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Great Hunter Skullz, Queen Creek, AZ (2024)

11/06/2023

Hello Clients and Friends,
After a lot of consideration and discussion within our family, we have come to the determination that we need to close down the Great Hunter Skulls business for the foreseeable future. Given our current time constraints and other commitments, it isn’t realistic to run the business at this time. It has been a great business and we have made so many great friends and clients through this endeavor. Thanks to all who have trusted us with your business. We will be finishing up the skulls we have received and a few that we are currently committed to.
Thank you so much.
We can happily refer you to another great euro guy.
Please reach out with any questions.

09/13/2023

Big Congrats to all of you tag holders heading out this weekend to chase rutting elk! Before you all hit the hills I wanted to offer a couple of tips for you who plan to personally or professionally Euro mount your animal. There are a few “best practices” that if followed will make a BIG difference in the final result of your skull.

1. DO NOT LET YOUR HEAD DRY OUT! The pics below are borrowed from Ryan Olsen of White Bone Creations out of California. I share them because they provide a great visual of the difference between a skull that was allowed to dry and “stain” versus a well maintained moist skull. The best way to keep your head from drying out is to leave the hide on and keep it cool (in the shade, in a tote with bags of ice with blankets on top, etc.) If you must remove the hide, a good practice is to wrap the head in towels, t-shirts, etc. and keep them wet. While some of that staining will lighten with whitening, it will never fully come out and the final product will result in a combination of yellow, orange, and even purples in your skull. Even a skull that has gone south (meat started to rot) is far better than a dried out skull.

2. If you are taking a saw or axe with you to remove the head from the spine, go slow and deliberate. We have received SO MANY heartbreaking damaged heads where someone has used a saw or axe and cut too far up into the skull itself and made the future hanging of it very difficult. The head and neck bones are held together by soft tissue. A few cuts with a knife and a twist of the head will pop the head right off the neck quickly and cleanly.

3. If you plan to have your skull professionally cleaned. Please keep it “fresh” some taxidermists, like us, cannot accept rotten skulls due to past neighbor complaints. Many taxidermists charge an extra fee for foul smelling meat or any sign of maggots. So whether you are a DIY person or plan to have it professionally done, do everyone a favor and keep it fresh. One of the best methods I have seen and used for field preservation is to get one of those large black and yellow totes (from Costco, Home Depot, etc.) put the head in with a couple of bags of ice, cover with tarps, sleeping bags, blankets, etc., get it in the shade, and replace the ice when necessary/. We have successfully kept skulls fresh for a week or more this way.

Please feel free to reach out for any tips or help with preservation or DIY cleaning. Looking forward to this upcoming season.

08/28/2023

Hello friends and great clients. We wanted to let you know that the Hatch team is gearing up and ready for another great season of helping clean and preserve your animals. We are already starting to hear from a few of you about successful hunts. As was the case last year, this will be a family effort again this year, so please don't hesitate to reach out to either Sean or Draysen with questions. We are trying to keep our costs as low as possible for our customers, but did have a couple of very modest increases to offset the big price jumps we have seen the past couple of years in the materials we use. Please see our updated FAQs and pricing.

Thank you and good luck this season!!!

03/18/2023

Looks like the 2022-2023 season is nearing and end. The freezer is empty and the last batch is drying. A huge thank you to all of you who trust me with you animals.

If anyone still has a few heads in the freezer that need cleaning, now the perfect time!

03/03/2023

This javelina appears to have been living for some time with a long cactus needle that enter just behind the eye, through the skull, and about 1/4 inch poking into the brain cavity. That couldn’t have been pleasant. These tough little animals thriving in a brutal environment.

02/06/2023

A couple of puzzles got put together tonight.

02/04/2023

Lions and pigs and bears, oh my!
Almost a throw back to my 6th grade play. Some about to go into the acetone for the first time, others coming out for a week 3 grease check. Can’t rush them if you want them done right.
At least they aren’t wild hogs. They are THE WORST to degrease. I have some of those going on month 3!

12/10/2022

Just when things seem to be slowing down for a minute and you are going to have your first weekend off in months! 🤣
Congrats to the lady that shot this bison!
I have great clients and am excited for this one. The less common ones are always a bit more fun.

09/20/2022

Another one getting white in the hot Arizona sun.

09/16/2022

First bull of the season on its way out the door. Good luck to all you grinding!

08/30/2022

Euro Field Care Tips

I had a client reach out to me this morning regarding field care and preparation for a bull elk (any animal for that matter) to ensure the best possible outcome for euro mount. Most don’t realize that a few simple steps can make a huge difference in how clean and while you bone will come out. So, I put together a few field preservation tips till you can get your euro done, or get it to your euro guy.

