Hello everyone-
I bought a skinned bobcat from someone for a full body mount. It has a eye to nose measurement of 1 1/4" and a nose to tail of 28".
However, it does not have a girth measurement recorded from the original carcass. This cat was case skinned and I would like to keep it that way for the pose that I will be doing. Also, I don't want to add extra incisions in the belly area for the added sewing and seams that would result. The person I bought it from doesn't know the measurement.
My original thought was to lay it flat, take the girth and then double it. I tried it that way and the results varied tremendously depending on how it was laying. 2nd thought was to stuff it with something and measure it but I thought that might make it too big as the elastic skin stretches with the filling.
What do you reccomend? Thanks in advance!
Marty
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On small lifesize mammals my experience has been that the circumference measurement is the least important.I say that reluctantly because to a point all measurements are important if they are known to be accurate.I don't consider the circumference measurement absolute becauuse there are many variables that come into play.How long was the animal expired before it was measured, for shrinkage to occur?How full or empty was the belly?It could have just gorged itself or not even eaten for a day or two.The important measurements to me are measurements of the skeleton itself.Eye to nose,nose to back of skull,and nose to base of tail.Those measurements can't change.With that said if you look through the various suppliers catalogs you will see that most of the mannikins for that eye to nose length very in their nose to base of tail length from 18 1/2" to almost 24".You say yours is 28".I would double check you measurements,either your eye to nose is off or your nose to base of tail measurements.When you find out which it is I would order a mannikin closest to it.If you had to guess I would guess on the smaller size.It is easier to lengthen it a little then to shorten it alot.If you have to shorten it alot you will have alot more to deal with than just shortening the body length.If you have to shorten the mannikin more than 1 1/2" you will most likely have to shorten other areas besides.For example the legs.
Marty, Martin makes a good point. Keep in mind that skins can streatch length wise easily in the salting/tanning process and give a distorted measurement. Also it's pretty common for someone to call a cat a little longer than actual measurement. And in mounting our local cats I find the girth to be smaller than most forms. For this reason I usually compare the skinned cat to the form and do alterations according to that comparison. In your case you will have to rely on the skin only. If you order a shorter form you will likely have an easier time of it I think. A 26" form would give you an easier fit especially if you intend to mount with a cased skin incision. The shorter form will have slightly thinner legs which will beats having to shave them down if they are too heavy. as for getting an approxamate girth I would turn the skin wrong side out measure across X2. Enjoy, Aaron H.
Thanks Martin & Aaron-
I will go smaller on the form size. I actually like the smaller poses better!
Marty