Your Going On Safari Somewhere, Anywhere, Things To Watch From A Taxidermist View…

[dory]

Great thread dennis
We have used a salty brine ,overnight in the coolroom with a power of metho in the mix (to kill germs)
It was at the end janurary (middle of summer) to cool the cape of a hard velvet fallow stag it was 38 c that morning
The taxidermist said that it definately ,didnt hurt.
He even suggested if we tried it again ,to pour in some formulane.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Dennis,
We use the salt solution in water with great success. The salt gets mixed into the water, until the water becomes satisfied. Therefor, the salt is so strong, that no more salt dissolves when mixed into the solution. The capes gets laid in the salt water solution for a period of time. Anybody knows that liquid penetrates better than any solid.
Once we remove the capes and skins from the water, we hang them to dry, to get rid of all the excess water. Once the excess water is gone, we salt the capes with new, dry salt.
As the last liquid on the cape/skin evaporates, it forms salt crystals on the hides, meaning that every square inch and every crevasse of the cape/hide gets covered. This stops any part getting missed during the salting process causing rot, and effectively causing hair slip.

 

[harden]

KMG , I am not knocking your procedure. IF done correctly and has a short, very short stay in the solution yes it works. But do you know how many people really know what total salt saturation is. at O * C it's 36 grams per 100 ml and almost 40 grams per 100ml at boiling point VERY FEW know this. They just put some salt in water and guess and then roll the dice. IF it's not done CORRECTLY your taking a heck of a chance. It is never done in the states at all. Have never heard of anyone doing it and been in the industry for 45 years. Your process works and you know what your doing. I had MY LIONS soaked...for 1 hour no more,this was the first time I saw it done and they used 50Lbs per 50 gallons. That's good, to make sure the water can't take be saturated by one more grain. This solution will work for saturation but the purpose of salting it is to pull the natural proteins out of the skin not to put anything in to it. Therfore stablizing the skin and drying it so bacteria has no way to grow. This type of solution has no acid in it and therefore in no way preserving the hide. If the hide is left to long in this solution It will slip. That is all I am really saying about the solution method. To me it is risky but you have found a great option that works for you and I'm sure it was developed over time trail and error somewhere and passed along to you. I know you have a good reputation with your clients and I congratulate you on that and their skin care, Good Job !

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Thanks Dennis. Good to have a guy with your experience on the forum.

 

[Roseman]

I guess I was not aware of the potential problems that may occur by mishandling the trophies. No wonder my neighbor takes his taxidermist with him on all his hunting trips.

 

[harden]

I'm ALWAYS available for that ! LOL

 

[gillettehunter]

Our last trip to Africa we had issues with hair slipping. Mine were fine, but 2 friends were not. Their mounts turned out crappy. Shouldn't of been mounted in the first place because the capes were in crappy condition. Bruce

 

[peras]

Great info, and always good to have clients observing the work in the skinning shed. When mixing the brine, a small amount of Phenol(carbolic acid) can be mixed into the water. This really helps, but stay away it is highly poisonous.

 

[harden]

Our last trip to Africa we had issues with hair slipping. Mine were fine, but 2 friends were not. Their mounts turned out crappy. Shouldn't of been mounted in the first place because the capes were in crappy condition. Bruce

Were they all mounted at the same taxidermy studio??? Not usual for capes from the same camp have different results. Sorry to here this...

Great info, and always good to have clients observing the work in the skinning shed. When mixing the brine, a small amount of Phenol(carbolic acid) can be mixed into the water. This really helps, but stay away it is highly poisonous.

Paw print, Phenol is VERY VERY SCARY... Can be absorbed thru the skin and IS A MAJOR cause of liver cancer.

 

[huntermn15]

Dennis, Thank you for starting this thread! Great information for anyone.

 

[Brian]

Hello to all here on AH ,

Here's a few tips from a taxidermist view of your next trip

The quality of your mount depends on NOT just the taxidermist, tho' that is a very big part of it.

A whole lot depends on the Skinners and fleshers and salt shed help that your PH has hired to do the important work of preparing and salting your skins. Here is a quick and easy way to make sure they are doing the job right and correctly.

This IS EASY !!!!! You don't have to be a pro at this....

