Recommendations for the treatment of carcasses and skins of animals intended for taxidermy purposes. How to properly and quickly pluck game? Capercaillie partridge duck and other birds? Shooting skins in layers, their degreasing and editing

"ECOLOGICAL EXPOSITION IN THE MUSEUM"

(taxidermy, stuffing of vertebrates and fish,

creation of a home zoological museum)

Chapter 2

Taxidermy

Animal preparation and hide processing

Skin conservation

The preservation of the skin is to ensure the possibility of its long-term storage with the help of the simplest processing. A prerequisite for conservation is the preservation of all marketable qualities of the skin. As you know, a freshly skinned skin contains up to 70% water and consists mainly of proteins, which are a good nutrient medium for the development of a wide variety of microorganisms - putrefactive bacteria, mold, etc. As a result, the skin removed from the animal and not undergoing special treatment rots very quickly, deteriorates and in a short time can become completely unusable. Thanks to conservation, the content of free moisture in the skin is reduced, and bactericidal substances are introduced into the thickness of the skin, which kill or inhibit the development of microorganisms. There are many different methods of rapid preservation, but for taxidermy purposes the following are most favorable.

Dry-salted preservation. It is used most widely and can be recommended wherever air humidity does not exceed average values. With the dry-salted method of preservation, the skin is spread with the skin up and the skin is covered with coarse table salt. Salt is evenly rubbed over the entire surface of the mezra, and then rubbed into the mezra with force. If the skin is medium in size, then rubbing is done with the hands, and on large skins - with the feet.
After the salt is rubbed into the thickness of the mezra, the entire mezra is once again covered with an even layer of salt. Especially carefully you need to ensure that the salt fills all the "pockets" - ears, lips, eyelids, fingers, hooves. The thickness of the salt layer is 0.5-1 cm. The skin covered with salt remains lying for 3-6 days. During this time, the mezra is gradually dehydrated and brine appears on its surface, which must be wiped from time to time with a rag. Regular salting of the skin after 3-5 days accelerates conservation.

Free access of air to the open surface of the skin of a single skin prevents the possibility of its decay with this method of preservation. That is why, with the dry-salted method, it is impossible to fold the skin or roll it into a tube, as is sometimes done. This can cause putrefaction in the folds of the skin and in blood brine that has no drain. To speed up preservation, it is recommended to add potassium alum to salt in the amount of 20 g and 1 g of crystalline phenol per 1 kg of salt (except for bird skins). If the work takes place in the hot season, then it is recommended to add insecticides to the salt (paradichlorobenzene, hexachloran, DDT) in the amount of 100 g per 1 kg of salt.

As the preservation process comes to an end, the amount of brine on the mezra decreases, and the mezra itself acquires an even light gray color. When the release of brine stops, conservation can be considered complete. Excess salt from the surface of the skin is shaken off and the skin is hung out for several days to dry. Usually after 10 days the skin is completely ready. This method of conservation should be considered the most convenient and effective not only for the skins of mammals, reptiles, fish, but also for the skins of birds.

Wet-salted canning it is convenient to use if the material is processed under stationary conditions. In this case, the skin of an animal (except for poultry), after cleaning the fat and muscle cuts, is washed in running water until completely bled, squeezed and placed in a bath with a saturated solution of common salt, to which 1 g of crystalline phenol, 60 g of borax, 15 g of acetic acid are added. per 1 liter of solution. On the skin of an elk, at least 10-12 buckets of a preservative solution are required; the skin is salted in it and the entire processing period is located. Wet-salted preservation of skins of medium and large animals becomes the next step for taxidermy dressing when staging stuffed animals. The skins of small animals (weasel, hare, etc.) after wet-salting conservation do not need taxidermic dressing.

Preservation in alcohol. The scalp and skin of the limbs of various monkeys are preserved only in alcohol (salt preservation is unsuitable in this case) for subsequent processing in paraffin. For dehydration, the skin is placed in 70% alcohol. It is better to preserve already peeled skin, but you can clean it up in canned form. The main goal is to keep intact the epidermis of the face and limbs, which quickly slides off if it is not urgently preserved in alcohol.

