Johnny Blues safari taxidermy progress

[gizmo]

WOW! Looking good! Man that started out like a jigsaw puzzle! All the pieces are falling into place.

I think it’s taken a few years off of John and I both’s Lives.

 

[jasyblood]

It’s amazing that you’re able to repair that! What happened to the cape to cause that?

 

[gizmo]

It’s amazing that you’re able to repair that! What happened to the cape to cause that?

Moisture , epidermis loss and slippage. I have an opinion on what happened but of course it’s just an educated guess and there is absolutely no way of proving one way or the other. I believe it happened at the taxidermist that did the DPC in Africa.

 

[gizmo]

All that being said no way no how am I getting in a finger pointing match. There is no way of knowing exactly who caused the problem.
I will say this Marius @KMG Hunting Safaris has gone to the end of the earth to get to the bottom of it and has gone way out of his way to provide a replacement cape if necessary even though I personally do not believe it was a result of anything his crew did. Fortunately we are not going to need a replacement.

 

[jasyblood]

Well, it looks like you’re well on your way to getting it repaired! Can’t wait to see the finished product.

 

[edward]

you have to posses magical powers.

 

[edward]

so sorry im just not going to cave in on saps insistence on new 4457s to spend my money hunting over there any more.let them cut their nose of to spite their face as they let poachers do to rhinos.i would of loved to have you do a trophy for me.

 

[johnnyblues]

Gentleman since Erik has decided to bring everyone in on this development I wanted to let everyone know who did the dip and pack on my trophies. I used Splitting Image for this safari. After speaking to my PH in Limpopo and to Marius we have come to the conclusion that this cape rot could have only happened while in their hands. This is just one of the problems we had with the capes, I won’t go into any other details except to say I surely would not recommend them to anyone and I will definitely not use them again.
I want to say I did speak with Douglas from Splitting Image on another matter with from my perspective was just a cool response and no real concern. I want it to be known Marius from KMG did not recccomend them so no blame on him. We all know what a crap shoot it is with trophy care and taxidermy from Africa. Thankfully we’re thinking we’re pretty much out of the woods with my buffalo cape but nevertheless the epidermal loss was substantial. I know the final product will look great in any event. Thank you again Erik for all your hard work.

 

[sleeping giant]

epidermal loss like that is the result of not salting and drying the cape correctly. most outfitters are the ones responsible for that.capes are thrown into a pile of used salt and left for several days. buff and giraffe are the most common capes with epidermal loss due to the thickness of the hides and lack of care to correctly dry the capes!

 

[Red Leg]

so sorry im just not going to cave in on saps insistence on new 4457s to spend my money hunting over there any more.let them cut their nose of to spite their face as they let poachers do to rhinos.i would of loved to have you do a trophy for me.

Edward - Seriously? if what you say is true, then it sounds like you are the guy wracking away at a nose.

 

[PARA45]

JB, glad Erik was able to fix your buff skin, and it's looking fantastic. I can't wait to see the final product. This post is like watching a TV series, and anxiously waiting for the final chapter.

 

[johnnyblues]

epidermal loss like that is the result of not salting and drying the cape correctly. most outfitters are the ones responsible for that.capes are thrown into a pile of used salt and left for several days. buff and giraffe are the most common capes with epidermal loss due to the thickness of the hides and lack of care to correctly dry the capes!

Interesting thank you for that. That may throw a different light on the subject.

 

[harden]

80 out of 100 buffalo have epi loss. Some to the point that 30% of the skin slips. you never see it , it's just repaired as this is being done. 50% of all african capes even plains game have some type of issue. Inner ear skin missing . slip skin on back of ears, all kinds of cuts around the eyes. eye lids missing, grease burned , cardboard cape with zero stretch from sun drying. Bug issues eating hair on 25% of ALL capes we get. skinning just everywhere, hours of sewing holes. The epi loss on this one Eric is what we call minimum just so know you gotta get used to it.. Normally takes as long to finish one, the airbrushing it for the repairs and rebuilding eyes nose inner ears painting all the repairs as it does to mount it. Lotta guys no longer take in any african because of it. 4 hours to prep skin and fix holes , 3 hours to prep form, 8-10 hours to mount, 8-10 hours to finish. 24 hours total, cost of form and shipping 450, cape tan 450. Take that cost off your price , then figure your overhead and other costs another 250 . For the non taxidermist here Mounting buffalo makes any taxidermist less money the money he can make doing 4 local deer heads in the same time frame. Glad you got it up.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