If you don't know how to prep a cape or skin , just act like you do.

Take some time and spend it in the shed, not just a moment. Spend some time SITTING, literally, in on the process, Watch them and be interested. That alone keeps them on their toes, They will think you know how to do it.

Offer them a smoke, If you don't smoke take some with you, they are a great tool for personal interaction.

Look at the skins and look for any RED meat or Yellow or white fat on the skin. if you see it touch it pull on it point to it and nod your head showing them you see it, they know its not suppose to be there. If they don't acknowledge it pull your knife and cut if off the cape. You just let them know your interested and know what they should be doing.

No red meat should be on the cape before salting EXCEPT very small amounts of the lip muscle and eye muscle when and after it is split open.

The lips should be completely laid open, splitting is what we call it, The easiest way to describe splitting to a layman is look at a hotdog bun that is not cut, the bun is the lip of your game , a knife is used to slice the bun open to put in the hotdog without cutting thru the back to open it flat. Same goes for the lips so the salt can do it's work and penetrate to the hair roots and set them, small amounts of red lip muscle can remain to strengthen the hide during shipping. The salt will penetrate 1/8 to 1/4 of red tissue and still preserve the skin anymore and you risk dermis and hair loss.

The nose should be laid open also and the cartilage should be opened in the middle. Just as the lips are done.

Ears , these have to turned inside out for the salt to work. The ears when done correctly LOOK like and ear turned inside out. Think of your socks. Watch yourself take off a pair of socks grabbing them from the top and pulling them off. They look the same either way. The ear is skinned the same way. It takes patience and a steady hand not to cut holes in ears. Look at the skinning of the ears. If they look like 1/2 ears they are not done right yet. You should get at least 3/4 look of the ears turned 7/8 look is better.

The base of the ear, the cartilage base , the red meat should be off the base as clean as it can get.

The skin before salting should have NO RED TISSUE, BLOOD CLOTS, VIENS, WHITE FAT OR YELLOW FAT ON IT AT ALL AND NO GREASE, Salt will not and can't preserve a hide covered in grease the salt will not penetrate it ! All the bones on the feet on life-size mounts should be removed. If you can't stick your thumb into a hole where the hoof is that last 1" or 2" toe bone is still in it. It will slip hair their unless removed. The hoof can remain but look INSIDE and make sure the bone is taken out. The skin it should be clean and white , before salting , with one exception....where you shot it there will be a big red spot that is the bruise and it's inside the dermis fibers, no worry. That's the salts JOB.

Lastly before salting, the eyes. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART. Look at the eyes as a small set of lips in a circle, Think of a bagel..Okay stop laughing I'm trying to do this in the ultimate layman's terms.

The eyes have muscles all around them. Like taking your knife and cutting the the bagel middle and NOT CUTTING thru the center hole of it. The lifting the edges of the bagel and inserting your favorite spread. The bagel is the eye and your favorite spread si the salt. It has to get into the bagel without damaging the center ( the eye ) and preserve the eye skin and lashes. make any sense.? That's how and eye is split open and salted.

Salting the skin,NEVER USE OLD SALT. The salt should be fresh and not wet feeling or clumpy. Used salt even re dried has the proteins and bacteria still in it from the previous use and will not wick anymore from your skins and damage them.

This is Important.... The salt that SHOULD be used is FINE GRAIN. JUST Like table salt. NOT ROCK SALT.

I truly mean it ....the finer the better. The large rock salt type granules will not touch all the skin as needed. SEA SALT is not the best to use. The minerals in Sea Salt are not kind to capes for taxidermy.

The salt when the hide is ready should be RUBBED into each and every crevice of the skin,the lips and eyes rubbed well, very well with the salt.

The skin should be Laid out flat and covered with at least 1" of salt EVERYWHERE for 24 hours
" IN THE SHADE. INSIDE , NEVER IN THE SUN, EVER !

DRY A CAPE OR LIFE-SIZE SKIN IN THE SUN OR OVER HEAT AND YOU WILL NOT GET IT MOUNTED IT WILL BE UNMOUNTABLE !

After 24 hours shake of all salt and re-salt with fresh salt leave another 24 hours.
After that shake off and hang to dry in a building or out of the SUN!

