i recieved a bobcat recently that was a roadkill. he is the biggest cat i have seen in these parts. the wife took it in from a friend who said he had seen the cat get hit. when i thawed it out, i knew immediately that it was not a fresh kill when recovered because the belly was slightly bloated and the smell of bacteria was already obvious. i saw no slippage, and being this is a rare specimen, the went ahead and spent several hours skinning and fighting the smell. i used borax liberally on a cool day and then froze the raw hide for future consideration. before skinning i bathed the cat in a basacryl and water solution to try to stem off slippage, but once inside i found that the bruises under the hide had already turned greenish. what are the chances that refreezing will halt bacteria growth and that the hide will make it through the fleshing process without slippage? my intent is to thaw, salt heavily and flesh while the hide is salting (if i can keep from tossing cookies)? is a brine soak or pickle called for here? i really want to tell the guy that he brought me a spoiled specimen, but i have invested time in the skinning process and it is an unusually large bobcat. my intent was to use dp eventually.
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Cats and foxes are the worst to start with and then to couple that with a roadkill adds insult to injury. Had it been me, I'd have stuck with it right then. With DP, it's a little more forgiving than tans, but you've already introduced a concoction that might do more harm than good eventually. Sounds like this one is one that either needs to be done immediately, or just cross your fingers for later.
I have been reading about something new called stop rot' I'm going to try it my self soon' it sounds like it is just what you need. RonK
Joe Smoe finds a roadkill, takes it home, balls it up and tries to freeze.
This were most of the green probly came from, it could have taken a couple days or longer to freeze.
Skin has turned green, Right?
I would have skinned and salted it on the spot.
By freezing it again its going to take time to freeze. again time is your enemy.
The washing in Basacryl did little for the hide.
This is a good point to using a resperator, like some use for painting. No smell that way.
Did you turn every thing? eye, ears, lips? in not do that first.
ALSO BE AROUND AS IT THAWS TO UNROLL IT. OR USE COLD WATER TO THAW it.
Its probley going to be fine for a l/s mount if not do a shoulder mount.
I learned the way that freezing small mammals whole can be a bad deal.
Now here is a selling point for the Auto-Tanner.
You could have split out the e,e,n,l's, and went right into the Auto-Tanner it will pull the green out, and smell too.
i will "proceed with caution" . where is this stoprot available?
copy & paste the following, and it will take you directly to the stoprot page of T R Supply
http://stores.TaxidermyReference.com/Search.bok?category=Hide+Preparation
-Brandon