Verified answer

I removed a freshly killed skunk from the road so it wouldn't be crushed by the cars (I thought he was only injured, but he was dead) and put him 10' away into the bushes under the trees. That was in May. At the end of June I went back to just see, and the bones were nearly all cleaned off by insects, decomposed pretty well except for some fur and dehydrated muscle tissue still on the ribs. The hips were missing, I think a dog found it, but the rest was there. I took the skull and part of the backbone with me, dipped them in a bleach bath (1/2 water and 1/2 bleach) for about 15 seconds, then rinsed them off with fresh water. That made the bones a lot whiter. I was going to donate them to the nature center but haven't been over there yet.

So--in summer, about 2 months would do it.

However if the shoulder blades are too big to be human, they might be goat, cow or pig. You can get them identified by taking them down to the museum and having someone in the taxidermy area take a look at them. They do this for free, but call ahead first to make sure the guy is in and make an appointment. They love doing this kind of thing for people. If they find that they ARE human, then they can help you contact police about it.

Birds take about 2-3 months to decompose. Be careful when you dig it up. Some of the bones get really fragile and break easily. You can always dig it up and check if you're okay with that. Also, if it gets to a point where there's just a little left on it, bleach takes it off.

long cats body decomposes bones

It will depend on alot of different factors: air temp., humidity, buried or not, wrapped or boxed, insects in the area, scavengers in the area........ You say the shoulderblades are bigger than a human's-is it a cow?! Yikes! If you're not 100% sure that the bones aren't human, you should call the local authorities.

call the police you may of unearthed a body!