Someone is giving me two frozen skins. They are road kills in real good condition. One is an otter and the other is a fisher. They have been in the freezer for two years. All he did was skin them cut the carcass off at the wrists so the feet are still attached to the skin and and skinned out the head so there is no skulls.
I have three questions.
Can I measure them some way so I can buy forms?
More than likely they are freezer burned will pickleing repair that?
Would you tan or use dry powder?
I am a newbie I have some books and tapes on taxidermy but they aren't that great. since I found this site I've seen what WASCO has to offer and I think I'm going to order the Breakthrough manuals and tapes.
This sight is awesome!
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First you need to thaw the otter. I would flesh it, salt it, dry it, pickle it, then tan it. After the tan I would then take the measurements needed for a manikin.
Pickling will not repair freezer burn. You do this first by using warm water and a bacteriacide and inject those bad areas. You can also add some ultra-soft to the mixture. It will a little time but it probally will rehydrate with no problems.
As for the third question I answered that in the first. Just take your time and all will work out. One thing to remember when you measure for a manikin always stretch the hide width wide and not length.
The skins should still be good. After you get them ready to mount,
just stretch the skins a little and measure for the mannikin-order
your mannikin based on these measurements. You should be doing this
regardless of whether you have measurments from a carcass. Bubba.
Thank you very much Frank and Bubba.
Bob