How to remove the horn from the skull?
If you have horned skulls, as in sheep or antelope where the horn sheath needs to be removed, I suggest to soak the skull in a bucket of water like in the maceration method. The warmer the water, the sooner the bacteria will start to deteriorate the tissue around the horn core. This will release the horns.
Every few days check the skull and work the horns by twisting them. This can take from a couple of weeks in hot weather to over a year on some game like aoudads. Once they are ready to come off, they will twist off easily.
On some larger game like bighorn or audoad you may have to use a rubber mallet to release the horns from the core. Just gently hit all around the base of the horn and then twist it off. If it does notcome of easily or won't move, resoak for a few more days. After you remove the horns follow the above steps for finishing up the skull.
When you dry the skull before you bleach it, it helps to put the horns back on the core for a day to let them dry on the core. This seems to help to prevent shrinkage of the horns due to drying.Make sure you rinsed the horns out on the inside with clean water first though.
Once the skull is bleached and dried, the horns need to be reattached to the cores. Cut the cores off to about 2 inches from the skull. You do not need to leave the whole cores on the skull, just enough to slide the horns back over it.
Before you bondo or hot glue the horns onto the core, you may want to treat the inside of the core with an insecticide to prevent future infestation. I found nicotine poisioning to be very effective. Get some cheap regular pipe tobacco and boil it for a couple of hours. Then let that brew sit overnight. The next day strain it into a different container. Throw the large clumps away and keep the liquid. This is your poison. Pour some of it in each horn and then drain the excess back out of it. After that you are ready to reattach the horns to the core.
If the horn color has faded due to being soaked in the water for a long time, mist them lightly with WD40. This will bring out the original color of them without making them sticky or glossy.
