Trophy care seminar

[Bear]

I think wiggys still has that super salt stuff. I used it on a goat and it worked real well,give him a call and I am sure he can help out with that...Ducks it is not too difficult to skin and turn but if no seminar send me a pm and we can talk about it maybe even go look at some mounted critters and I can give you some advice..
dave

ok since I mentioned it I thought I would expand on it after a little more checking. The salt substitute is ttc or taxidermy trophy care. I bought it at wiggys on a recommendation to try on a personal hunt.I used it on a full body goat hide several years ago and it went on real well and seemed to do all the things you would expect from normal salt so I was sold,well after an unfortunate accident my hide was lost without ever seeing the taxi.Since then I have really not heard anything (any guided hunts we use salt)so I thought I would do a little research prior to giving any more info on the product(I try not to give info good or bad without knowledge).After some reasearch I have found a lot of mixed reviews from some whose opinions I highly respect in hunting and taxidermy.The chief benefit of this product was the weight saving factor.What I found is some taxis like it and some do not. So with that said I will post a link to a thread on the discussion on it. I will recommend consulting with your taxi prior to any hunt and ask them as they will be doing the work.

So with that all said I dont always take salt on guided hunts just because I know upon harvest we will be picked up right away.However I do recommend taking salt on your hunt,you never know how long you will be there(weather,plane delays and such) and I would hate to see your hide be ruined because you did not bring it. just leave it at the drop.

[duckslayer56]

I will definetly bring some salt along. We will be hunting over a glacier, so hopefully with we won't have a problem keeping our meat and hides cool. I have a 50 pound weight limit with 40 mile air, so I won't be able to bring a 5 gallon bucket, that super salt stuff may be the key to save some weight. However, as you said I will have to see what the taxi I decide to go with will want me to use.

I was thinking of trying the guy in Salcha if I get a sheep. I saw the sheep he did for another forum member and it looked phenominal! Thanks a lot for all the advice and help, it's greatly appreciated.

Tom

[kahahawai]

I will definetly bring some salt along. We will be hunting over a glacier, so hopefully with we won't have a problem keeping our meat and hides cool. I have a 50 pound weight limit with 40 mile air, so I won't be able to bring a 5 gallon bucket, that super salt stuff may be the key to save some weight. However, as you said I will have to see what the taxi I decide to go with will want me to use.

I was thinking of trying the guy in Salcha if I get a sheep. I saw the sheep he did for another forum member and it looked phenominal! Thanks a lot for all the advice and help, it's greatly appreciated.

Tom

Yeah Skips......................................He's ......S L O W !!!!!

[kahahawai]

You live in the valley......why not take it to Foster's or Dan at "Wildlife artistry" both do excellent work on sheep....go check out dan's displays at his showroom at his house, it could convince you.

[duckslayer56]

Will Do, thanks.

[sheep man]

no salt needed unless you plan on hanging out for a week after your hunt, flesh well and get air to it,if its wet out try to keep it as dry as possible, i've done a few moose capes plus bears,and just a few sheep...a taxidermist would rather have a raw fleshed hide then a salty non fleshed hide, it does require a little more work,most times you have nothing better to do then work on a hide once your back at the strip...my 2 scents

[Michael Strahan]

no salt needed unless you plan on hanging out for a week after your hunt, flesh well and get air to it,if its wet out try to keep it as dry as possible, i've done a few moose capes plus bears,and just a few sheep...a taxidermist would rather have a raw fleshed hide then a salty non fleshed hide, it does require a little more work,most times you have nothing better to do then work on a hide once your back at the strip...my 2 scents

I disagree with this. There's no way to know what the weather's going to do in advance of your hunt. Without the ability to predict whether it will be warm or cold, or whether you'll be delayed several days before pickup, the best course is to learn the proper field care of your hides and capes. While it's true that a taxidermist would prefer a raw unsalted hide right off the animal to one that was salted but not fleshed, turned, etc, they would vastly prefer one that was properly worked and salted. Not to mention the risk you take with hair slippage from failure to flesh and salt your trophies in the field. It's fine to leave the head in it and just haul it to your taxidermist if you're on a weekend road hunt, but on remote fly-out hunts you need to do the work.

Learn how to prepare your capes and hides, and bring plenty of real salt. If you have questions about TTC (the salt substitute), ask Russell Knight, of Knight's Taxidermy. Or anyone else with extensive experience in the business. I did and it's hard to find any fans of the stuff out there, except among hunters trying to cut back on weight. It turns your hide into leather and it's really hard to work with.

-Mike

[protaxidermy]

I am giving a proper fleshing & care of your capes in the feild seminar at the Fairbanks Sportmans expo this weekend, so if you do not know how to turn your own Ears, eyes, noses, & lips & fleshing the bodies off before salting, come on by.

I have a bear that I will be working on & will go over everything.

& as Mike said, SALT is ALWAYS BEST.

Any taxidermist with any experience at all can still work a cape over as long as the ears are not hard & most of the heavy meat & fat are removed.

It only takes a 5 lb bag of salt to properly salt in the field as long as it is aplied properly.

In the shop we Saturate the skins with a lot more but we are not having to worry about carry weight.

RJ Simington

[duckslayer56]

I would love to sit in on your seminar, but unfortunately I am in the valley. With gas prices the way they are, I just won't be able to make it up to Fairbanks. What kind of salt do taxidermist's generally prefer?

[protaxidermy]

table salt or FINE Feed salt from a feed store.

We get ours at Sams club by the 25 lb bags.

easy to pack around that way.

RJ Simington

[broncoformudv]

I am giving a proper fleshing & care of your capes in the feild seminar at the Fairbanks Sportmans expo this weekend, so if you do not know how to turn your own Ears, eyes, noses, & lips & fleshing the bodies off before salting, come on by.

I have a bear that I will be working on & will go over everything.

& as Mike said, SALT is ALWAYS BEST.

Any taxidermist with any experience at all can still work a cape over as long as the ears are not hard & most of the heavy meat & fat are removed.

It only takes a 5 lb bag of salt to properly salt in the field as long as it is aplied properly.

In the shop we Saturate the skins with a lot more but we are not having to worry about carry weight.

RJ Simington

RJ I think it is great that you will be putting this clinic on and actually having a bear hide to work with and demonstrate on. Hope you do this next year when I will be in state.

[protaxidermy]

The seminar was a good one.

The room was packed with folks & everything worked out great.

We are going to put a fleshing & skinning video together to send out to anyone that needs one here pretty soon.

Thanks again
RJ Simington