Ear Openers : Next best thing to sliced bread and straight razors in bulk packs.
Get a pair if you don't have a pair.
A cool taxidermist added a pair to an order and then shipped me my pair, so I didn't even end up buying them outright, I got a 1-pelt "try before you buy". I bought!
Now, it used to take me 20 minutes or more to peel a pair of fox ears, and I would often ding up the very tips or ends. It was a very hefty "finger workout" that I was getting sick of doing, when I could be on to the next pelt.
I can now get the same fox ears turned *without injecting* in about 7 minutes, and that's "to the very tips and sides" all around, with no blowouts.
Easy species - fox and bobcat - should remain easy.
Can't wait to try harder animals (coyote and up).
Jackrabbit continue to be easy. They turn with any wood dowel inserted and rotated, in to the injected ear. I have not tried turning jackrabbits using the ear openers.
I might even want to try a deer.
Yes, you can even turn the ears of animals who have no ear base / base cartilage removed. Just start the ear with the usual cut or peel method (injecting will help).
Want to outfit your hunter(s) with ear openers to make sure those high dollar bighorn, bongo, sable, etc. ears are turned within an hour of death? Don't want to let a $15 pair out of your sight? Are you a trapper and don't want to spend $15 on a pair of ear openers that will last all season (afraid they will be lost or stolen)? No problem. Get disposable human vaginal speculums. About 75 cents each, made of clear plastic. Recyclable. Great for one-off use. No joke. Buy them on the Internet and you won't have to worry about wierd looks from the store clerks. These work on the very same principle (squeeze: open, relax: close), just shorter.
Nasal speculum can be used for much smaller ears, I'm thinking skunk, mink, and baby coon. I'm not sure if they come in the disposable variety, will check.
This happy tip-set © 2005 to, and brought to you by the leading vendor of fur-bearer, fur market taxidermy capes at great discount prices (fox, wolf, coon, mink, etc) : taxidermyskins@yahoo.com
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On a public domain site with no authorship. Bet that would be cute to try and enforce. And I don't know where you've been, but ear openers have been around for about 35 years now. Besides, hunters with ear openers is just inviting blown out ears. No thank you.
IP law covers postings made in both public and private forums. Any time the stuff is "first placed in to fixed form" - i.e. the minute it hits the server, it's protected.
ANYWAY...
I blew out 3 sets of ears. The holes (3 holes/6 ears) were huge. The ears were good quality and now will need the ol' shaved skin glue-over (on the inside) before using a liner or the bondo method. That blowout thing doesn't happen with the razor and finger workout. I might get a little nick or edge cut here or there but never a big V halfway up.
I don't know if I'll keep these. They speed things up, sure, but they are a big hit in quality.
Maybe, like all tools, the skill just needs to be learned, and the next set of ears will be better?
That's a new one for me. But what exactly is being copyrighted and what does IP law have to do with copyrighting. He's copyrighting his OPINION?
The next set of ears was not better. They were a perfect test set, too. I was oh so gentle and slow with these. The ears *almost* blew out but I caught them in time. The fur had pulled through the ear but the skin hadn't torn yet. Ended up finishing the ears with the "old way" with only minor problems.
The openers are good to start ears off, but so are forceps.
I do recommend ear openers, to those who can figure out how not to blow out ears with them, for larger ears such as deer, or to those who don't really need to care, such as someone who just wants to peel the ears for trapping / fur market put-up.
Don't you just love when a "happy review" ends up a "disappointment"?
These are going back. sigh.
IP = intellectual property
I have turned hundreds of ears with turners and still blow through some every year. They are a tool, not a Godsend. I am with George, when hunters start carrying their own turners I am going to need counseling.
I use my ear openers to catch a good signal on the old radio. They're hooked right onto my broken antenna. Ha!
I just can't get any confidence to pull on an ear like that. Every time I have, I've ripped the ear. Fergettit. No more.