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SPEAKER: Deer hunting has ramped up across most of Minnesota, but for one Bemidji man the season is just getting started. He spends his nights and weekends stripping bear and trophy buck skulls and bleaching the bone. Fair warning now, if you're squeamish or maybe eating something, this might not be the story for you. John Enger reports.

JOHN ENGER: Visiting Tony Petrie's garage is a sensory experience.

TONY PETRIE: There's a small bone that hinges in the middle that goes from the back of the jaw to the skull, and all it does is connect the two. So I just break it off because it ends up-- this other--

JOHN ENGER: He stands at a plastic table skinning a deer head. He uses a medical grade scalpel and starts at the ears.

TONY PETRIE: And it kind of gives me a handle to hold on to the pull some tension against it as I go.

JOHN ENGER: Then he turns on an air compressor and, well, there's no pretty way to say this. He blows the brain out through the back of the head.

TONY PETRIE: So it just pretty much comes out in one clump.

JOHN ENGER: This is the first step in making what's known as a European mount. For nonhunters, there are two basic types of trophy mount. There's the full shoulder mount. That's when the whole head and neck is stuffed with glass eyes and the whole deal. It's expensive and can turn out kind of weird looking. Google the phrase "taxidermy gone wrong." You'll see what I mean.

The other option is Petrie's specialty-- the European mount. The skull is stripped and bleached like a bone left outside for years in the sun and wind. The style is getting more and more popular these days, and it's clear why. A clean white skull is oddly beautiful.

TONY PETRIE: You know, I've seen thousands of these. So I still think they're fascinating. But for somebody who's like, I've never seen a skull like this, and you look at it and look down-- oh, my goodness. Look at that. And to see it. Nobody really sees a skull of their animal that they killed nice and broke down and white and taken care of.

JOHN ENGER: But this particular deer skull is pretty far from clean. It'll spend the next five days in what's called a maceration tank. Petrie keeps his in a shed out back. On the way out he warns me I might notice a smell.

TONY PETRIE: To me, it smells like fresh rotting meat is what it smells like, which is essentially what it is. I always give my kids [INAUDIBLE]. This is the smell of money right here. This smells good.

JOHN ENGER: There's a big insulated box in the corner of the shed with steam coming up around the lid. Inside are rows of buckets filled with warm greasy water and bones. Petrie leans down and pulls out a bear skull.

[WATER SPLASHING]

TONY PETRIE: So that's what it looks like. This one's cleaned completely coming out. This is just fatty wax that sticks to the bone until I get it cleaned.

JOHN ENGER: Bacteria in the water eat away the meat and tallow. After that, Petrie scrubs and degreases the bone, dunks it in hydrogen peroxide. And finally, layers it in a clear coat of polyurethane.

It's an incredibly labor-intensive two-week process that Petrie has been perfecting for a decade. He averages 400 skulls a year, all while working full time and raising five adopted children. He charges about $130 per skull. Since we're both bad at math, I pull out my cell phone. 130 times 400-- does that look--

TONY PETRIE: $52,000.

JOHN ENGER: Does that look right?

TONY PETRIE: Doesn't feel right. But yeah, it looks right.

JOHN ENGER: You'd think with that kind of money on the line there'd be more competition, but there's really not. Petrie is the only European mount guy in a few hundred miles. When asked why more people aren't interested, Petrie says maybe they don't like the smell. But it might be something else.

There's something about an animal skull before it's sanitized and pearl white that makes people think about death-- maybe their own death. It's uncomfortable. But Petrie is a Sergeant at the Beltrami County Sheriff's Department. It's been his day job for the past 17 years. That's a lot of crime scenes. He's had to get comfortable with mortality in a way that most people never do.

So rotting the flesh off a few hundred deer skulls-- he's happy to do it so other people can have something beautiful to hang on their walls. Or you know what? Maybe he's right. Maybe it is the smell. John Edgar, MPR News, Bemidji.