Hair slippage

[btheis13]

My buddy just got his crate back from RSA and I got the chance to go take a look at them today. Bullseye Taxidermy in Limpopo did his work. The kudu, nyala and bushbuck all appeared to have hair slippage, especially on the mane. Is this common for these animals? Or is it a taxidermist issue?

All of the other work he's had done there has been pretty good.

I plan to harvest these same animals on my '25 trip and I am now questioning my choices.

 

[Flipper Dude]

An old kudu or bushbuck is pretty much hairless on the neck when shot. Nyala I don’t know.

 

[BryceM]

If it’s only in the mane, it’s sometimes how they tanned it. This happened to my zebra. I’m not sure if it’s breakage of the hair or true slippage.

Can also be imperfect field prep, not enough salt, temps that were too high, lots of blood, etc.

 

[Frederik]

All 3 of those species are prone to hairslip and should be treated and handled properly in the field itself.
If there was evidennce of hairslip when the taxidemry started the tanning procress this needed to be communicated to the cleint. Now it's a matter of who is responsible taxidermy or PH?

 

[Hunt anything]

The problem with hair slippage is that it can be hard to accurately know who to blame. 1)How long did it take to skin the animal?
2)Was it fleshed properly?
3)Was it salted properly?
4) was it allowed to dry properly before being stored.
1 - 4 usually the outfitter’s responsibility
5) when tanning was the correct pickling solution used?
6) was it shaved to thinly?
5 - 6 tannery responsibility or taxidermist if they do in house tanning
7)taxidermist received bad hide and he’s screwed and gets the blame.
From talking to several African taxidermists they universally say tiny ten, spiral horns and cats are notorious for hair slippage.

 

[BRICKBURN]

My buddy just got his crate back from RSA and I got the chance to go take a look at them today. Bullseye Taxidermy in Limpopo did his work. The kudu, nyala and bushbuck all appeared to have hair slippage, especially on the mane. Is this common for these animals? Or is it a taxidermist issue?

All of the other work he's had done there has been pretty good.

I plan to harvest these same animals on my '25 trip and I am now questioning my choices.

Got some pictures of the issues?

Sadly, if not handled in the field perfectly the taxidermist can't save them.

I have visited Craig's shop and witnessed their entire process. It was one the the cleanest well run shops I have visited in Africa. They have an excellent reputation, so....

 

[Ontario Hunter]

My suggestion is always get skull cleaned, cape tanned, and both shipped to taxidermist over here. That way if the cape turns out no good, you'll still have a skull for the wall. You can shop for another cape and take your time. Make sure your taxidermist here has written conformation that he is to let you know immediately if hide is no good.

 

[IvW]

90% of the time it is a field prep issue.
All spiral horns are prone to hair slip.
Lots of factors make this worse.
Recovery time, time, from shot to skinned temperature, black rubber on truck bed etc. Etc.

If as you state it is only in the mane areas it soulds like a skinning issue. Any fat left behind there is an issue also if it is skinned too close it is an issue.

Skinning and cape preparation in the field is critical......

 

[ActionBob]

I've yet to see a mature male Bushbuck with much hair on the back of the neck. Between all the ticks, pushing through brush, and fighting they lose their hair. Kudu probably much the same. I've never shot an Nyala nor been present when one was so no experience there.

Did your buddy oversee the skinning and salting?

The worst case of hair slip I've personally experienced was on an eland. The camp was not tightly run and the skinners and other camp staff were much more concerned with getting as much meat hoarded away as possible than with skinning and salting the trophy. I kept asking the Outfitter/PH to go deal with it but he did not until it was afternoon and the eland had been shot early morning. And during November in Mozambique. I should have just done a skull mount but the taxidermist (Stateside) insisted he could work with the cape. Poorest cape i have on any of my mounts.

These trophies have to overcome a lot to arive to your home in good condition! Every step of the way is an opportunity to screw them up! A hunter needs to monitor what he can while he can.

I suggest you ask lots of questions of your buddy. He is very unlikely to find anyone willing to admit to any wrong doing. Before blaming the taxidermist, does he have good detailed pictures of the condition the animals were in when he shot them? What was the weather like? Were they skinned and salted right away or hauled around on a truck for half a day? Did he check on the skinning and salting? Did he inspect the capes as they were drying? Did he properly tip the skinners? One always wants to deliver candy and small gifts to the skinners. Make them your buddies

 

[Sabre]

When you say mane, do you mean the actual mane? Or do you mean the neck area in general?

