Bet this big boy was snooping around the chicken coop a time or two. He's just shy of 30 pounds and OLD. His molars where worn down to the roots just about! anyways...Last night we spend hours skinning, turning, fleshing, and salting him. He still needs more fleshing done but I'll ge to that soon. (couldnt believe all the fat on this thing!)
...by the way, thats MN_Whitetails hand for comparison...

you are without a doubt one of the coolest girls i've ever heard of! you go out and find dead animals, bring them home and skin them, that's awesome.


let us know how it turns out.

I couldn't belive what I saw in the trap when I seen it at first. Once we rolled it out of the cage at her house I couldn't believe how big that thing was.

Yes, I know I am very lucky.

haha thank you lug, cool to you. but believe me, I get my fair share of Criticism.
Some people just dont understand

You just keep doing what your doing and don't worry about what anybody else says or thinks of you!!!
You'll never regret trying new things, I think it makes you a more rounder and stronger individual. My Father is the most amzing person I have ever known, he can and has literally done everything and can do anything. There's only one way you get like that. Keep it up!!!

bass... my thoughts exactly!





BTW everyone. Raccoon may take longer than expected. The form I ordered is back ordered (im bummed)...so i wont get it for a few weeks probably. Krowtan and everything else was shipped though. So Im just gunna tan the hide and pop it in the freezer until my form gets here.

I love it

what form are you doing? Sleeping on a limb looks pretty cool.

I am in LOVE with the "Divide & Conquer Series Raccoon" and hope to do it when I get the appropriate size raccoon. But my raccoon was so large I only had a few forms I could choose from.
heres a pic of the Divide and conquer form.....



The one I ordered is a standing, right turn pose. Picture below....

Wooo Hooo!

VAN DYKE SUPPLY CO included the following items in this shipment:

1 of 01006115 -- 38501R RACCOON W/O WIRE 2 1/2X11 1/2X27X21,

~Should be getting it today. Last time something was out of stock it took 2.5 weeks for me to get it. I wasnt expecting to get the form this quick.

that's a nice suprise.

Hey shed, I dont know where you are getting your Krowtan from but, if you get it from the inventors (Ozark Woods) you can save a bit. I ordered a gallon today. WASCO was $23 a quart, I got it for $19.50 a quart. ANd when you order a gallon or more at a time it does make a difference. I do hope you use latex gloves when handling raw game. I have a yote brought in Sunday, I wear 2 pairs of gloves on yotes since they have so much bacteria on them from Poo and saliva. He is in the Krowtan. I will post photos once I get him done. Its just a case skinned tan.

Oh yeah she makes sure there is plenty of gloves to go around.

Trust me, after some of the vet tech classes I have taken, including parasitology, I wont touch a raw hide without gloves. Expecially a raw coon!! ...MN-Whitetail got risky on handling that coon...didnt cut the carcass open (than again why would I) but I did see a few lice...good thing they are VERY host specific!
(can imagine a coon would have tons of bacteria aswell, they like to hang out in the swamps and sewers around here)

I got the krowtan off of vandykes...they have free shipping until the end of November. If I like the krowtan I may need to check out Ozark Woods.



P.S. Got my antelope cape yesterday! It was soft when it arrived so we wasted no time fleshing, splitting, and turning the hide... rubbed it down good with salt and set it infront of a small fan.

I put gloves on when she starting cutting it up.

Im not sure what you are going to do with the pronghorn, but if you plan on mounting it, you dont need to dry it with salt if your going to use Krowtann.

We salted it because we won't have time to tan it before tomorrow morning. The hide wasn't frozen when we got it so we salted it to preserve it while we are hunting over the weekend.

Since it was already thawed, and Ive never used krowtan before, Id like to be home to check on it once a day. Like MN_Whitetail said, we're gunna be gone all weekend. Ill start it early next week.

This is sure funt to be part of......Good for you shedEgo!! Won't be long we'll be sending our stuff to you!!!

I have ALOT to learn before you'd trust me with that

She is only saying that cause she isn't perfect in her eyes yet, but the rest of us can say otherwise. I think your doing a wonderful job and your already doing my taxidermy. I trust you.

so...I relaxed the coon hide, degreased with kemsol for over 1.5 hours, than rinsed it and threw it in the krowtan mix. WOW is that krowtan potent! they werent kidding when they said "Use in a well ventilated area!"

When using Krowtann use gloves. You will get chemical burns from it. And be very careful not to get in eyes. A little pointer. For coons, yote's and such I use Dawn soap for a degreaser. It really works well and you can get it locally.

I was wondering about using dawn, but people where saying that I should use something stronger. Ill try the dawn next time. Do you need to let it sit longer?
you bet I wore gloves working with that chemical. was VERY careful not to splash at all too. Wouldnt even want to imagine that stuff in your eyes!

For a coon I will cover the skin side with dawn and rub in real good. Rinse in clean water till all suds are gone. You will need to keep changing the clean water till your water has no bubbles at all. I use a commercial round knife to flesh after I degrease. Then I degrease again and put a cap full of laundry softner in it the last time I degrease. Will fluff the fur up when you dry it. I put mine in a tumbler. You can take corn cob grit and put in a 5 gallon bucket and roll it till its dry. Your fur will fluff up real nice. I bought some heavy duty kitchen/bathroom gloves that are 3 times thicker than the yellow ones you see for using in the kitchen.