. The rest was up to them. One guy un wrapped it and stuck it right in his mouth. I just turned away quickly hoping he didn't see my smile.

Keep an eye out for a big old crock pot at the thrift stores and garage sales.