Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: iowabow on February 05, 2014, 04:24:12 pm
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For ABO nuts...Here is a cage for deer ulna bones. The question is why put them in a cage?
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The answer is.......SO THE LEGS WONT RUN OFF >:D >:D
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The cage needs to be large enough so that you can cover the bones with leaves so the bone, meat, tendons and hide don't dry out. The moist material is prefect food for beetles coming out of hibernation and looking for a free meal. The wire opening is large enough to allow mice and bugs in but will keep the mice from carrying the small ulna bones down a hole or a fox from carrying a bone off into the woods
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I clean mine using the controlled canine method. I give them to the my dogs over a few days for just a little time each day until they are cleaned then put them away to finish drying ;D
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If you did not like the joke in this post blame Will H hehe
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I clean mine using the controlled canine method. I give them to the my dogs over a few days for just a little time each day until they are cleaned then put them away to finish drying ;D
kinda the k9 plus saliva trick ....sound good to me
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Finished now I will add legs leaves and wire shut.
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As I said in the other thread. I hung mine from a tree, then scraped and sanded them clean. But to each their own.
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I liked the joke John ! How clean/white do they get by burying? I've hung them out of reach and had to clean them up some. Used baking soda and water paste marinade and it does a good finishing clean. Looks like an easy build and process.
Tracy
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Tracy my plan on this post is to demonstrate how fast the bugs can clean the boned up. Last year the bones were cleaned by May. The mice will clean the ends so there should not be any additional cleaning. The sun drying will turn them white.
Glad you liked the joke!
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I'll be curious to watch. Fire ant piles do the work for us down here. Doesn't take them long.
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Why not just skin them and get it over with? Three cuts and the skin is pretty much gone. Cut the cartilage on the sides, flex the joint, clip the interior ligaments, and take it apart. It doesn't take as long to do, as to say it.
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Why not just skin them and get it over with? Three cuts and the skin is pretty much gone. Cut the cartilage on the sides, flex the joint, clip the interior ligaments, and take it apart. It doesn't take as long to do, as to say it.
There are other parts from the leg I would like to keep. When I have used the knife I tend break them in the process. (Please take the follow with no disrespect intended) Not sure we are talking about the same bone. The ulna bone is the thin bone that runs along the radius. This bone is like glued to the radius and (at least for me) is hard to remove from the radius. Rather than risk breaking a prized large deer ulna bone I let the bugs and mice just do there thing on all the bones including the ulna.
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I did not make an argument about trying to separate them.
I simply asked why leave the skin on, delaying the results, or the joint for that matter, when they are very easy to remove, making the natural clean up take much less time. I also let mother nature eat the membranes and tissue or use water soaks to separate bone when needed. I tend to do as others have said, and hang them in a tree for the insects and the birds when I do need to let nature separate them.
Just asking, not an implied criticism of any kind.
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You must have awful small mice in your neck of the woods, to get through that small of a mesh. :o
As for mice, wouldn't they damage the ulna? As they will gnaw on the bone. the beetles are a good idea, but the mice I would not want to have them gnawing on the bones. Like Parnell said, down here, a Fire Ant mound will take care of them in a few days. There won't be much of anything attached to the bone after those little mini piranhas get through with them. Good for cow horns too. Or any bones, or such you want to remove meat, and such from. But if this works for you, go for it. I was just wondering how the mice were going to get into the cage. Though I have found mice in half inch emt pipe with 14 gauge wire in it. I have found two, when I was working as an Electrician's helper years ago.
Wayne
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I did not make an argument about trying to separate them.
I simply asked why leave the skin on, delaying the results, or the joint for that matter, when they are very easy to remove, making the natural clean up take much less time. I also let mother nature eat the membranes and tissue or use water soaks to separate bone when needed. I tend to do as others have said, and hang them in a tree for the insects and the birds when I do need to let nature separate them.
Just asking, not an implied criticism of any kind.
Ok I understand your point. What I have observed and seems to be the issue is moisture. When the bones are hung in tree as is, the process takes a long time and yes removing the hide and flesh in that case would speed the hanging in the tree method up. What I am seeing with my method (conducted last year on the ground) is a rapid decay of the hide and flesh. After having cleaned and hung bones I think this ground method will produce good results with the least amount of effort. I have a friend that butchers deer and can provide me piles of legs. I did exactly what you stated with a set last year but the sets that were on the ground were ready first.
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You must have awful small mice in your neck of the woods, to get through that small of a mesh. :o
As for mice, wouldn't they damage the ulna? As they will gnaw on the bone. the beetles are a good idea, but the mice I would not want to have them gnawing on the bones. Like Parnell said, down here, a Fire Ant mound will take care of them in a few days. There won't be much of anything attached to the bone after those little mini piranhas get through with them. Good for cow horns too. Or any bones, or such you want to remove meat, and such from. But if this works for you, go for it. I was just wondering how the mice were going to get into the cage. Though I have found mice in half inch emt pipe with 14 gauge wire in it. I have found two, when I was working as an Electrician's helper years ago.
Wayne
Wayne I was looking for a wire size small enough to prevent the small bones from being carried off. It is very amazing how small of a hole that mice can fit through. A mouse can fit through a 1/4 inch crevice which in my mind is very small. Below is a link to a report on mice and hole size. http://www.health.ny.gov/publications/3206// (http://www.health.ny.gov/publications/3206//)
the hole size on this cage is 1/2 inch.
They will start on the bone but first they will work on the ends. I hope to remove the bones before they are chewed all up. This process will duplicate the method of bone recovery of naturally decaying deer that provided my first set of ulna tools.
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Might be interesting if we put a trail cam on the cage
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I like the research side of this John , keep posting results please. I've cleaned hide and meet off and hung in the tree various bones and tend to get rid of most of the unwanted and get stained moldy bones. Gnomon have to raise some dermestids ;D
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I'd love to have some of them dermestids, but it would be like having another pet. have to feed um and in the winter would have to bring um inside. Don't think the wife would enjoy the aquarium of dead stuff and beetles on the the counter. :o ;D
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I'd love to have some of them dermestids, but it would be like having another pet. have to feed um and in the winter would have to bring um inside. Don't think the wife would enjoy the aquarium of dead stuff and beetles on the the counter. :o ;D
Derik you drive past a lot of road kill to keep those derrmestids fat and happy ! ;D
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From the initial pictures, I was thinking it was a smaller mesh size. Those mice are like an Octopus! :o They can squeeze into anything they can get a tentacle into. 8) yeah, like I said before, I have found two in the metal electrical pipes, that were half inch diameter, with three 14 gauge wires in them. One was fried in the light switch, and the other couldn't make it pass the entrance to the switch box. These were in an expensive golf community. They were in the garage. Yeah, a trail cam would be cool. Might catch ol sasquatch, trying to get some bones for supper. ;) :o
Wayne
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In addition to all of the other projects I was able to get the legs in the cage and cover yesterday.