My friend sixshot was kind enough to send me an ermine he took several months ago. I had it mounted,,, and just got it from the taxidermist. Turned out pretty good!
Tyrone, it turned out really good! No, I shot it with a 32/20 Blackhawk & a 113 gr. cast bullet that just barely took part of the head off, the taxidermist did a fine job fixing it.
Thanks Dick. Unfortunately,,, there was a problem. Some of the belly fur slipped, so the taxidermist painted the skin white, and used the fake leaves placed just right to conceal the bare spot. Still looks very good,, just SMALL next to that squirrel.
I have a few more critter pics to post tomorrow.
Looks really good. My question would be, when Sixshot "sent" you the ermine. how did he send it? Can you use the post office for such things? Was it on dry ice? Just curious, as we went down to Port Aransas this past weekend, and took the back roads. We passed many taxidermy places and deer processing shops. We were just talking about this whole industry.
Kevin, he froze it & packed it in ice (I think) during the winter months. It arrived thawed. That's why a bit of the fur slipped a little. If you are going to ship a fur,, it needs to be frozen hard, packed well in dry ice, and next day air shipped to assure a quality fur. I lost the hide off my antelope because UPS failed to deliver my hide like they were instructed several years ago. I wound up with a skull mount instead.
My mounts include;
Bull elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, white squirrel, the ermine above, a bobcat, a badger, a hen mallard, a pair of pheasants, an antelope skull mount, an alligator skull, a few turkey fans, several horn mounts of whitetails, & some skins. The skins are western coyote, a badger, a skunk, & deer hides.
Yeah Contender, those are pretty nice mounts...more pictures would be appreciated. There is a gun store here locally, they have mounts for sale every now and then. I like going there to see what they have.
Every year I send a few deer hides to "Sebring Custom Tannery". They make nice affordable Christmas or birthday gifts. http://www.sebringcustomtanning.com/#
They have detailed instructions for shipping that does not include having to freeze or ice the hides. When I have done my part I have gotten back some nice hides.