Preparing the skin for making a stuffed animal

A properly prepared animal skin must undergo a special washing and degreasing treatment before it can be modeled on a stuffed mannequin. All prepared skins are subjected to this procedure, regardless of whether they have contaminated hairline or are covered with scales or feathers. The main goal is to remove the salt with which the skin was preserved or dressed, then remove fat from the skin, hair, feathers, and scales. Washing and degreasing are carried out in different ways, depending on the degree of fatness of the skin, as well as on the methods of its processing.

If the skin of a mammal, reptile, fish is well cleaned of fat, but not dressed (this primarily applies to animals of small size, up to and including a hare), such skins are well washed in warm water with soap or washing powders before being modeled on a stuffed animal (Fig. 36 ).

Rice. 36. Drying the outer cover of animals.
A - duck skins washed in water; B - drying the skins in starch; B - starch removal (penguin); G - removal of starch with a jet of air; D - a device for drying the skins of birds, small, medium-sized animals.

Dressed, but remaining greasy skins (seals, bears, badgers, etc.) are processed twice: first in a special degreasing bath, and then in a regular washing bath. In all other cases, i.e. for skins that do not have an excessively high fat content, a washing bath alone is quite sufficient.

The processing of bird skins is somewhat different. With good conservation and cleaning, bird skins are supplied for further processing sufficiently cleaned of fat. Additional degreasing consists mainly in the removal of internal sebum from the thickness of the dermis. To do this, use warm (30-40 °) degreasing baths (10 g of soda per 1 liter of water). The skins of only very fat birds, most often waterfowl, are placed in the same bath. To speed up the release of dissolved fat from the thickness of the skins into the water, they are regularly stirred. Dissolved fat will be clearly visible by changing the color of the water. From very greasy skins, the water will quickly turn dark brown. Fatty skins of large birds (penguin, ostrich) are kept in the bath for no more than 2-3 hours. All others - no more than 1-1.5 hours. After degreasing, the skins are thoroughly washed in running water. Non-greasy bird skins, after soaking and clearing the mezra, are simply well washed with soap and water from adhering dirt and various secretions. Initially, the skin side is washed from the remnants of salt, with which the skin was preserved. The salt remaining in the skin can further damage the finished stuffed animal, as it will constantly become damp and destroy the skin.

Drying the outer skin. Degreased and washed skins of mammals and birds of various sizes are wet after processing, they must be dried quickly. If the skin is dried directly at a heat source, then the process of drying it will be greatly delayed, simultaneously with the drying of the fur and feather, the inner side of the skin will also dry, which must remain moist and elastic for stuffing the effigy. Drying directly by the fire has a negative effect on the structure of the feather and hair, causing deformation - the hair becomes brittle, the feather is deformed, and the adhesion between the barbs is broken in it.

Proper drying of skins of small and medium-sized mammals and birds is a combination of drying with starch and heat. At the same time, the feather or hair do not lose their natural qualities, and the inner side of the skin is only slightly dried, which does not harm its elasticity in the future. In this way, the skin (hawk, owl, ferret, mink) is dried for 20-30 minutes. For drying, different varieties of starch are used, but the best among them is potato starch (potato flour). Any starch is highly hygroscopic and lags well behind a wet feather or hair.

First, water is removed from the feather and fur using various hygroscopic materials (flannel, waffle cloth), squeezing the skin. The better the skin is pressed and the water is removed, the less starch and time it will take to dry it. Particular care should be taken to wring out the skins of birds, making sure not to break or deform the plumage (especially the flight and tail feathers). The skins of small birds, chicks (in fluff), mouse-like rodents, shrews (wet) are dried in starch without squeezing.

Primary drying. The skin is first dried with used starch - it is quite hygroscopic and quickly absorbs most of the moisture if it is evenly rubbed into the undercoat or feather. Rubbing should be done from head to tail, in animals it is possible and vice versa. Starch quickly becomes damp, and it has to be replaced with dry. By frequent shaking, the skin is freed from damp flour, and a dry portion is rubbed in instead. Drying ends after the feather or hair has an approximate structure. Damp starch from the skin is carefully knocked out with a hand or a bird's wing.

