Taking care of a Leopard skin

[Bullet Safaris]

Taking care of a Leopard skin

• Bullet Safaris
• May 10, 2019

 

[Lbarr265]

Taking care of a Leopard skin

• Bullet Safaris
• May 10, 2019

Congrats to the lucky hunter. Is there a story to go along with the skin?

 

[Jfet]

A good man doing a good job.

 

[CAustin]

Would love to see even more of this. Very important as I understand to get the skin very clean as this man is obviously doing.

 

[Hank2211]

Thank you for posting. This cannot be emphasized enough.

Many years ago I took a very nice leopard in Zimbabwe. The skin was dipped and packed. It arrived in Canada about a year after the hunt - not an unusual wait at the time, nor even today. My taxidermist called me as soon as he saw the skin. It had not been properly cleaned, and as a result the skin had begun to rot. The ears were completely rotted and much of the skin was unusable.

My taxidermist managed to salvage the tail and enough of the head to make a “head” mount, but using bits of skin from other parts of the body and ears from a mountain lion. He did great work under the circumstances, but I did not get the full mount leopard I was looking for.

Of course no one accepted responsibility; it’s generally a waste of time even to try.

I have more experience now. When I take a valuable skin I haunt the skinning shed until I am satisfied that the skin has been properly taken care of. This is the time to be a pain in the ass, and to make sure the skinner earns his tip.