Trophy Handling

When working with the trophies they should be handled with care and preserved as best as possible.

 

Trophy care and treatment are critical on a wildlife ranch that specialises in trophy hunting, as well as other hunting activities. The wildlife rancher’s responsibilities do not end once the client has collected a good trophy, but the hunter will have accomplished the major goal of the hunt at this point. Aside from images and memories, genuine trophies are tangible evidence of a successful hunt. As a result, the wildlife rancher or hunter outfitter should send the trophies to a fully qualified and renowned taxidermist to ensure that the finished product is expertly prepared. However, it is still the job of the wildlife rancher to ensure that all trophies are treated with care and handled correctly so that the taxidermist can transform them into works of art that the owner can be justly proud of.

Facilities

Proper facilities are required to handle hunting trophies.

 

The correct facilities are required for properly preparing hunting trophies. If necessary, a trophy can be handled in the field by someone who knows how. An excellent abattoir can be turned into a facility where trophies can be handled correctly and professionally with minor changes. It should be noted that hunters may like to visit the facility while their trophy is being processed. This will be terrific marketing and public relations for any client who wants to see the trophy being prepared following a successful hunt. A clean and well-organised facility will immediately put the client at ease, assuring him that the trophies will be properly prepared. When designing an appropriate facility for processing trophies, three major factors must be considered: a salt pit for skins, hardwood drying beams, and a storeroom for dried trophies. When creating these characteristics, there should be no compromises or half-measures.

A. Salt Pit

A salt pit used for the drying of hunting trophies.

 

A salt pit surface must slope at an angle of five degrees and have a drainage furrow for excess moisture. This will ensure proper drainage of the skin while lying in the salt and prevent pools of bloody water drawn from the skin by the salt from collecting on the skin and causing bacteriological damage. If a salt pit cannot be constructed, a wooden salting board can be constructed and placed in the corner of the room. It can be constructed with planks that are joined with solid copper screws, which do not rust. The board should be larger than the largest skin to be handled. The wooden platform is mounted on a frame of heavier wood at a slope of five degrees. Another option is to use untreated wooden droppers with tops of 20-40 mm. The droppers should be placed as close as possible to one another but on top of transversely placed droppers at each end and in the middle. The top droppers should be covered with 80% shade cloth to prevent the salt from falling through the spaces between them. The excess moisture will drain through the shade cloth. A salting board of 3 x 3 m is usually efficient. The board should also be placed at an angle of five degrees on the floor of the trophy preparation facility.

B. Drying Beams

Drying beams should be made of wood to prevent marks left on the skins.

 

The entire drying beam over which the skins are to be dried must be made of wood because corroding metal leaves marks on the skin. The wood should be left untreated, and skins should never be hung over tar or creosote-treated wood. The raw bluegum posts make ideal drying beams. The posts can be built into the walls of a drying room at a suitable height, or they may be supported on wooden legs. Anything that can leave a mark on the skin like rusty material or empty oil drums that support the wooden beams should be avoided. A drying room should always be neat and well-ventilated.

C. Storeroom

The conditions of the store room need to be optimal to preserve the skins.

 

The storeroom should have a lock, predator- and rodent-proof and adequately equipped with wooden racks. It must be dry in the storeroom because any moisture will spoil the skin. Rat poison can be placed safely out of reach of pets or children to ensure that no rats will damage the skin. Insects, rats and traditional healers are the greatest potential threat to raw hunting trophies. Traditional healers are a potential risk because items such as duiker horns, spotted hyaena tails, blue wildebeest tails, eland horns, the tips of elephant trunks, and the clavicles, claws and various other parts of a lion are sought-after items, which they use to heal their clients or impart special powers to them. The wildlife rancher can prevent this by developing a good relationship with such healers and providing these items that are not needed for the trophy, either free or at an agreed price.

 

Preparing Trophies

The following procedure can be followed to create an exceptional trophy for the hunter.

A. Materials and Equipment

a) A set of skinning knives; b) plastic tag to label the skins.

 

The following materials and equipment are required to prepare a hunting trophy for processing:

• Suitable skinning knives of good quality steel. A sharp-pointed knife is useful for skinning heads and feet.
• A carpet knife.
• Good whetstones.
• Aluminium, galvanised iron, plastic or stainless-steel labels for marking the trophies, and strong twine or galvanised wire for attaching the labels.
• Good quality salt. Fine salt is the best, but first-grade coarse salt may also be used. However, dirty stock salt should never be used.
• Insecticides for protecting the trophy skins from insects.