Secondary drying. The processing of the skin at this stage is carried out with a fresh portion of starch, but at the same time the remaining damp places are not missed. The feathers of the wings and tail are especially carefully dried in the skins of birds. When the pen acquires a normal structure and lies on its 90;o, you can remove the potato flour by slightly knocking it out. This ends the drying with starch.

In order to save starch and speed up drying, the skins of large birds and thick-haired animals, after primary treatment with starch, are dried over a heat source - a stove, oven, under the sun or under a canopy, in the wind. The skins are scattered on hangers with a feather or hair outward. Maintaining a uniform heating temperature, the cover is periodically sorted out, checking its drying. Drying the skin cover with a hair dryer or dry towel apparatus gives good results. However, they are used only when drying small skins, since the area of ​​​​impact of the apparatus is small.
When finishing the skins with heat, it is necessary to be careful not to allow the core to harden, which occurs at an elevated drying temperature, as well as singeing the hair or feather if it is hung close to the fire. The skin is recommended to be placed at least 0.5 m from the heat source. During drying, the air temperature should not be higher than +45-+50 and not lower than +30-+40°С. The remains of starch from the skin are removed with a stream of air from a vacuum cleaner, methodically blowing starch first from the back, wings and tail, and then from the head and legs, achieving complete cleaning of the skin.

The skins of large animals (moose, deer, sheep, etc.) with thick hair are not dried with starch, since this is not necessary. First, wet skins are squeezed out of the water with a centrifuge or the skin is beaten out with a stick, thus removing water from thick fur; then the fur cover is well wiped with rags and allowed to dry for 12-15 hours at room temperature, protecting the fur from drying out. The simplest device for drying wet skins is a plywood tray.

The drying cabinet is a large drawer with an opening for hands, with a tray for starch. The top of the drawer is glass so that you can see the object while drying. For the convenience of work, the box is mounted on a trestle, a vacuum cleaner hose is connected to it for blowing starch out of a feather or hair, as well as a “dry towel” air duct. The drying cabinet saves starch and protects the worker from starch dust. In a drying cabinet it is convenient to dry the plumage of birds no larger than a pelican and of animals no larger than a fox.

When processing more bird and animal skins, you can equip a special device that helps speed up drying. This is a drying drum, convenient for laying in it the skins of birds of different sizes (no more than a hawk, an owl), with a rotation speed of 16-18 rpm, with an electric motor with a power of 1-2 kV and a belt drive system. It is made of plywood 12 mm thick; inside it are strengthened transverse rails; the door closes tightly.

To dry the skin of a bird (its feather), only starch should be used. Several wet skins of birds are placed in the drum and 2-3 kg of starch are poured. Due to the slow rotation of the drum, the skins are poured and ground with starch and, often hitting the crossbars, they discard the damp starch, then they are again rubbed dry, due to which the feather dries quickly. Duck and black grouse skins are dried in a drum for 25-30 minutes.

For drying the skins of small animals, it is better to use a mixture of starch and sawdust of non-resinous tree species (birch, aspen, oak, etc.). Drying the skins in the drum is quite fast: the fur of squirrels, martens, polecats dries out in 25-30 minutes.

Treatment of animal skins with poisons

Animal skins are subject to attack by insect pests that devour feathers, hair, and skin. This is a leather beetle and a moth butterfly larva. To protect the stuffed animals and keep them for a long time, the skins are treated with poisons even before they are modeled on the mannequin of the figure. Impregnation of the skin side with a solution or emulsion of arsenic compounds is carried out in accordance with the following requirements. Arsenic acid or its sodium salt is used as the active principle. You can also use technical arsenic for these works, which is used for deratization purposes in the processing of crops. The method of preparation of arsenic preparations for the treatment of leather is different.

