Submitted by j.cain on 5/28/99. ( jcdcjc@gateway.net )
i would like to know if there are any helpful hints on skining @ mounting a barbarosa & corsican rams. any help would be appreciated
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This response submitted by George Roof on 5/28/99. ( georoof@aol.com )
I've looked at this thread 3 or 4 times and waited for someone else to tell you the good news and the bad news. The best advice we could all give is to tell people to stop shooting those nasty stinking sheep.
Now, that's out of my system, lets start with the corsican. These sheep really pose very little problem They have nice coloration, skin out rather easily, and mount well. The short haired hide and beard are easily groomed. If you can mount a deer, this one will be rather easy once you get those eyes set properly.
The barbarosa is a whole 'nother story. Just wear old clothes that you can burn afterwards. If the preserve didn't shear the sheep in the last few months, prepare for a stinking mess. The wool traps everything the sheep went through. Most times it will have matted up under its horns and you can expect maggots to be living there. The ears are thin and most have ear tags which makes opening them a real charm. Then the skin of the animal is thin, which makes removing the gobs of slimy fat a lot of fun. If you get lucky and have a double curl, getting the cape out from the horns will take you most of a day. Then you'll have to wash it 5 or 6 times to get the fat, blood, and dung out of the wool. IF and I mean IF you can find a tannery to tan it, let them do it. When you get it back, pick the number of hours you want to comb out the wool. You can spend weeks trying to get burrs and thistle seeds and sawdust out of that mess. When the times is up, stop.
I boil the horns to get the cores out. I fill them with borax and let them set in a corner for a week or two. I cut the cores in half so that I can epoxy the horns back in place later. When I mount it, I mount it with the cores only. When finished, I push the horns over the cores as tightly as I can and drill a small hole in the back of them to insert a small nail that will hold the horn in the correct position. I paint a coat of epoxy on the horn and then slather another coat down in the horns. I push the horn over the core and insert the nail. When the epoxy dries, I drive the nail in flush with the horn and cover the head with epoxy clay. Then I groom it one last time.
Be sure to charge enough for your work. The barbarosa will beat you to death and if you charge what you would for a deer, it will eat you alive. I've done a dozen or more of them and I encourage my customers to leave them with the gamefarm taxidermist.
Did I mention, I don't like barbarosa sheep?
This response submitted by Rob on 5/28/99. ( )
George said it all and left nothing out,I agree.I recently mounted four of the white wooly maggot infested sheep and don't particularily care if I ever see another on of them.Whitetail deer are to easy!!!One final note make sure you charge enough,I did but it still wasn't worth the aggravation.
This response submitted by Abel on 5/29/99. ( )
Cain
I had one of those nasty maggot infested wolly wonders on my bench and a bot fly maggot the size of my little finger crawled out of it's nostril. That was the last one i took in , when i get a call on one now , i say, sorry i specialize in fish and recomend my competetitor that dislike the most that day, usually the same one all the time .
I send him sailfish and marlin repair jobs also .
Abel
This response submitted by Bob C on 5/29/99. ( bobswildlife@webtv.net )
Cain , Now that you've heard the horror stories, let me give you my opinion. No, they are not the eaisiest animals to mess with. But they are not all that bad. They skin out fairly easily, not to much fat.Yes , sometimes it can be a bit*& skining with the horns in the way. Just skin them out , split the ears , nose, and lips. Rough flesh them,salt them well .Dry the skins well and send them to Wildlife Fur Dressing. They come back CLEAN and GROOMED. They save you a bunch of work. The best part about mounting these critters is the sewing. With all that wool nobody can tell how bad a stitcher you rally are. Good luck to ya, Bob C
This response submitted by J.CAIN on 5/29/99. ( JCDCJC@GATEWAY.NET )
BOB COULD YOU GIVE ME THE ADDRESS& PHONE # TO WILDLIFE FUR DRESSING I WOULD APPRECIATE IT ALSO ANY MORE ADVICE
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