80 out of 100 buffalo have epi loss. Some to the point that 30% of the skin slips. you never see it , it's just repaired as this is being done. 50% of all african capes even plains game have some type of issue. Inner ear skin missing . slip skin on back of ears, all kinds of cuts around the eyes. eye lids missing, grease burned , cardboard cape with zero stretch from sun drying. Bug issues eating hair on 25% of ALL capes we get. skinning just everywhere, hours of sewing holes. The epi loss on this one Eric is what we call minimum just so know you gotta get used to it.. Normally takes as long to finish one, the airbrushing it for the repairs and rebuilding eyes nose inner ears painting all the repairs as it does to mount it. Lotta guys no longer take in any african because of it. 4 hours to prep skin and fix holes , 3 hours to prep form, 8-10 hours to mount, 8-10 hours to finish. 24 hours total, cost of form and shipping 450, cape tan 450. Take that cost off your price , then figure your overhead and other costs another 250 . For the non taxidermist here Mounting buffalo makes any taxidermist less money the money he can make doing 4 local deer heads in the same time frame. Glad you got it up.

Thank you for your insight. It is always nice to see guys with your experience chime in.

 

[johnnyblues]

Yes thank you Dennis for your insight. And to make it clear I seriously doubt Marius at KMG had anything to do with this. The tracker worker for Ivan Carter for many years and has handled hundreds of buffalo. My gut feeling is the dip/pack people who are on the coast have a big hand in this. KMG IS A TOP NOTCH OUTFIT. We move forward on this project.

 

[edward]

Edward - Seriously? if what you say is true, then it sounds like you are the guy wracking away at a nose.

at 79,having had a triple bypass in 2015,a pace maker in 2016,on blood thinners in 2017,im not that much worried about no nose.im not playing their game.dont like my nose anyway.

 

[harden]

epidermal loss like that is the result of not salting and drying the cape correctly. most outfitters are the ones responsible for that.capes are thrown into a pile of used salt and left for several days. buff and giraffe are the most common capes with epidermal loss due to the thickness of the hides and lack of care to correctly dry the capes!

NOT ALWAYS....Dip PACK in most area's rehydrate salted skins back to DIP them in in solutions mandated by USFW and S A to export. AT that time they are RESALTED by the Dip Pack company. If this isn't happening then what are your paying $1,000 of dollars for????? putting in a crate..The salting by a PH is NOT the only reason this can happen. As for tanning, there IS NO GUARANTEE ANYWHERE. look at every invoke on EVERY tannery anywhere. They take no responsibility for any skin slipping, There are MANY variables in salting and dip and tanning. And anything can happen. in a perfect world yes they all come out great, but there is no perfect world. I have dealt with LOTS of capes from Marius and he is good as it gets in my view. BUFFALO WILL SLIP. In the bush you cannot SHAVE down thick skins and I HAVE MOUNTED buffalo from MARIUS as well as many others here and I have never complained. I've been to africa 13 times, 13 different Ph's and have never seen a PH use old salt , it's to cheap to not use new. Just fox it everyday like I do and life goes on, Living at the bottom of the hill taxidermist get whatever rolls down it...mount it fix it make the client happy with the piece and that's it.

PS If there is a very humid environment at the dip pack the SKIN acts like a sponge and will absorb airborne humidity and MOLD will grow inside folded skin....Thats exactly what THIS BUFFALO issue is, if the folded skin is not dry enough then MOLD will grow inside the folds....

 

[gizmo]

At any rate, he’s coming along nicely and I’m still working away while waiting for certain areas to completely dry so I can attend to that. I’m getting very excited as completion draws nearer. Stay tuned and I’ll post more soon as I can.

 

[johnnyblues]

Well this thread has certainly been interesting....Lots of fun, bantering, and now this. End results is I am sure Erik will do a first class job...Stay tuned!

 

[harden]

paint white the dermis areas , then chocolate brown LITTLE bit of tint of red and then mist in black if you see the red when you spray it used to much , black to preference and angled shot to show rolls