1. Keep it cold and “fresh”. - Unlike a some euro guys, I live in a residential neighborhood and have an agreement with my neighbors to not accept any heads that are rotten or putting of an offensive odor. Not only is this important for me, but it can impact the final look of your skull. The best way to keep it fresh (when a freezer of cooler isn’t an option) is to take along a storage bin big enough for the head. Stick it in the bin and throw a few bags or blocks of ice on top. Then cover it with sleeping bags, blankets, etc. and get it in the shade. The ice will probably last 2-3 days, so you may have to replace the ice every so often. We have successfully kept some of our own bulls “fresh” in camp for days using this method.
2. In the field, keep the hide on the head. – The hide will preserve the head and keep it from drying out. Besides letting the head start to rot, this is the biggest issue we see. Once the hide is removed and head starts to dry out, the blood/tissue will dry into the bone and stain it. Much of this “stain” will come out during the whitening process. HOWEVER, those blood stained spots will not get that pure white look. It will leave yellow or sometime very pale blue spots where the staining occurred. It by no means ruins the look of the euro, but it won’t have that pristine white look. If you must cape the skull, have an old towel handy. Get towel wet, and wrap the head in the towel completely and keep it cold and damp. The towel will act like the hide and keep it from drying out.
3. Freeze hide-on. – If the head of your animal is going to be in a freezer, leave the hide on or use the damp towel method described above. Long term freezing leads to freezer burn, which takes on the same appearance of blood stains in the final product. The hide or damp towel will go a long way in preventing this. I cleaned a big Coues buck this past season that had been forgotten in the bottom of a chest freezer for about 6 years. The cape was essentials freeze dried/fused to the bone, and was a giant pain to remove. But once removed, the bone was in perfect preserved condition and the final product looked as good as if the buck had been shot that same day.
4. Keep the knife blade off the bone. – Lots of guys who cape their own animal put to much pressure on the on the blade and press into the bone while cutting the hide away. This is especially common around the pedicles. Deep cuts into the bone are permanent. Cut with the sharp edge of the blade up and away from the bone. A screwdriver and pliers are much more effective for cleanly peeling the hide from the pedicles than a knife blade.
5. Avoid Saws. – Pretty much all of the bones in the head area are connected by soft tissue that can be fairly easily separated with a small cut and twist. A saw isn’t necessary and often leads to cutting off bone that is useful/important to hanging the euro. If you plan to use a saw, be deliberate about where and what you are cutting.

Thanks and good luck this season!

08/15/2022

Hunting season must be upon us! A couple of my much appreciated long-time clients did a freezer clean out in preparation for the upcoming season. This made for a busy weekend for me. Not pictured is a lion and another javelina. The pictured javelina is about to join them in the acetone for a long soak.

Good luck to all who kicked off their fall season this past weekend!

04/12/2022

Hey guys, not my usual post but just wanted to throw it out there in case anyone is interested. As many of you know I play high school football and am approaching my senior year! This year for our football fundraiser we are selling $300 Green Mango gift cards for $100 of which 80% will go towards our football fees. If you are new to Green Mango the gift card will get you an initial flush out service which includes fence line, yard line and perimeter line. Then in 30 days they will come back out and do it all over again.
For new customers this is only valid if you sign up for annual bi-monthly service so you would be signing up for an additional 5 months at $89 each visit.
For existing customers or those not wanting to signup for an annual agreement the card can be use towards Green Mango’s termite or w**d control services.
We are also offering $300 gift cards to Coconut cleaning good for carpet, tile, and upholstery cleaning services at the $100 price as well! No expiration date and no annual signups or contract on this service. Please let me know if you’re interested in taking advantage of either of these offers. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

02/26/2022

The mass on this awesome southern Arizona Coues buck would have made most mule deer jealous! I was sad to see him go out the door. He had spent several years in the client’s freezer. The hide had become freeze dried and fused to the skull. It took a couple of hours to get the hide off, but it was a good move by the client because the bone was well protected and preserved.

With hunting season pretty much over for a few months, it is a great time to get those freezers cleaned out. Do you have any forgotten skulls that need cleaning. I would love to help you get those skulls out of the freezer and up on your wall.

02/04/2022

Got a bunch of late bucks in this year. Some had been in freezers since fall. Some from Mexico needing a bit more cleaning, then whitening. One a DIY job that needed a little assist the get it all the way clean and get rid off an off smell.
The freezer is once again empty with about 15-20 javelina currently degreasing.
Good luck on the HAM and general javelina hunts!

01/27/2022

Another batch coming out of a 3 day whitening soak. Now for about a month of degreasing. The second picture is a follow up to my previous post. Those dark bits that didn’t go white appear to be silver lead fragments.

01/27/2022

One of the most interesting javelina ever brought to me. I think he was shot through the face in years past, but pulled through. Most skulls of head shot javelina I have seen (and that is quite a few) are blown to pieces once the soft tissue is gone. It looks like the bones in this guy grew back together and refused. I don’t think he was doing much nasal breathing. That cavity is all kinds of messed up.

Great Hunter Skullz

11/06/2023

09/13/2023

08/28/2023

03/18/2023

03/03/2023

02/06/2023

02/04/2023

12/10/2022

09/20/2022

09/16/2022

08/30/2022

08/15/2022

04/12/2022

02/26/2022

02/04/2022

01/27/2022

01/27/2022

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