Field Care

Basic “Do’s & Don’ts” This is for the field to best preserve your trophy for quality mounts by your taxidermist.

The following are guidelines to help you in the field. It is hard to put some things on paper that are better shown first hand. Don’t be afraid to ask your taxidermist how to skin out an animal. We have no problem showing people the proper techniques of skinning and would prefer to show them the right way instead of them making mistakes in the field. We hope to have a good video in the future for you on how to skin. But even then, seeing how to skin first hand just can’t be beat.
First we will list some Do’s & Don’ts and then talk about each species.

Do’s SKIN YOUR ANIMAL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE – Unless it is a bird, fish, or small game.
1: Remove excess meat from hide and cover thoroughly with regular salt like table salt.
2: Freeze hide, head, or entire animal as soon as possible if you are unable to skin the animal.
3: Spray fly spray on animal if you want or put pepper around the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
4: Slide birds into a pair of nylons to protect feathers.
5: Take lots of pictures.
6: Take some measurements.
7: Take notes on anything that may distinguish your trophy.
8: Before you start cutting, think about the kind of mount you might like to have.
9: If you have a taxidermist, talk to him or her about the kind of hunt you are going on and what
steps they would recommend in preserving your trophy.
10: Clean blood off hair and horns if possible.
11: Keep hide in shade out of direct sun light.

Don’ts:
1: Don’t use rock salt, as it will only sit there and do nothing.
2: Don’t put your trophy in a plastic bag until after it has been completely frozen or you will
promote the spoiling of your trophy.
3: Don’t slit the throat of your trophy to bleed it. The blood will come out when you gut it.
4: Don’t gut/clean fish. Leave them whole.
5: Don’t ring the neck of your bird. It only damages the feathers.
6: Don’t worry about holes in hides from gun shots. In most instances the hide is still there and
has only been pushed aside like pushing a pencil through a piece of paper.
7: Don’t drag your animal if possible.