I have a fox that I would like to mount and I'm wondering the correct way to go about skinning. The animal is frozen whole with guts and all. Should I just make the dorsal cut and pull everything out thru the back or is it necessary to make a belly and a dorsal cut? Also, how long can I leave something frozen like this without damaging it? Any help with these issues would be greatly appreciated.
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make a dorsal cut, also cut all the way down the tail, you will also probably have to cut from the elbows to the pads of the feet on all legs. It will stay good frozen whole for a long time, but I will at least go ahead and skin it out (takes up less freezer space!
I agree on the dorsal cut. I'm not to keen on split tails unless I have to. It takes some practice but the tails can be pushed off the bone from the base to the tip. You need to sandwich the tail bone with two flat sticks or something similar below the skin, then push the skin off the bone. Some can take some strenght to remove and if you haven't done it before you may want to practice on something to be sure you can remove it in one piece. I've done this on things from squirrels all the way up to wolf in size. I would suggest turning the ears before freezing so if they get freezer burn they won't be hard to turn later.
Is this possible, say w/a flexable form...or at least flexable front legs?
To use any form with a cased animal. You simply have to sew up the case incision and do a dorsal cut, or belly depending on the pose. Some leaping forms can go in with a case cut. if you finagle them right.