Arsenic sodium is prepared in the form of a 25% aqueous solution. Arsenic salt is diluted in warm water and left to brew for a day. A ready-made solution of strong concentration can be stored in a sealed container indefinitely. Immediately before use, it is diluted 10 times, i.e. 10 liters of water are added to 1 liter of solution. The finished solution must be thoroughly mixed until a homogeneous composition is obtained.

Raw commercial arsenic prepared in the same way, but filter it through filter paper or absorbent cotton to remove insoluble impurities and mechanical particles present in industrial arsenic in large quantities.

Arsenic soap. Arsenic acid is completely insoluble in water. Therefore, it must first be converted into arsenic soap, and then a poisonous emulsion must be prepared. For the preparation of arsenic soap, laundry or toilet soap is used as the basis: it is cut into small pieces and poured with a small amount of water. The dish with soap is put on fire and heated, stirring until the soap is completely dissolved and becomes liquid. Arsenic acid powder is added to it in a ratio of 1: 1 (500 g of arsenic acid is added to 400 g of soap dissolved in 100 g of water). The mixture is thoroughly mixed until a homogeneous light mass is obtained. Then it is boiled for 15-20 minutes. To avoid burning, it is periodically stirred with a wooden spatula. The finished soap is cooled and transferred to wide-mouthed glass jars with ground stoppers. If there is a dish made of good heat-resistant glass, then it is more convenient to pour soap in a liquid state into it directly hot.

Arsenic soap can be stored for a long time. As needed, it is taken out and diluted with water (arsenic soap dissolves well in water). To prepare a working solution, arsenic soap is diluted 10 times in warm water. Before processing the skin, camphor is added to it. Crystalline camphor is diluted in 96% alcohol, preparing a 50% solution, and then it is poured into an arsenic solution (100 g of camphor solution per 1 liter of arsenic working solution). Camphor solution is added to working solutions of technical arsenic and arsenic sodium. It must be remembered that working with arsenic compounds is extremely dangerous and harmful to health. Therefore, it is possible to prepare solutions, especially to cook arsenic soap, only in a fume hood. If the solution is prepared in the yard, then the person working with arsenic should be on the windward side. Etching skins with arsenic solution must be done in a special room with good ventilation. Work should be on a special table. After processing the skin, the table must be washed well with warm water and soap. Rinse the arsenic brush, dishes and hands just as thoroughly.

Etching . The skin, inside up, is laid out on the table. If it is too large, it is processed on the floor. A solution of arsenic is applied to its surface with a brush. This operation is repeated after 15-20 minutes. Then the skin is folded along the ridge with the inside inward, making sure that the folded sections overlap each other. Hard-to-reach places of the legs and wings, as well as bones remaining with the skin, should be especially carefully treated. If the wing is torn from below, it is lubricated with a solution through this incision. In this form, the skin is left for a day to impregnate the skin of the hair and feather with a solution. If possible, it is laid in a refrigerator with a temperature not higher than 3 °. Before stuffing or putting on a mannequin, the skin is again smeared with a solution of poison and the flesh is powdered with arsenic soda powder. Such treatment of the skin with a potent poison will protect it from the attack of insect pests.

Substitutes for arsenic preparations. There are no perfect substitutes yet. But some chemicals can be used as fairly strong disinfectants. Copper sulphate, for example, is used only for etching the skin side of the skin, which has a dark feather or dark hair. If a skin with blond hair or feathers is treated with copper sulphate, it will spoil the exhibit, coloring part of the white feathers or hair green, and it will be impossible to return the feather or hair to its natural color. A solution of copper sulfate is prepared as follows: crystals of copper sulfate are dissolved in warm water (+20-+25 °) until the solution is completely saturated, it is filtered through layers of hygroscopic cotton wool or filter paper, freeing it from undissolved particles. The finished solution should have a dark green color. It is stored in tightly sealed dark bottles in a cool place. A saturated solution of copper sulphate is diluted with water 10 times, thus preparing a working solution suitable for processing skins. Etching with a solution of copper sulphate does not give a full guarantee, but the percentage of spoiled skins is insignificant (3-5). The technique of etching the skin with a solution of copper sulphate is no different from treating the skins with arsenic preparations.

