Trophy care in the veld
It is vital that good care is taken of your trophy before it gets to us. Hairslip and other issues are caused by bacteria from the trophy not being handled correctly at the farm.
Skulls
If you are planning on having a skull mount done make sure the skinner understands what you want. Its advisable to supervise at least the first skull to ensure he follows your instructions. Too often the hunter instructs the skinner to “keep the horns” only to find the skinner cuts the horns off the skull.
Only the top half of the skull is used in a skull mount, excluding pigs where the entire skull is used. The skinner should remove the lower jaw by cutting through the tendons that connect the lower jaw to the upper jaw – do not cut through the bone to remove the jaw.
If there is any uncertainty that your trophy will not receive the due care required you can bring the whole head to us still with the skin on and we will take care of it for you.
Lastly, and most importantly, while we can repair most skull damage head shots are not the best option if a skull mount is to be considered.
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Skins
After the animal has been shot do not spend too much time taking photos, it needs to be moved to a cool place as soon as possible. Decay starts immediately and can ruin a skin if too much time is taken. Skinning should take place ideally within an hour of shooting.
Transport the animal carefully back to where it will be skinned. A lot of damage to the skin and horns can take place during the ride from the veld.
After skinning the skin should be rinsed off with water to remove dirt and excess blood. Then ideally the skin should be placed in a salt solution (water and salt) for about an hour (adding Dettol will help but is optional) and then salted. Salt is cheap so don’t spare the salt. Amount of salt used should be the same as the weight of the skin. Rub the salt into the skin – 5kg of salt rubbed into the skin is better than 10kg salt placed on top. Leave the skin in the salt for at least 24hrs, then fold the skin flesh side in and keep in a cool place until you bring it to us.
Capes for shoulder and full mounts
As above but the skin needs to be cut from the skull and the thicker parts of the facial skin(nose, lips, eyes and ears) split and salted. If the skinner is not familiar with this procedure then have him cape the animal and bring it to us with the head still on and intact. Place the animal head first into your container with the skin on top of the head – not the head on top of the skin ! If the head is placed on top of the skin it will leak fluids onto the skin and potentially ruin it.
Don’t cut the animals throat after shooting it – this will require stitching the skin which will be visible once the mount is completed.