@kyler1945 one of the main benefits to maceration over boiling is that it is easy and relatively safe. I let a skull go for months/over winter in a bucket. It grew some green algae but the bone underneath is perfect. Loose joints and teeth because it's a yearling with a not fully formed skull but that's a deer selection issue not necessarily a maceration issue. Over boiling/boiling too strong/pressure washing can damage bone, or so I've read/watched YouTube videos about. I plan to boil one of these skulls I saved just for comparison purposes too though.
The other bigger benefit to maceration as far as I see is that the bone isn't cooked. Cooking bone makes it more brittle, whether it's boiling or baking or grilling, heat is the enemy, (why we are supposed to only give dogs raw bones for them to gnaw on but not cooked bones that can crack and splinter) and a more brittle skull has a better chance of breaking. I want to be able to take a euro down and handle it so I'd rather the bone be as least-brittle as possible.
In reality it's all likely so similar that it doesn't warrant this much online discussion, but what's the fun in that? Am I the only weirdo that keeps doe skulls for practice? I've shot 3 deer and kept all 3, I suppose that as that number gets a zero behind it I'll start tossing them. Maybe. Kept a doe hide as well, can always toss it back in the woods later, but I'm getting well off topic now...
I also do not believe the bone density difference is anything due to decomposition/bacteria, more anecdotal individual deer. Healthy deer having strong bone structure makes sense. There's a body farm in North Carolina that study's decomposition and without going into too much detail, at least in humans severely decomposed individuals still have intact skeletons etc, bacterial bone degradation takes significant time.