I took in groundhog that appears to be in good condition. I thawed the critter over night and skinned him out, I then put him on the fleshing beam and began fleshing, when I got to the tail area I saw that the skin had seperated into 2 layers beginning at my dorsal insision. It is a good 3"x4" area. One layer is the fur with a tissue paper thin layer of skin, the other layer is a thicker layer of skin. When I fleshed the other side of the tail, the same thing happened on that side to. Has anyone seen this before? Do you know if it will hold up and the hair not fall out? I seen my fair sharer of "hair slip" but this is totally different. Any educated suggestions? I`am posting this in the mammal section also. Thanks, BDrake
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Sounds like nothing you did wrong, that carcass is in a state of decomposition beyond what you can control. Everything will get worse before it gets better. Outdoor temperatures don't really have to be that high to really accelerate bacterial and chemical decompositions. Then if the animal was left laying around for a few hours after it was taken the problems are intensified. You probably didn't have a bit of problem until the flesh side of the skin was exposed to open air, correct?
That also happens to early whistle-pigs right out of hibernation. Either way, rather that condition was caused by a long period of torpor or post-mortem breakdown, you probably did nothing wrong, like the man said.
Well I plunged him in the pickle bath along with the guys Fox, I was more worried about the Fox! I quess I`ll keep going until it falls apart, then try to explain to the guy how his 20lbs G.hog is unmountable. crap!
with all that work you putting into the groundhop knowing that most likely it will be unmountable, did you get a deposit on it at least to cover all your futile work?
Yes on the deposit. The customer looked at it and decided to go ahead and try to mount it. I just finished the tanning and it looks the same. The hair is tight enough that I feel it will turn out just fine. The seperated area is about 3"x4 I will glue the skin together as I sew him up.