As already mentioned above, there are a few youtube clips and sites out there that describe it pretty well. The only thing I'd add is that it sounds a lot more difficult than it is. The executive summary:
1. Cape skull and clean as well as reasonably possible
2. Cover base of antlers with tin foil and boil
3. Clean remaining skull after boil
4. Carefully pressure wash inside and out (wear glasses and dirty clothes)
5. Dry for a few days and add peroxide\whitener
6. Wait a day or two and clean off
I'm not sure how it works after some times elapses........it could\might be a bit stinkier maybe?, but from my experience if you boil the head soon after it was harvested (after caping it and cleaning out as much as you can get at) it's really almost no different than boiling soup stock. Might sound weird, but it's not offensive or smelly at all. We do it outside in a big metal pot over a fit pit. We cover the fire with a solid metal lid so that you're not doing it over direct open flames (cover half of fire with lid and leave the other side open flame) and just place the pot on to the fire pit lid side until it starts coming up to a boil. Wrap up the antlers with tin foil so that they don't get burnt, charred or in some other way discolored and place it into the pot. Mine had an interesting deep brown color to the antlers from where it was rubbing that then transitioned into a normal ivory\white when it starting workings its way up from the tines that I wanted to preserve which is why I wrapped them. Any water bubbling, steam, moisture, heat, etc is all shielded. Could probably do the exact same without it, but for what it's worth it's quick and easy and seems to work well.
Leave it until you notice the remaining meat starting to discolor and start falling off.....maybe 30 minutes to 1 hour or so (probably depends on water temp) but we're not too scientific about it. You don't want to get it too hot or leave it in too long cause it can apparently make the bones a bit brittle. I've personally never encountered that, but I've also never left it in there for extended periods of time or on too high a temperature.
When it's done, pull it out and scrape off the remaining bits. Once you get most of it off, if you have a pressure washer, give it a gentle blast and 99% of it should be clean. Contents inside of skull (brain and nasal cavity) are trickiest parts to get at, but far from impossible. Long narrow needle nose pliers work well on nasal and coat hanger works well on brain. If you cooked it well enough it comes out in chunks and I find a lot easier to clean out thoroughly.
Once you're satisfied with how clean it is, leave it for a few days to thoroughly dry out. Head out to a beauty supply store and buy a packet of whitener and bottle of peroxide. Get clean place to work that's decently ventilated and get yourself some nitrile gloves. Put on gloves and mix the peroxide and whitener per the instructions to make a paste. Get a small brush from the dollar store and rub it all over the head. I put it everywhere except the antlers and teeth. Inside nasal cavity, back of skull, upper mouth pallette, etc. I don't put anything on the teeth. Actually, you migtht find some gunk in the teeth too. Grass, etc. Can pick this out with a small metal pick or tooth pics. Clean them up nice. What I also do is place paper towel over top of the top part of the skull and brush on some more of the paste to make sure it's caked on.
I'll set it aside for a day or two and gently take off all of the paper towel and discard. Wearing gloves again, rinse it off slowly in the bath tub to get off all of whitener and paste. You're all done.
I've heard that if you leave it in the direct sun when it's got the whitener on it it'll whiten even better. I've never had an issue with how white they come out.
Sounds involved and time consuming, but it's really not that bad at all.
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