Question for all of you experienced guys out there. I have recently aquired my first black bear and am mounting it for a good friend. I have skinned the feet up to the last nuckle and have also skinned the large foot pad. My question is what to do with the toe pads. I am having a great deal of trouble cleaning those little guys out. I thought about injecting them. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
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Make a slice from top to bottom of each toe. Once you slice it, you can run a knife, or a scalpel blade in each toe to remove any big pieces of fat. Do not worry about the ligament. Another reason to do this is so the tanning agents get right inside each toe and helps to preserve them.
Aaron,you should be able to see inside each toe. If that's the case, I use a small pair of scissors and a scalpal.A fish cheek scraper also works along with the above.
Why in the world would ANYONE split a toe. If you've skinned the toes to the last knuckle, there's nothing there to remove. Just a thin shield and some callous. Once you get the pad cleaned of fat, that's about it. On my lifesizes, I never even cut those front paws. They WILL invert, but you have to be careful but diligent in pulling them down.
of predators feet I have skinned.....and I have never cut the pads on any toes of any feet for any species, it's not necessary. Just skin and flesh as normally done, then salt, let stand for 8 hours then resalt, then resalt again....never had any problems.
I have been, of lately anyway (last five years anyway) when skinning the feet of any large lifesize, i.e., deer, sheep, goat,muskox, etc. been removing the inside bone of the hoof itself...leaving the hoof completely hollow (both toes) before tanning. This is easier that grinding and cutting the hoof after tanning to make the feet conceal the supporting rod....just put the threaded rod through the hollow hoof and make the filling adjustments with clay. This is probably common knowledge to some...but something I decided myself, hope it helps someone.
George is right!---------'nuff said.