3/4 dry fold never fold a completely dry hide it will crack the fibers and then when tanned break apart.

Interacting with your skinners for even short time as they work in the skinning shed makes that personal connection deeper and your watching them shows you care about there job and they job they do for you.

The campfire will still be there in a few minutes, Take the time to interact in the shed it will be well spent !

This is excellent advice. Than you, Brian

 

[harden]

The dip pack companies have nothing to do with slitting lips turning ears opening eyes and removing meat and muscle or removing fat off especially cats. They have nothing to do with cuts in the skins or ripped up ears, Dip pack will take your skins and rehydrate them and remove some last of the little pieces of meat off the skin the PH skinners did not get off, THEN they soak them in a solution required by their country and countries that it will imported to.
Then re-salt and re-salt and boil up the horns and clean the skulls ready for vet clearance and shipment.
YOUR PH is responsible for the prep. the skinning, slitting turning and removal of all fat grease and meat BEFORE salting. Delays in getting your trophy to the skinning shed will cause hair slip, skinners are NOT trained as well as you might think. PH's think their guys are great, But really are they?
NOT spending time in the shed with the guys prepping the skins is a mistake. Watch them even if you don't know how to do it you'll see if they are making cuts or tearing ears then they say something. They work for you at the time of your safari, ask to see your first skin from your first trophy, pick it up and shake off the salt and LOOK at it you'll see if their are cuts and rips and problems with non turned ears and greasy fat dripping off the skins.
If a skin doesn't look CLEAN and white, IT ISN'T ready for salt, any meat on it IT'S not ready for salt. Any veins or tendons left on it or blood on it, IT aint ready for salt. Every skin should be salted for ONLY 24 hours then RE-SALTED. Then that salt removed after another 24 hours and the cape hung and air dried and no where near any direct sunlight. In the shade inside a building with very good ventilation To many skin are left in salt too long and in piles of other skins and it's an oven. Have 40 capes piled on top of each other in salt and the bottom ones are virtually being cooked! Proper prep IS the MOST lacking thing in todays safari business !

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

The dip pack companies have nothing to do with slitting lips turning ears opening eyes and removing meat and muscle or removing fat off especially cats. They have nothing to do with cuts in the skins or ripped up ears, Dip pack will take your skins and rehydrate them and remove some last of the little pieces of meat off the skin the PH skinners did not get off, THEN they soak them in a solution required by their country and countries that it will imported to.
Then re-salt and re-salt and boil up the horns and clean the skulls ready for vet clearance and shipment.
YOUR PH is responsible for the prep. the skinning, slitting turning and removal of all fat grease and meat BEFORE salting. Delays in getting your trophy to the skinning shed will cause hair slip, skinners are NOT trained as well as you might think. PH's think their guys are great, But really are they?
NOT spending time in the shed with the guys prepping the skins is a mistake. Watch them even if you don't know how to do it you'll see if they are making cuts or tearing ears then they say something. They work for you at the time of your safari, ask to see your first skin from your first trophy, pick it up and shake off the salt and LOOK at it you'll see if their are cuts and rips and problems with non turned ears and greasy fat dripping off the skins.
If a skin doesn't look CLEAN and white, IT ISN'T ready for salt, any meat on it IT'S not ready for salt. Any veins or tendons left on it or blood on it, IT aint ready for salt. Every skin should be salted for ONLY 24 hours then RE-SALTED. Then that salt removed after another 24 hours and the cape hung and air dried and no where near any direct sunlight. In the shade inside a building with very good ventilation To many skin are left in salt too long and in piles of other skins and it's an oven. Have 40 capes piled on top of each other in salt and the bottom ones are virtually being cooked! Proper prep IS the MOST lacking thing in todays safari business !

Excellent info.Thanks Dennis.

 

[BRICKBURN]

............ Proper prep IS the MOST lacking thing in todays safari business !

It is one of the easiest things to hide, if the hunter is not in attendance and does not inspect the capes/hides.

You only find out at home many months or years later when it is too late.

If your trophies matter put the effort in.
You just got free schooling by one of the best in the industry!