B. General Guidelines for Handling Trophies Before Skinning

The following hints will ensure that a better trophy may be produced, which will simplify the task of the taxidermist later. It will also increase client satisfaction.

• Advise a novice client to shoot an animal on the shoulder blade or just behind the shoulder blade. Bullet injuries in the necks of smaller animals typically inflict significant damage and are difficult to mend.
• Allow the client enough time to photograph the prize animal he has shot, or arrange for someone else to do so. It is quite vital for the customer, but time should not be wasted in hot temperatures for too long, as the skin may begin to rot.
• Skin the trophy as quickly as possible after the animal is shot, as decomposition begins right away. Never drive with the carcass in the back of a vehicle for an extended period, and if the facilities are too far away, skin and salt the animal at the place where it was shot.
• Always keep the weather conditions in mind, and in hot weather, shift the carcass to the shade as soon as possible. Within half an hour of the animal’s death, the entrails should be removed and the carcass skinned. If the animal is gutted, this is not as urgent in milder weather. It is vital to note that a trophy’s skin and hair will begin to deteriorate long before the meat does.
• Remove the animal’s intestines immediately after it has been shot to prevent bloating. Bloating forces gastric juices through the digestive tract. Any stomach secretions that get to the hair roots will hasten hair loss.
• Never drag a heavy, unprotected carcass shot in a mountainous location downward or over rocks or gravel. If dragging a prize is required, place it on a tarpaulin or on sacks to avoid damaging the hair. No animal shot as a trophy should ever be dragged without this protection.
• Never transport an animal onto bare metal or black rubber mats that have been sun-heated. To begin, place a tarpaulin, hessian sacks, or leafy branches on the vehicle’s load bed to protect the trophy from any scorching surfaces.
• Make certain that no pieces of the carcass come into contact with the vehicle’s body while in transit. A trophy hunter will be disgusted if even a millimetre of the horn’s tip scratches away during transportation.
• After loading, cover the animal with leafy branches or light sacks to protect it from the sun and extreme heat while being carried to the skinning facility.

Always confirm exactly what the trophy hunter wants from the trophy so that there is no misunderstanding later. Only once complete clarity on this point is reached can the actual skinning begin.

C. Large Mammals: Flat Skins

a) zebra flat skin with head mount; b) Oryx flat skin without a head mount.

 

If the client does not want a shoulder mount, full mount, or rug mount, a huge trophy mammal is skinned to make a flat skin. A rug mount is typically made out of a mounted head attached to a flat skin. This is common for cats and other carnivores. A flat skin is typically used as a floor cover or to cover a couch, among other things. This process is based on the standard skinning operation used on any wildlife ranch and should be recognisable to the majority of ranchers. It is vital to understand that there are variances based on the species being skinned.

D. Cats and Other Types of Carnivores

a) Lion flat skin with head mount; b) Leopard flat skin with head mount.

 

Most cats and carnivores are prepared as rug mounts. The following procedures need to be followed:

Making the cuts:

Lay the animal on its back in the shade. Cut A as shown in Cross sections of how to cut carnivores and cats. Begin at the front teeth in the middle of the lower jaw. Cut through the lower lip. Then cut down the centre of the under part of the neck along the middle of the chest over the stomach up to the tip of the tail. Cuts B and C along the front and hind legs are started in the centre under the paws, between the front side of the pads and the toes. This divides the pads in two along the back of the front and hind legs to the first joint. The cut then proceeds systematically along the inside of the front and hind legs until cut B meets cut A in the centre of the chest and cut C meets cut A just ahead of the scrotum, or in a similar area between the hind legs in a female. This procedure is essential to obtain symmetrical skin after it has been tanned.

Cross sections of how to cut carnivores and cats. Because of the various diseases that wild game can transmit to humans, always use extreme caution when handling the carcass. Use rubber or latex gloves and thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water after handling.

Skinning:

Cutting a trophy mount.

 

Start skinning the carcass from cuts A, B and C as carefully as possible. Be careful not to cut holes into the skin, and take care that no fat or meat is left on the skin. The paws of cats and other carnivores form an important part of the trophy skin and should be skinned out with great care. Turn the skin inside out while skinning the paw. Skin each toe carefully and cut it off where the last bone of the tow joins the claw. Now skin the head from cut A. Cut the lips free from the gums. Then cut the nose cartilage and the eyelids free from the inside. Also, cut the ear cartilage free from where it is attached to the skull.

