Reynard Wandered Into My Yard

[RatherBHuntin]

Paul,
I wanted to get an idea of how the whole thing looked and wanted to see how clean you got it.  I tried a bobcat once, but only got the skin.  Cleaning it up was tough, mostly around the face.

[gitano]

I'll take some close-ups of the face and ears. Splitting the lips takes care, you don't want to cut the roots of the whiskers (vibrissae) or they will fall out. Turning the ears is really fairly easy. You just have to be patient, have a sharp , pointy knife, and be patient. Taking the cartilage out of the nose is about the same as turning the ears.

Most of the time that I have a small animal like a fox or lynx to do, I leave the final cleanup to the taxidermist. I usually split the lips, turn the ears and remove the cartilage from the nose. I take the tail out of everything including foxes most of the time, but if i'm taking it to a taxidermist instead of a tannery, I let the taxidermist do it, but the final fleshing of the entire hide I leave to the taxidermist. There are three reasons.

First, they have the tools that make it easy. Second, any 'slips' are their fault, and they have to fix them without charge, and in fact I usually get a little "credit" if they put any holes in the hide when they do the final fleshing. Finally, if they do the final fleshing it will be in the state they want it. If I try to do it all, they will inevitably find something that needs doing. If it goes to a tannery, it doesn't matter nearly as much. You can't leave fat and meat on the hide, but they expect to do the final clean-up before they put it in their chemicals anyway.

For big game animals, I do it all and don't expect the taxidermist to do anything, or if they do, I don't expect to get charged for it. The hides are so much thicker that it's difficult to 'slip' and cause any problems. With big game capes and hides, a tannery will "spit" the skin (actually it's really "shaving") to thin it out so the tanning chemicals work better. This is particularly true for animals like elk, moose and buffalo.

I have recently heard about a technique for the "average Joe" that is supposed to work very well for fleshing, but I haven't tried it myself so I don't know if it works or not. Supposedly you take a high-pressure washer to the skin and 'blow' the flesh off. From what I've read, it's the "bee's knees". I intend to try it this summer on some moose hide I have in the freezer.

No taxidermist should charge you more than $25 to split the lips, turn the ears and nose, and remove the tail of a fox of bobcat. Most of the time I'm fine with that charge if I don't have the time to do it myself.

Feral cats are a good source of practice skins...

Paul

[Hunterbug]

Paul, did she "really" know what she was getting into with you or was it just a vague notion? :D You can still send it down here to be done for 1/3 the price.

[recoil junky]

Feral cats are a good source of practice skins...

Paul

Anybody need some feral cats? No tag or licence required.

Having it sent down here is good idee Bug. Plus we could hold it ransom. Maybe git Paul to come for a visit sorta.

RJ

[davidlt89]

You can still send it down here to be done for 1/3 the price.

I had inquired about having a rabbit stuffed here once and it was 180.00. Can't see a fox being much more. I can get a bear done for 1,300.00! Maybe putting that in mail would not be a bad idea! God Bless.

[gitano]

If I don't do it myself, I will definitely be 'putting it in the mail'. However, you really have to be careful about taxidermy "bargains". Making a fox LOOK LIKE A FOX is more difficult than you might imagine. For specialty items like this, you really have to find someone that specializes in the animal.

I'll keep 'you' posted.

Paul

[Hunterbug]

David, Paul and I looked into the cost in Denver last weekend. I think that it was around $450 for the fox. I do know that I got a virus on my computer while we were reserching it. > It's still in the shop untill tomorow. Luckily the oldest daughter got a REALLY sweet laptop that I'm playing on untill then.

[Paul Hoskins]

Great stuff Paul. I never had much trouble skinning any varmint cep't otter. I'll leave that to someone that enjoys it, if there is anyone like that.  ....Paul H

[SmokeyJoe]

Great thread, and GREAT skinning! I could only dream of doing a job like that, always being short of time and 'rushing' is only half the problem. The new forum has the option to tap/click an image to full screen them and scroll through all images in a thread. This is a perfect example of the benefit of that, I was drooling going through the entire collection of images. And I don't eat fox