The quality of your trophy starts with field care
Detailed instructions:
If you are hunting abroad, please contact us at least two weeks prior to your departure. Let us know what animals you plan on hunting and what types of mounts you desire. We then can give you detailed skinning, measurements, field care, and shipping instructions, to assure you the best possible mounts.
General Instructions:
This section is designed to give you some general insight on proper field care.
- Keep the specimen cold. Get it to your taxidermist as soon as possible (show off your trophy after its
been mounted)
- Be careful not to expose your specimen to heat when transporting. Trunks and pick up beds can heat
up on long travels.
- Ventilate the carcass of a large animal if unable to skin or remove promptly from the woods. Hang or lay
specimen on sticks to allow air circulation.
- Keep specimen out of the sun. Warmth and moisture breeds bacteria and accelerates decomposition.
- Don't assume your guide or outfitter knows how to take care of your trophy, many don't. Contact us
prior to leaving for detailed instructions.
- Before salting skin, flesh heavy meat and fat from skin, split lips, nose, and turn ears. After salting,
allow fluids to drain. Shake out and re-salt the next day. Do not store in plastic bags, use burlap or cloth.
- Do not leave fish to lay in warm water. Keep them on ice.
- Do not carry birds to be mounted in your hunting coat. Take special care, to not ruffle the feathers of
your birds, till you can get them to a taxidermist.
Repairs are not easy to conceal
Game heads:
- Do not shoot unnecessarily.
- Do not cut throat.
- Do not cut or punch holes through the ears for tags.
- When gutting or skinning cut up from under the hide to avoid cutting the hair. Cut in clean straight lines.
- Be careful when dragging, drag in the direction the fur lays.
- Do not hang by the neck, suspend the animal from its front ankles to avoid damage to the neck.
Small and medium size animals, birds and fish:
do not cut or clean specimens.
Proper freezing techniques
Large Mammals:
Remove carcass from skin. Leave head, feet, and tail in skin, if you are not sure how to skin properly. Let feet out and roll up skin to head, fold feet on top of rolled skin. Don't roll up skin over head and feet, this will insulate them and keep them from freezing. Double wrap and freeze.
Small and medium size animals:
Freeze whole, double wrap and lay flat.
Fish:
Freeze fish whole, lay out flat with best side up. Be careful to protect the fish and fins. Wrap entire fish in water soaked towel or two layers of water soaked paper towels. Seal in two plastic bags.
Birds:
Rinse blood off feathers with cold water, double wrap, freeze whole and lay flat.
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