Was fortunate to be 10 min away from an elephant kill in Zimbabwe a few years ago on the 2nd day of a 10 day hunt. Quite a sight to see a fresh kill (one shot w/heavy double, 50 cal, but not sure of exact ctg). The skinners had the animal stripped of all meat including the head (all the meat goes to the natives). The skull was buried for the next 4-5 days. The tusks were then removed fairly easily. Was amazed at how much of the tusks were in the skull. If memory serves me right was probably about 1/3 or more of the total length of the ivory.
Nice job on that skull Free bullet. Had my Texas Bore done by somebody who knew what they were doing. As a kid, we used to clean off crow & wood chuck skulls and turtle shells by putting them on an ant hill in the summer. After a week or two, they were squeekly clean and sun bleached. Crow and small woodchuck skulls made great scout neckerchief slides.