After the skin has been cut from the carcass, all the meat and fat that are still adhering to it should be removed. Cut the tissue from the pads under the paws. Cut the skin away carefully from the base of the nails, but do not remove the nails. Cut the inner tissue of the lips away carefully from the outer skin, but do not remove it. However, do not cut the top lip too deeply so that the hair roots are severed from the whiskers. When this happens, the whiskers will fall out. Make incisions through the fat and muscle tissue between the rows of the hair roots. Remove all the loose fat and tissue so that only the undamaged hair roots are left behind. Only now will the salt be able to penetrate this area effectively to prevent the whiskers from falling out later. Split the ears by cutting the flesh at the base of the ear away from the outer skin until the cartilage is reached. Now cut away between the cartilage and the outer ear skin by continually turning the ear inside out until the outer ridge of the ear is reached. The outer skin and cartilage of a cat’s ears cannot be separated by using an instrument, as in the case of an antelope, therefore the outer skin has to be cut loose physically right up to the edge. Now split the nose cartilage in half between the nostrils. Cut the cartilage away from the outer skin to the edge of the nostrils. Remove all the loose fat and flesh. Tag the skin before salting it.

E. Zebras

 

Because all types of zebra have a thick hide, effective salt penetration has to be ensured. Moreover, they have a layer of fat under the mane that may cause problems.

Making the cuts:

Cut A is the same as for the cats and other carnivores. Cut off the foot at the joint. Make cuts B and C along the inside of the front and hind legs until cut B meets A on the chest between the front legs, and cut C meets cut A between the hind legs until cut B meets cut A on the chest between the front legs, and cut C meets cut A between the hind legs.

Skinning:

Start skinning from cuts A, B and C as for the cats and other carnivores, except that with a zebra there are no paws that have to be skinned out. Then skin the head as for the cats and other carnivores, except that there are no whiskers that require special attention. With a Burchell’s zebra, the layer of fat under the mane must always be removed up to the skin. Although this 40 mm wide strip of fat is not obvious in freshly skinned animals, it is always present in a Burchell’s zebra. When the skin begins to dry out and this fat has not been removed, it will show as a yellow stripe. Once this stripe becomes visible, it is already too late to take any action. The result will be that the mane hairs will fall out during the tanning process because there has not been adequate salt penetration.

The tail of a Burchell’s zebra should be skinned out with more care than that of any other animal. The skin at the tip of a zebra’s tail tears easily. This tear may result in the loss of the brush or part of it. The tail must be skinned out properly to the tip. If this is not done, then the long hairs of the tail will drop out during tanning. Tag the skin before salting.

F. Other Types of Animals

All mammals other than carnivores and zebras are treated as follows:

Making the cuts:

Cut the head off behind the ears. Cut the feet off. Make cut A as for the cats and other carnivores, except that the head should be removed. Make cuts B and C along the front and hind legs as for a zebra.

Skinning:

Skinning is done as for Burchell’s zebra, except that now there is no head and skin.

G. Tagging or Marking a Flat Skin

Mark the skin with a label that includes a number or a name. Labels might be made of aluminium, galvanised iron, stainless steel, or printed vinyl material. Attach the label to the tail’s base. Prevent potential confusion by labelling the skin at this stage so that the client receives the correct trophy. Failure to do so may result in a bad reputation for the hunter, outfitter, or wildlife rancher and the loss of prospective clients.

H. Salting the Skin

Thoroughly rub the salt into all areas of the skin.

 

To begin, thoroughly cleanse the skin with cold water to eliminate all blood and grime. Hang it for about 30 minutes in the shade over a wooden beam to let the excess water drain away. Allowing a dry layer to form on the inside of the skin, on the other hand, will prevent the salt from penetrating properly. Before salting the skins with grain salt, they can be pre-salted in a saturated salt solution. To do so, make a saturated salt solution in a 100-200-litre plastic or fibreglass container and add 30 ml of disinfectant, such as Dettol or Savlon. After cleansing the skin with cold water, submerge it in the saline solution for about 30-45 minutes. Then remove it and continue with the salting.

