after i tan my hides in lutan-f for life size mount they are always alot longer then when i started and the measurements are off by several inches then when i started is this normal?
Return to Lifesize Mammal Taxidermy Category Menu
I did a life-size bear this summer (my first) and the length measurement grew by a foot. The experts here will tell you to stretch the width back into it and you will be fine.
If you took measurements before tanning....it will be easy.
For my bear, I didn't have an opportunity to measure the carcass so stretching it back to size was a guess. I knew right away that my nose to tail length was tooooooo long when the measurement I got meant I needed almost a another foot of width per the forms in the catalog.
Per someone's adive on this website, I stretched all the width I could get out of it and then adjusted the lenght according to avaiable mannikins.
For my bear....my width was a bit too wide so I pulled the length a bit and found a perfect form for the job.
So.....stretch and measure the width and the lenght should fall into place.
If I hadn't of followed this advice....I would have had to alter the form and would have ended up with a "weiner dog" bear.
huntr. i had seen someone else post a very samalar question. george told the person that a lot of beginers tended to stretch there hides during the fleshing process. i tend to believe george on that. when i first started doing deer, i had that same problem. then i started getting better, and noticed what i was doing. now as i work with my hides, i always keep going back to the girth of the animal and giving it a very light little tug on the girth. when i wash it after fleshing, tug tug. when i dry it of, tug tug. this had eliminated the problem i was having. my capes now always fit what i expected them to. thats not to say that i havent made a slight mistake form time to time, or just couldnt get something to fit right, but thats not because of the mistake of stretching its lenght. good luck.
bob