Post by keith on Jun 24, 2010 6:42:49 GMT -5
I posted this on taxidermy net yesterday, was running late so I didn't get it posted here.
Bear prep
While I was shaving a bear this morning, I was thinking of many things that would have made both the taxidermists, and my job easier, plus give a better end product. So here are a few tips on bear prep.
First, if you don’t have a fleshing beam and a good knife, it’s more than worth the investment. You can get a 6” by 60” beam from a trappers supply house for 30 some dollars and a good two handled, double edge fleshing knife in the 70 dollar range. Bears need scraped on a beam, if you try to knife the fat off you end up very inconsistent, and a lot of fat left on the skin, the one I shaved this morning had fat ranging from ¼” to a full inch thick in places. With a beam and knife you not only get the fat off right down to the skin, it also acts like a squeegee and pushes fat out of the skin, making the salt work faster, skin dry faster and less chance of grease burn.
Next, don’t fight the feet. Stopping your cut several inches up the leg and inverting the paw in a pouch does many things. For one, it takes you a whole lot more time to skin the feet that way, than it would to just cut down around the pad and sew it up when you mount it. You also have the drying issue, with the foot cut this way you need to keep it inverted to dry, if you don’t it will hold moisture forever down in the pocket, and if you didn’t take the bones out all the way to the last joint, you’re asking to lose hair on and between the toes. You need to get the fat out of the pads, especially if you are going to leave a foot pouched. I can usually turn a front paw that had the pad fat left on if it’s cut to the back of the pad, but on a back foot you can forget it. Remember, that skin isn’t near as flexible after it’s been salted and re-hydrated as it is when you’re skinning it. It’s real easy to cut just in the hair line along one side of the pad and across the front, between the pad and the toes. It will be simple to sew up and really reduce your prep time, which is money! If you open a paw this way, it’s easy to lay it, palm up, and split the webbed part over the toe bones, then flip it over and skin on top the bones and you’re right at the last joint ready to cut the bones out, quick and easy.
Face prep is not really much different than anything else, except the fact that so many taxidermists use artificial noses now. Even if you do this, you still need to skin the nose down and flesh around it. We used to finish splitting every bear nose so we knew it was getting degreased and tanned properly, now we wonder if we’re wasting our time, so we just finish splitting around the edge so we know we can get to where the hair starts. If you are going to use an artificial, skin it down so you can get the muzzle salted good, and just cut through the nasal passages so the cartilage is cut off flush with the nose skin. Make sure you get your lip splits all the way to the edge, a bear has a deep enough “crease” on the lips that it will slice easily when we go around it with the round knife, a deer has a shallower more rounded crease and will usually flatten out when you shave over it.
The last thing we see issues with is the tail. If you are going to mount the bear, and don’t want to split the tail, make sure and flesh it real clean by hand, and do not push it back hair out, leave it inverted. We can do a decent job shaving an un split tail, but we can’t get the tip, so it’s best to clean this by hand. If you are going to rug a bear, by all means split the tail out, it will give better results for both of us. Also on bears to be rugged, if the skinning cut was on the belly side of the vet, please split this so it lays out flat, easier for you to salt and easier for us to tan, resulting in a better job all around.
I hope something here helps, feel free to contact me or post here with questions.
Thanks,
Keith
Bear prep
While I was shaving a bear this morning, I was thinking of many things that would have made both the taxidermists, and my job easier, plus give a better end product. So here are a few tips on bear prep.
First, if you don’t have a fleshing beam and a good knife, it’s more than worth the investment. You can get a 6” by 60” beam from a trappers supply house for 30 some dollars and a good two handled, double edge fleshing knife in the 70 dollar range. Bears need scraped on a beam, if you try to knife the fat off you end up very inconsistent, and a lot of fat left on the skin, the one I shaved this morning had fat ranging from ¼” to a full inch thick in places. With a beam and knife you not only get the fat off right down to the skin, it also acts like a squeegee and pushes fat out of the skin, making the salt work faster, skin dry faster and less chance of grease burn.
Next, don’t fight the feet. Stopping your cut several inches up the leg and inverting the paw in a pouch does many things. For one, it takes you a whole lot more time to skin the feet that way, than it would to just cut down around the pad and sew it up when you mount it. You also have the drying issue, with the foot cut this way you need to keep it inverted to dry, if you don’t it will hold moisture forever down in the pocket, and if you didn’t take the bones out all the way to the last joint, you’re asking to lose hair on and between the toes. You need to get the fat out of the pads, especially if you are going to leave a foot pouched. I can usually turn a front paw that had the pad fat left on if it’s cut to the back of the pad, but on a back foot you can forget it. Remember, that skin isn’t near as flexible after it’s been salted and re-hydrated as it is when you’re skinning it. It’s real easy to cut just in the hair line along one side of the pad and across the front, between the pad and the toes. It will be simple to sew up and really reduce your prep time, which is money! If you open a paw this way, it’s easy to lay it, palm up, and split the webbed part over the toe bones, then flip it over and skin on top the bones and you’re right at the last joint ready to cut the bones out, quick and easy.
Face prep is not really much different than anything else, except the fact that so many taxidermists use artificial noses now. Even if you do this, you still need to skin the nose down and flesh around it. We used to finish splitting every bear nose so we knew it was getting degreased and tanned properly, now we wonder if we’re wasting our time, so we just finish splitting around the edge so we know we can get to where the hair starts. If you are going to use an artificial, skin it down so you can get the muzzle salted good, and just cut through the nasal passages so the cartilage is cut off flush with the nose skin. Make sure you get your lip splits all the way to the edge, a bear has a deep enough “crease” on the lips that it will slice easily when we go around it with the round knife, a deer has a shallower more rounded crease and will usually flatten out when you shave over it.
The last thing we see issues with is the tail. If you are going to mount the bear, and don’t want to split the tail, make sure and flesh it real clean by hand, and do not push it back hair out, leave it inverted. We can do a decent job shaving an un split tail, but we can’t get the tip, so it’s best to clean this by hand. If you are going to rug a bear, by all means split the tail out, it will give better results for both of us. Also on bears to be rugged, if the skinning cut was on the belly side of the vet, please split this so it lays out flat, easier for you to salt and easier for us to tan, resulting in a better job all around.
I hope something here helps, feel free to contact me or post here with questions.
Thanks,
Keith