Taxidermy

Proper field care for Rugs

Some of the most impressive trophies are rugs. Bear, cougar, badger and bobcat are just a few of the animals that will make beautiful rugs. Here again, a little planning and care on your part will help be sure your rug turns out the way you want it.
After the animal is down, make the first incision from the anus to a point on the chest directly between the front legs. On the hind legs start your cut at the back of the foot pad (heel), and continue cutting along the back of the leg until you reach the anus. Repeat this with both hind legs. Do not cut towards the foot, you will more than likely run to the side of the foot. On the front legs, again start at the heel of the front foot and run your cut to the incision on the chest between the front legs. You can continue the first cut up under the head now also. You should now be able to finish skinning the animal to the back of the head and to the feet.
If unsure of how to skin head and feet, bring it in to the taxidermist. If you are unable to get to your taxidermist quickly, then go ahead and skin the head by turning it inside out. When you get to the ears, cut them off close to the skull. When you get to the eyes, poke your finger into the eye socket and skin around your finger, making sure you get the inside of the eyelids. The skin grows close to the skull so be careful when skinning. When skinning the lips, be sure to include as much of the lips as possible, cutting next to the gum line all the way around the mouth. Cut through the nose cartilage to free the nose and you have skinned the head. When skinning the feet, work slowly! Skin each toe to the last joint at the claw. If you definitely want a rug you can cut through the pads on the bottom of the feet to make this easier. When you have completed skinning, be sure to trim off as much fat and meat as possible and use lots of salt to cover the entire hide.You can't use to much salt. Then get it to your taxidermist as soon as you can, He will need to turn the ears and lips, or you can try it by following the instructions for a big game head. Consult with your taxidermist if you are unsure of how to do this or if you just want to learn.
A few other points to remember when dealing with rugs:

• Bears, cougars, etc. also have skulls that make impressive trophies. You may want to consider this and not throw away the skull. Properly cleaned and placed on a plaque, they look quite nice. The skulls are also how they are measured for the record books.
• Try to make the cuts as straight and clean as possible. The cuts on the legs will often follow a hair line, so use that as a guide. Straight centered cuts will give the rug a better balance and will require less trimming.
• Bears killed in the fall will often have up to 6 inches of fat on them. Try to cut away as much of this as possible to avoid hair slippage. Salt will not penetrate the fat well and the hair will slip quickly.
• Be sure to take the bone out of the tail. Make a cut along the underside of the tail to the tip and take the whole tail bone out.