Squirrel Ears???

[makemgooble]

Do you flesh squirrel ears?  If not, do you inject them with perservative or just card them?  Thanks

[George Roof]

Squirrels don't pay enough for me to turn the ears on "most" of them.  I simply card them.

[oldredneck]

i always split them , its quit fiddly ! i think i will  card them next time. whats the best way ?

[makemgooble]

do you inject them with preservative or just card them?  thanks for your help

[oldredneck]

the few squirrels that i have done [5]  i have always turned and brushed dp into the ears and put in an ear liner made from thin lead sheet,  thats the way i have learned. but i will try just carding them as george does, 

[ladyarcher726]

I bought some cheapo press on nails to card squirrel ears with.  The've got a nice curve to them, hope they work!

[George Roof]

GREAT IDEA ladyarcher.  Got a chuckle out of the "lead liners".  Now those were the bad old days when that was done.

I guess it depends on the situation.  When I'm feeling real "professional" or teaching someone, they're split and then DP'd.  When I'm doing one to go out, I DP the hide and just card the ears raw.  I do inject rabbit ears before carding them.

[Lisa M]

I did mine this way mostly cause I didn't know any better, but it worked fine, even if it was labor intensive.  (It was school...late at night, by myself in the shop.)  I turned the ears, glued a little teeny tiny clear piece of plastic...(like the see-through address windows in junk mail) inside the ears, mounted it, shaped the ears, and then instead of carding, I put clay on the inside (after smoothing the hairs down) and then on the outside, pinching the two clays together on the edges.  When the squirrel was dry, I just popped the clay off, & fluffed the hair.  It didn't pull any hair or anything.  I'm thinking I over did it!  lol  DP, card Lisa, DP, card...much easier.

[Matt]

I split mine and I do it with the end of a steel. Once I get it started with razorblade, the steel will slide up to the edge with very little pressure. Takes 2 min. and I feel the ears look better when split.

[jward]

I did ny first squirrel using a video I got from WASCO.  I just DP'd the hide and then used clay as a carding material.  That was the way Sally did it in the video.  Turned out really good.  It was a black squirrel.  Refernce  is the key.

[Yeager1]

I turn all my fox squirrel ears and use epoxy putty for earliners. You just can't get a good looking ear by carding in my opinion. I know those pointy eared bastard grey squirrels are hard to turn, but lucky for me I don't mount many greys.

[Jim B]

Nice squirrel work Pyeager.They are tough to do well.

[Yeager1]

Thanks Jim, fox squirrels have always been my favorite mammals to hunt or mount. So I always tried to study them as much as possible when I had a fresh specimen in the woods. One the most obvious observations way back then was that fox squirrel ears weren't paper thin and looked like they were slammed shut in a book! Another thing I noticed was a fox squirrels teeth seldom show when it is alive. Until you offer it a finger to bite!

[oldredneck]

no more lead liners for me ! George is right, i'm glad to say.  i will start looking for alternatives,

[makemgooble]

thanks for everyone's responses