i am sooo curious as to why severe hair slippage occurs. i have only mounted about a dozen deer and twice now after pulling cape out of the pickle there has been bald spots on the cape. both times i noticed hair slippage while fleshing prior to the pickle but was hoping the salt and pickle would stop it. i know of the product "stop rot", how and when do you use it?
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I put it on before. I put it on when I am skinning a deer or any animal. I paint it on the eyes, ears, noise and any bad parts inside and out. I do it even if they are frozen. I found if I put it on the skin when they were frozen and they were thawing out they seamed to skin easer. If I were you I would call Glen he can tell you all about stop rot and hair slippage.
Hope this helps.
Greg @
Wildlife Illsions Taxidermy
The pickle will not cure a slipping cape or skin - but salting them first and drying them will! I've worked with some very doubtful capes - and once they are salted and then dried hard - they all pull through the process. Ask a Tannery - they do the same thing!
The drying is an important step in tightening the hair so it survives the process - intact!
these things called gardens. In these things called gardens, we have what is called root vegetables. Many of them are shaped like a hair follicle. When the ground is dry, you can't pull the carrots out.
Maybe we should use dirt to set the hair?
Don, if you have any questions regarding STOP-ROT and use of the same, feel free to call me on my toll free at 1-866-849-9198, or send me an e-mail with your phone number, and I'll return a call.
Glen Conley
Whitetail Designer Systems, Inc.
Hair slippage is one of the things most taxidermists dread. Here in the South (Georgia), it is common due to the hot early season and warm middle season. The majority of hunters don't have a clue about bacteria and hair slippage. Many hunt with clubs but don't have the proper facilities i.e. frigerators and freezers to properly cool down capes. Some throw them still warm into plastic bags and ride them around for only God knows how long before freezing them in their home freezers, only then to try to push them off on an unsuspecting taxidermist. To make matters worse, most will lie to you about how the cape has been handled, afraid that you will turn them down! I wonder why? I have saved a few capes by soaking in a denatured alcohol solution(in a refrigerator) if I detected any problems up front. I have not tried Glen Conley's Stop Rot as yet, but I intend to check it out. If it did what he claims on his website it must be good stuff. Also, I no longer take in frozen heads. I have the customer thaw it out and bring it in cold. The reason? When I first started I took them anyway I could get em'and unfortunately I got a couple of really funky nearly rotted heads. One had a maggot in his nostril that measured a full 1/2"and was fat as a butterbean! What does that say to you? By the way if Glen Conley reads this I was trying to identify the form you used on your site. I was thinking it was one of Van Dykes originals, was I right? Whatever it is I like the work and symetry of the form, let me know for sure, thanks, Jack.