In the salt pit, apply a 10 mm layer of salt to an area greater than the skin’s surface. Stretch the skin out completely on the salt, hairy side down. Make sure the skin’s edges, which tend to roll up at this stage, are properly opened out. Rub the salt into the skin’s surface with your hands until it is completely covered in salt. The rolled-up edges of the skin should be massaged with salt until they open up. The salt should be thoroughly rubbed into all areas of the skin, especially the skin on the head and feet. If one piece of raw, unsalted skin touches another piece of raw, unsalted skin, the two pieces will stay together and prevent salt penetration, resulting in hair loss on the exterior. Following that, a thick layer of salt, roughly 20 mm thick, should be applied to the entire skin surface. If more than one skin needs to be salted on the same day, the next skin can be placed hairy side down on top of the salt coating of the preceding skin after the same process. It is critical to never use salt twice and to discard all old salt promptly to remove any temptation to do so, especially in an emergency.

Because salt cannot penetrate deeper than 5 mm into the skin, great care must be taken when salting thick skin to ensure that the salt reaches the hair roots for adequate preservation. The simplest way to accomplish this is to lay thick skins out on a flat surface and then make longitudinal cuts about 10 mm apart on the meaty side of the skin with a sharp knife. These cuts must penetrate the skin to a depth of at least two-thirds of its thickness. Remember that mammal skins are not uniformly thick, therefore a specific skin will not require this care for the entire skin. Only cut the skin’s thick parts, and make sure the cuts do not accidentally cut completely through the skin. A thick region of skin across the top of the neck in some large species, such as gemsbok and eland bulls, necessitates this treatment. Giraffe, hippopotamus, and rhino skins all require extensive incisions to ensure appropriate salt penetration and to minimise hair loss on the epidermal layer.

I. Drying a Skin

Allow time for the skins to dry properly.

 

The skin should be in the salt for 12-24 hours, then shake off all the loose salt and hang the skin over a wooden beam in a cool, well-ventilated place to dry. It is advised not to travel with wet skin, as hair loss is a great risk. The skins should be at least air-dry before being transported. If wet skin has to be transported the following can be done:

• Hang the skin in the wind to cool off before salting it. It is no use salting warm skin and packing it in ice for transport. Although this cools the skin from the outside, it will remain warm inside, resulting in hair loss.
• Do not transport the wet, salted skin in a plastic bag. To prevent the bloody water that is drawn out of the skin by the salt from spoiling the vehicle, place the skin in an open plastic basin.
• Do not transport the skin in the boot or trunk of a vehicle or a trailer with a sealed lid. The exhaust or tail-pipe system can heat the boot from underneath and so heat the skin. The sun can also heat the skin in a sealed trailer or vehicle boot.

The skins of ostriches and crocodiles must arrive at the tanner moist and pickled. This is accomplished by putting a fresh layer of salt on the skin, folding it, tightly rolling it up, and placing it in a wet, clean hessian bag that is maintained damp and stored in a cool environment. Ostrich and crocodile skins must be opened regularly to be cleansed, salted with fresh salt, and stored in a wet bag. The skins must be cool and damp, but not drenched.

In hot tropical conditions, skins require special care when drying. The skin will be dried out during the day, but will then become wet again at night, because of the high humidity and the hygroscopic characteristics of the salt. This could cause bacteriological damage to the skin even when they have been salted properly. The solution is to try and get the skin dry and then store it in a safe dry place. The skin is hung out by day, but at night it is covered with a tarpaulin or stored indoors away from any moisture. Repeat this process until the skin is dry and then store it in a dry, rodent-free place. An outside room is not suitable for this purpose unless it can be sealed well so that the moisture is kept out. A heater may be used in the storeroom to dry the air and accelerate the drying process, or a smokeless fire can be made on one side away from the stored skins.

Before the skin has dried out completely, it should be folded to form creases so that it does not crack when it is opened and folded again later when it is drier. Never fold dry skin, because it will crack and damage the skin. Place the still-wet skin with the hairy side up and fold the edges so that they meet in the centre, with the hair on the inside. Large skins can be folded once more longitudinally down the centre. Press each fold down well so that it forms a neat flat fold. Now begin at the head and neck end and fold the skin across the width until the desired size is obtained. Once again, press the folds down until they are flat. The result is neatly folded skin with the hair on the inside where it is protected from chafing during transport. The name or number tag should be visible on the outside of the folded skin. The skin may now be opened again to allow it to dry properly. Later it may be refolded on the already established creases.