 

[jand]

Interesting thread. Soaking the skins in a saline solution with either Dettol or F10 ( fantastic product ) added is standard procedure in my camp. The skinners know not to go easy on the salt. I only use coarse salt. Skins are soaked for a few hours. I have had skins in this saline solution overnight also. In 23 years I have not had a single skin slip. I guess it works.
Choose your outfitter wisely and you wont have to help with the skinning

Happy Hunting

 

[harden]

Shumba, soaking is an art. I see your quite good at it. It can ruin a skin as fast as it helps it if the PH is not correct and the salinity of off and bactericide is not used. Your Dettol is really an antiseptic not quite a bacteriacide but will help and work for a short soak, yes. Coarse salt is not the best, tho I see it works for you... FINE GRAIN table salt grade IS. More of the finer crystals come in contact with the interior dermis and has much quicker draw of the raw natural proteins that the salt is used for drawing them out of the skin for preserving it.

 

[KAROO WILD Safaris]

It seems there's more than one way to skin a cat! I appreciate your tips here Dennis, always looking to improve the end product the hunter receives. I've had quite a few summer hunts this year and with that brings new challenges. I've found what works for us is to get the cape with head on into the cold room for a few hours to cool before face caping (normally until end of the day's hunting). The theory is that it's easier to cape those species prone to hair slip when the cape is cool and hair follicles are cold and tight. Once finished caping we wash the cape off and salt immediately while slightly wet. This wetness allows the salt to grip onto the hide. We use medium coarse salt mixed in with a bit of fine salt. Leave in salt for 3 days and then hang to dry. It works well for us and also have the taxidermist check the capes for constructive feedback and to establish a chain of command and responsibility.

Will follow your tip and use more fine grained salt.

The best tip I can give any outfitter is to take their skinners to visit the taxidermy studio regularly so they can see the entire process. They'll soon understand why it's important to do certain things well.

Victor Watson

 

[jand]

F10 is definitely the superior product to use. Interestingly I have , as an experiment , soaked my own personal game skins overnight in a saline solution , and then hung them to dry. No dry salting afterwards. They all came out and tanned perfect.
Being in a solution , the salt and bactericide/fungicide gets in everywhere where even fine salt doesn't. no bacteria and other nasties = no hair slip. It can also be used to transport a trophy back to camp that has been hunted too far away from the skinning shed. The animal is skinned on the spot and the skin put in a drum with a saline solution . The ice from the icebox is also added to bring the temperature down some.
a small plastic drum with fresh coarse salt in it and f10 added is all you need on your truck. Just add water , and a skin..

Mention should be made that when skins are taken out of the dry salt and hung to dry , care should be taken to get all excess salt out of especially the ears. Pockets of salt in the ears will draw moisture into an enclosed area and cause trouble.

I could not agree with you more on the fresh salt. Salt is cheap , trophies are not.

Thanks for the thread.

Happy hunting

 

[Bruce]

Very interesting info here... I am surprised at the comment on FINE salt vs Coarse salt.... I have trophies older than 23rys that were ALL salted in coarse salt and to date not a SINGLE problem with hair slip or otherwise. Years ago I was living in Zambia and hunted a decent Chobe bushbuck and some large Kafue lechwe ( 331/2 "). The guys that I hunted with, local friends in Zambia, had some coarse salt from Botswana that was used to salt the capes. When I foned Mike at Bengeulu Taxidermy in Lusaka to arrange the mounting etc he immediately asked.. What salt did you use? Where did it come from? He REFUSED point blank to accept the capes as he said the Botswana salt was inferior and would cause hair slip... I said I was prepared to take the risk etc ... his GREAT reply was that he wasn't prepared to do it as in years to come when all the hair fell out people would ask.. Who the hell was the taxidermist? So, he was damn right in protecting his reputation... I never got those trophies.. even eventually lost the horns, as my mate on the farm there somehow let his dogs get into the shed and they chewed up the horns/ skulls!!!
I always make a point of spending time with the skinners and showing interest in their work.

 

[UKHunter]

Interesting thread.

In Europe salt is not used at all. The animal is caped there and then, from the sternum to the atlas joint (head left on) and put in the chiller to hang over night (around 2-5 Degrees Celsius), then well wrapped up to stop freeze burn and frozen. Then delivered to the taxidermist and he will skin the head and any remaining flesh on the cape.