I am mounting a pine marten with a wrapped body, excelsior ,wires....
Is it necessary to remove the head completly from the skin? I got it skinned nearly all the way(cleaned the brain, removed tong and cheek meat) but I left the lip skin attached. I am tanning it now with Krowtan. I saw in the mammal Breakthrough book about the squirrel from Mike Thompson where he removed the skull . I just wanted to get an idea from the old timers and the new ones. Smile!
Pro and cons ?
Thanks
Jean Yves
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Jean;
Yes, you have to remove the skull. The ears need to be turned, the lips need to be split. And you need to remove the cartilege from the nose. If not these area's will shrink up terribly. Beside the tanning isn't going to pennetrate into these area unless there turned and split. And believe me you will definitly have a smell to your mount, when these area's start to rot.
Coyote
Yep...Coyote beat me to the answer...exactly the reasons he mentioned. It's not that difficult a job but has to be done.
Being a 1,200 Year Old Highlander Immorta...and another 1,201 Year Old Highlander Immortal in a Previous Life...proved this to be true.
I had to teach the Egyptians that they MUST remove the Brain from the head of the Kings before wrappingf them in their cacoons...or they'd stink to high heaven once the modern day scientists later discovered them after digging those critters up...
So they pulled out the Brains through the noses of their human specimens.
Hey...I NEVER DID git CREDIT for inventin da Brain Spoon ya no.
~ ETCC
Hi Jean,
I've done this many times. You can skin out the entire skull and leave the lips attached, but they must be split from the inside. You can also skin over the nose and remove the cartilage.Make sure you clean the skull well and rebuild all the muscle with clay. It is time consuming but can make for a terrific mount.I've done quite well in competitions using this method.
One thing you want to make sure you do is to get a good solid connection from the skull to the body. I usually fill the brain cavity with bondo and put a loop in the neck wire put it into the bondo and let it set. Wait until the bondo cools before trying to bend the wire.
Its refreshing to see someone relying on their own inginuity(spelling)instead of relying on just whats available in catalogs! Good luck!
Bob C
YEP...you kin mount it without skinning out the body too...pump it full of Formaldehyde. Heck...Funeral Morticians do it every day...I even taught the Egyptians to stuff 'em with leaves and grass without skinning the corpses...LOL.
~ ETCC