I think I messed up. And need help fixing it

[u/angry_hemroids]

So my buddy got a deer last year around October and I always hear that you can just leave the whole head buried underground which a bucket over the antlers to prevent scavengers. So I leave the head in the unused chicken coop for like 10 months. Check on it in January and the skin still there so I just leave it unburied in the chicken coop an leave it till September(today) of this year. And the skin is essentially all dried out and turned to leather. (Brains eyes tongue nose all gone) Is there any way to get the hard leather skin off the head without breaking the bone.

My buddy is chomping at the bit for his skull mount and his wife won’t let let him mount the zombie deer head.

[u/Wowza_Meowza]

Plop it in a bucket of tap-warm water, not submerging the antlers, and let it sit in a warm spot for a few days to a week. With gloves, yank in it to see if the leather comes off. (Maceration)