u/Gentle_Lemon_26

My nearly perfect raccoon skull I found and cleaned. I don’t collect very many raccoon skulls here in Florida because they’re so easy to find and I like the challenge of finding harder to find animal skulls, but I couldn’t pass this one up since it looked like it was in great condition. Macerated it then left it in acetone for 6 months to degrease. Then whitened with peroxide for one day. Has all its teeth and is a pretty large specimen. Florida raccoon.

So, I finished macerating this cat skull, then had it in acetone for about 4 months so far, as it appeared extremely greasy. When it dries, the skull creates a white film on parts of it, kinda reminding me of when candle wax melts. Also, when I was macerating the skull and replacing some of the water, every time the water would get soapy and bubbly as if there was literal soap coming from the skull. Does grease in a skull do that or is somehow there something else soaked into this skull? I know that’s a crazy thing to assume. I know that it can take even over a year to macerate a skull that is very greasy, and it’s been only 4 months, but I still feel like more should’ve happened so far. It looks the exact same as it did 4 months ago basically. The skull when dried literally looks shiny. I just don’t know what to do with this skull right now, I feel like I need to boil the oil out of it or something ridiculous.

Any ideas of what to do would be really appreciated 🙏🏼

Florida intracoastal.

Have seen a whole lot of fish activity here at night recently, but whenever I use live shrimp, fish just peck it off. I’ve been using a Carolina rig with a lighter leader (15-20lb), smaller 1/0-2/0 circle hook, and a smaller bullet weight to make my bait look as natural as possible. I know there are a lot of fish here, and potentially some big ones because I’ve seen a whole lot of splashing, jumping etc. I am convinced that the fish here are either wary of the live shrimp or their presentation, or just aren’t too interested in it, which is surprising because I thought live shrimp was a universally great bait. Tonight I will get a cast net and try catching some finger mullet or something to use that as bait on a Carolina rig. By the time I get out there to fish tonight, around 10pm, the tide will probably be half way out, with still a couple hours left before slack low tide. I am thinking about fishing in the deeper channel in the picture, since that’s where I’m assuming the bigger predatory fish will be waiting to ambush. Let me know your guys’ thoughts and opinions, as it will be super helpful. Thanks!