I have noticed that a lot of mature Kudu, Nyala, and Bushbuck seem to be lacking in the hair department around the neck in general. So, maybe it wasn't so much slippage as just what the animal looked like when shot.

Does your friend have pictures that show lots of hair on the neck when the animal was shot and now no hair on the neck after tanned?

 

[btheis13]

Got some pictures of the issues?

Sadly, if not handled in the field perfectly the taxidermist can't save them.

I didn't want to take photos in front of him.

 

[btheis13]

When you say mane, do you mean the actual mane? Or do you mean the neck area in general?

I have noticed that a lot of mature Kudu, Nyala, and Bushbuck seem to be lacking in the hair department around the neck in general. So, maybe it wasn't so much slippage as just what the animal looked like when shot.

Does your friend have pictures that show lots of hair on the neck when the animal was shot and now no hair on the neck after tanned?

I didn't want to ask him too many questions and risk upsetting him.

 

[buck wild]

My suggestion is always get skull cleaned, cape tanned, and both shipped to taxidermist over here. \

You recommend tanning over in Africa ? Albeit I only have experience with a handful of African tans, all from South Africa, they were not as pleasant to work with as US tans. That's my limited experience but have heard same from lots of other US taxidermist. Flat tans meant as wall displays or throw rug-type hides are fine either way. BUT mountable tans, no way I'd have those done in SA much less anywhere else in Africa.

 

[MarkB]

Hair slippage from African game seams to be the norm for all the reasons already listed, as is cuts, holes and grease burned areas on hides. On my early safaris in Zim skinning shed used road rock salt. Plus skinning, turning lips, ears, nose is not same as I do here at home, you cannot turn lips or remove ear cartilage properly with rock sharpened 10" chefs knives. I shake my head at some big camps, 5 hunters filling skinning shed and 4 skinners? Another reason I like camps without other hunters.

I have always had one or more hide have some issue from every safari. From my recent 22 tanned animals done here in BC my bushbuck cape was no good. Hair was gone when tannery soaked up, he called me immediately and we discarded. Yet same animals back skin is beautiful, hair full and tanned perfect. No idea why.

I have just excepted the fact African mounts will probably not look like my full haired NA stuff, just adds to the story.

MB

 

[Ontario Hunter]

You recommend tanning over in Africa ? Albeit I only have experience with a handful of African tans, all from South Africa, they were not as pleasant to work with as US tans. That's my limited experience but have heard same from lots of other US taxidermist. Flat tans meant as wall displays or throw rug-type hides are fine either way. BUT mountable tans, no way I'd have those done in SA much less anywhere else in Africa.

Due to federal regs it has become pretty much impossible for us to find a Canadian tannery that will/can accept dip and pack stuff from overseas. Dry tanned are okay. I have two kudu, one black wildebeest, one sable, and one nyala tanned capes waiting to be mounted by my daughter. One of the kudu capes has a bit of slippage on the side of the neck which could probably be obscured with a sideways pose in the corner of the room. The other kudu is good even though shot in the neck. The black wildebeest has a cut in the lip right in front (botched skinning no doubt). Unsure if she can work around that. Sable seems to be a good cape but the taxidermist f'd up the horns and skull (someone else's skull and one horn not mine). Not sure what we can do with that. The black wildebeest was gold medal but horns were boiled to shreds by the African taxidermist so I shot another on my next trip. My nyala cape may not be usable. Actually wanted backskin but so much hair missing down the back that I decided on cape instead. After tanning I see it is missing hair in the mane. He was an old bull in tough shape (only two teeth left in front and one of them was about to fall out). No surprise considering his age and the thick thorny shit these critters inhabit full of ticks (I picked one up on the back of my calf that made me plenty sick). At least two of the tanned capes have problems inside the ears but I understand this is encountered regularly. Not much hair inside the ears to camouflage repairs but it can be done.

Anyway, if you can get dip and pack to your taxidermist over here, that's probably the way to go. A taxidermist on this side of the pond has no excuse for proceeding to mount a cape that's not worth the work. Too often (almost invariably) taxidermy factories over there don't give a shit or are too busy to give a shit. They have a cape, assign it to someone to mount, and when it's done it goes in the crate. On to the next assignment. They get paid for getting the work finished, not the quality of the work. A good taxidermist over here needs to be more conscious of quality or risk getting crucified on Facebook.