Submitted by jim on 3/29/99. ( new2taxi@aol.com )
any tips in skinning, incisions, and paw presentation
This response submitted by Keith Daniels on 3/30/99. ( arlcape@bright.net )
Jim, although I have never mounted an otter ( Carol has mounted some ) I have skinned a bunch of them. I would suggest making a cased skin, cut heel to heel and peel down in a tube fashion just like you're putting it up for fur. With otter being short legged, she simply cuts the front legs off with V cuts at the shoulders, inserts the legs in the skin, puts hide paste on both parts of the cut form and pulls the skin on from the front. This not only reduces sewing, but also you don't have a seam to try and hide down the back. Otters are a very clean furred animal, meaning that the fur is all consistent in length, and appears very neatly groomed, almost sheared. Because of this, the slightest buching at a seam will show very badly, so the cased skinning really helps out. Otter are tough animals, the fat and meat sticks very tight to the skin, plan on a sharp knife for fleshing, it won't just push off like a raccoon. The last tip I can give you is the tail. After you have the tail bone out, you'll notice there's still a bead of fat on each side of where the bone was, running from base of tail to tip. This is what makes the tail flat, even though the bone is round. If you lay the tail on the table, and hold it open at your incision, you can make scores along the length of that fat and the tail will lay out nice and flat so you can flesh it off without making holes. It will take 3 or 4 cuts on each side, and oh yea, don't cut through the skin! Remember, nobody likes to sew. Keith
This response submitted by Keith Daniels on 3/30/99. ( arlcape@bright.net )
Jim, although I have never mounted an otter ( Carol has mounted some ) I have skinned a bunch of them. I would suggest making a cased skin, cut heel to heel and peel down in a tube fashion just like you're putting it up for fur. With otter being short legged, she simply cuts the front legs off with V cuts at the shoulders, inserts the legs in the skin, puts hide paste on both parts of the cut form and pulls the skin on from the front. This not only reduces sewing, but also you don't have a seam to try and hide down the back. Otters are a very clean furred animal, meaning that the fur is all consistent in length, and appears very neatly groomed, almost sheared. Because of this, the slightest buching at a seam will show very badly, so the cased skinning really helps out. Otter are tough animals, the fat and meat sticks very tight to the skin, plan on a sharp knife for fleshing, it won't just push off like a raccoon. The last tip I can give you is the tail. After you have the tail bone out, you'll notice there's still a bead of fat on each side of where the bone was, running from base of tail to tip. This is what makes the tail flat, even though the bone is round. If you lay the tail on the table, and hold it open at your incision, you can make scores along the length of that fat and the tail will lay out nice and flat so you can flesh it off without making holes. It will take 3 or 4 cuts on each side, and oh yea, don't cut through the skin! Remember, nobody likes to sew. Keith
This response submitted by new2taxi- jim on 4/1/99. ( new2taxi@aol.com )
keith, thanx so much for the tips and information, am very excited about mounting this otter and your help is much appreciated. thanx again and wish me luck jim