J. Skin Storage

Sprinkle the dried skin with an insecticide on both sides. Fold the skin along the original creases and store it in a suitable storage room in a dry condition away from dogs, rats and insects.

 

Larger Mammals: Shoulder Mounts

A sable antelope shoulder mount.

 

Preparing a head skin or cape for a shoulder mount necessitates more attention and expertise than preparing a flat skin. Trophy head skins are usually irreplaceable, and they are the most significant part of a shoulder mount, thus they must be handled with care and precision if they are to be mounted. Particular care must be taken in the field to avoid cutting the animal’s throat. Furthermore, when removing the intestines, the cut along the stomach should not extend between the front legs. This will compromise the integrity of a head skin used as a shoulder mount. The proper way to prepare a shoulder mount trophy is as follows:

A. Making the Cuts

Make the main cuts D, E and F, as shown in the figure of How to make a shoulder mount for large mammals. Cut D should be made precisely adjacent to the mane on animals with manes, such as a Burchell’s zebra or a sable antelope. If it is done in the mane, the cut cannot be cleanly repaired when the award is mounted. Cut D should be made exactly down the centre of the neck in animals without a mane or other signs that identify the centre of the top of the neck. On top of the head, Cut D separates into a V-shape, with a branch to the base of each horn. The skin and horn are separated by making Cut G around the horns. Always make cut G precisely where the horn and skin meet.

The major cut D for rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and wild pigs should preferably be done along the underside of the neck, dividing the bottom lip into two. For these animals, this cut can also be made at the top of the neck, although practical issues may arise, such as putting the skin over the horn of a rhinoceros or removing it from the skull of a warthog boar with huge tusks.

 
How to make a shoulder mount for large mammals. Quite a lot of trophy hunters have received their trophies with their ears rotten as a result of bad skinning (Diagram by Opening cuts for removal of shoulder cape).

B. Skinning

Begin skinning near the top of the shoulder, where cuts D and E intersect. The skin is now taken off the front legs until they reach point F. Skin the shoulder and neck next. As little fat and meat as possible should stay on the skin. Remove the ear cartilage against the skull. From now on, utmost caution is advised. Cut the eyelids loose from the inside, then carefully cut the skin away from the horns. While peeling the face, turn the skin inside out and cut the lips free from the gums on the inside. Remove the cartilage from the nose where it connects to the bone. If the skin on the head is still attached, pinpoint the points where it is and cut it free. Remove all of the skin’s loose fat and meat. Place the skin on a clean surface, such as a skinning table. Only now does the most critical and time-consuming aspect of the skinning process begin.

If the animal’s head skin has been removed, the lips create a thick, closed region where they have been sliced away from the gums. This prevents salt penetration and causes hair loss on the exterior. To avoid this, cut the inner skin of the lip away from the outer skin up to the edge of the lips, as indicated in the section on preparing flat skin. Skin the nose as stated in the section on preparing a flat skin. The ears must now be flipped inside out in the same way that the flat skin of a cat or other carnivore is prepared. First, separate the flesh at the base of the ear from the outer skin and cartilage, leaving them linked. The cartilage and outer ear skin can then be separated using a finger, a blunt screwdriver, or the handle of a spoon, or by cutting them free from each other up to the tip of the ear, whichever is easiest. Separate the outer ear skin and cartilage up to the ridge and into the tip of the ear, then pull on the cartilage to turn the ear inside out. After turning the ears inside out, the ridges should be checked and separated properly up to the ear’s edges. Remove the flesh from the base of the ear. However, do not remove any cartilage from the base of the ear. The head skin is now ready to be salted.

C. Tagging or Marking the Skin

The skin of the head should be labelled or marked with a name or number tag immediately after skinning so that the prize is not confused with that of another client. Attach the label at the skin’s border where cut E intersects the chest between the front legs.

D. Salting the Skin

The skin should first be washed in the same manner as specified for flat skins, to remove all signs of blood and dirt. Make certain that all of the blood has been fully rinsed out of the hair. If the water has been removed, the skin is salted and processed similarly to a flat skin. Rub the salt in gently, being sure to reach all areas, especially the lips, nose, and ears. Salt can also be used to fill the ears. Make sure the corners of the skin that tend to curl inwards are opened up and well-salted. Dry, fold, and store the skin in the same manner as indicated for flat skin.