Taxidermy Question - Hair Slippage

[Weatherby]

Quick question.... In October of last year, I was lucky enough to take a moose here in Colorado. The taxidermist (no names will be mentioned, so please don't ask) has just about completed the headmount and informed me that a fairly large section off hair/hide had to be extracted off the spine, due to hair slippage.

Luckily, we caped the animal pretty far back, so there was excess hide that was used off of my animal to repair the patch. Unfortunately, the taxidermist informed me that the length of hair and color are not identical in that section, so you can tell that the area was patched from a close distance.

Anyway, what typically causes hair slippage:

Poor salt job on the hide?
Poor tanning process?
Not immediately caping the animal, after the kill?

Is it typically a taxidermy issue, or a problem associated with the caping process?

Any information would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Weatherby

 

[BuckSnort]

He should have known this when he was fleshing the hide...before he sent it to the tannery.....

Hair slip usually results from poor field care...Alot of folks have ruined hides by putting them in a plastic bag to pack out or other transport..Always place in a mesh deer bag and flesh out the cape and salt asap...The salt draws the moisture/fat out and sets the hair...

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[glass_eye]

Heat and moisture will promote decay. Most cases of slippage is from poor field care. However, I normally don't see slippage along the spine, unless that's where it was shot. If it wasn't shot in the spine than I would suspect that the hide had a fold in it when salted and a section of it didn't get any salt.

 

[BlueMountainAdventures]

ONLY salt it if you can not get it into a freezer ASAP. Try not to salt AND then freeze it. Flesh it and turn the lips and ears asap.

 

[mozey]

My brother made the mistake of storing his moose cape in a plastic garbage bag after being delayed a couple days from picking it from the butcher, who did the cape job for him. My brother did try to to freeze it immediately, but something that size takes awhile to freeze. The taxi, a friend of mine, noticed the slippage (and smell) the moment he tried to initially thaw it, and spent a good deal of effort trying to treat it, but that cape was lost long before he ever touched it. You could point to several sins that my bro committed, but according to my buddy, the unpardonable was the plastic bag...

 

[HuntinFoo]

Slipping can be caused by many things, field care, taxidermist care, and at the tannery. Some times it is hard to pin point exactly what caused it. Most offten it is field care, but it can happen at any point in the process.

 

[quest]

glass_eye I ditto that. Also there's items you can take to the field with you on your hunt like 20 mule team borax,stop slip,non iodine salt. Stop slip you can purchase from most taxidermy company's. You can look other items up on Taxidermy Net.

 

[bowhuntnnut]

Stop Slip will not help at all in this situation. The best thing a hunter can do when an animal hits the ground:

Keep the hide dry
keep the hide cool, a shady spot will work wonders in hot temps
If you are capable of skinning down to head, do so asap
NEVER drive around to show the animal off, the heat a truck bed can generate, especially ones with a bedliner, will do some serious damage to a cape
Avoid the dreaded black plastic if the cape is exposed to sun, if you bag the cape make sure you put it in an ice chest with ice and do your best to keep dry

And finally, which is something that should be done before all of you guys head to the field: Get with whomever your taxidermist is and discuss your hunt! Many will offer plenty of help when possible to help avoid this kind of situation.

 

[deerbedead]

Hair slippage is caused by bacteria growth at the base of the hair roots.

Bacteria will deposit a fluid that acts much like saliva in that it will start to break down whatever organic substance it contacts.

Bacteria thrive in warm, damp conditions.

Capes are naturally damp from body fluid inside the skin, and they are also naturally warm from the body heat of the animal.

To prevent decay from bacteria the fluid must be removed to around 12% and the cape must be cooled to control bacteria growth.

Larger animals the size of elk and moose are very susceptible to bacteria growth on the back of the neck due to the large warm mass inside the neck covered by a thick skin and thick hair. This keeps the warmth inside the neck for up to two days, promoting irreversible damage to the hair roots due to excessive bacterial activity.

To solve this problem, take your field photos and then immediately split the animal down the back of the neck in typical fashion for a shoulder mount. This will allow the heat to escape and "buy" you more time to deliver the cape to your taxidermist.

Once at the taxidermist, the only way he or she can cause this type of slippage is #1 leave the head on the floor for another day or two before it is caped and salted. Or, #2 miss a spot on the cape with the salt.

Salt is used to draw the moisture out of a skin to stop bacteria growth. Once a skin reaches around 12% moisture content, bacteria cannot grow. This percentage can be reached in less than 24 hours with proper salting.

From your description of the hair loss, I would lean toward blaming it on not cooling the neck area quickly enough.

A taxidermist very seldom misses a large area in the middle of the neck with the salt. It always seems to be an area of the lips, or a crease like at the base of the ear, or under the chin.

Hope this helps,
Travis Roundy
Roundy Taxidermy

 

[Browningbar23]

I would say one of the best product to pack into the field with you would be STOP-ROT!!

 

[4000fps]

>He should have known this when
>he was fleshing the hide...before
>he sent it to the
>tannery.....

False.

Often times, the slipping does not show itself until after the hide is tanned, and rehydrated. Slipping and shedding are two different things, but are both caused by bacteria. When something "slips" the whole outer layer of skin sluffs off, leaving bald spots. Elk are real bad at shedding in the mane area.

It can happen anywhere. Problem with moose and elk, etc, is their hide is so thick, especially on the back of the neck, that it can be hard to dry that area out quickly. Remember, the salt is on the opposite layer of skin, than the roots.