Fluorosilicic compounds. Solutions of fluorosilicic acid and sodium fluoride can also be used to disinfect animal skins. The method of preparation of these solutions is similar to the preparation of a solution of copper sulphate: a saturated solution of sodium fluoride or sodium silicate fluoride is made in warm water. When insoluble particles appear, it is filtered and used in this form. The solution is applied to the skin with a brush. The etching technique is the same as when treating skins with arsenic compounds. However, skins well treated with this preparation are not attacked by moths and skin beetles for only 3-5 years.

Karbofos can also be used for dressing the skins of birds and animals. With a 5% solution of karbofos, the skin side of the skin is lubricated several times. Within 4-5 years, a scarecrow treated with a solution of karbofos is not attacked by moths and skin beetles. If silicofluoride compounds and karbofos are applied to the surface of stuffed animals with a spray, the duration of preservation increases several times.

Many hunters, having visited the capercaillie current in the spring, dream of keeping their trophy for many years. It's not bad to take a photo for memory, but even better is to order a stuffed animal in a taxidermy workshop, especially since there is no shortage of such workshops in big cities now. However, the prices for the products of these enterprises are not at all low, and there are many who want to master the tricks of stuffing stuffed animals on their own, in order to then decorate the apartment with a variety of hunting trophies of their own making.
But most people have very little idea of ​​how difficult the job of a taxidermist is; that stuffing such a large bird as a capercaillie is not the best material for a beginner taxidermist, even if there are manuals for making stuffed animals. The process of skinning and making stuffed birds differs only in minor details, so it is better to start with a medium-sized bird (crow) that is easier to "work with". If nothing good comes out, then this will only be a reason for disappointment or even disappointment in their abilities. But the trophy will not be ruined and the prudently frozen capercaillie can still be given to the master.

TROPHY CARE
The hunter must keep the plumage of the capercaillie clean while still hunting. You should not finish shooting from a very close range or finish off with a blow to the head of a wounded animal if there is full confidence in catching it. Caught birds are killed by chest compressions. To do this, the wood grouse is laid on its side on the ground, raising its wings with one hand, holding the paws with the other and, pressing down the ribs with the knee, hold it in this position until it calms down. With bundles of dry moss, it is convenient to brush off the blood from the plumage of a bird, plug a bleeding wound, and also tightly fill the throat with moss, from which blood can flow. But it is better to grab cotton wool from the house - a material that absorbs moisture well. Grab some more starch, which immediately sprinkle all the bloody places on the carcass of the capercaillie. A cleanly beaten and properly processed bird during the hunt will subsequently save time on washing and drying feathers.
You can not put a warm bird in a plastic bag (you can only put frozen). Often, in order for the prey to cool down and for the convenience of carrying it from the current, the capercaillie is carried out on a stick tied by its paws or neck. The bird really cools down faster if it is ventilated and is in the cold. Therefore, this method of primary delivery of capercaillie to the hut or car could be accepted. But in this case, the plumage of the bird intended for the stuffed animal gets dirty and wrinkled. Therefore, it is best to carefully wrap the bird in paper and put it in a backpack.
For short-term storage, capercaillie can be hung by its paws in a cool room (in a cellar, glacier), in a shade in a draft (in a barn, in a storehouse) and make sure that the game is not spoiled by rodents or flies, as well as a cat or dog. A refrigerator is the best solution to this problem, but placing a large bird in a cramped freezer requires careful packing. It is necessary to wrap the head and neck under the wing, press the paws to the abdomen of the bird, and the tail to the back. Wrap in paper, put in a plastic bag. In this form, you can freeze.
With long periods of hunting, when there are no conditions for storing game, the skin from the bird can be removed in the field. After that, thoroughly cover the skin with table salt from the inside (from the mezra) and turn it out with a feather. In this case, you need to hold your head by the beak and gently, but with effort, push through the skin fold that forms on the head with your fingers, from time to time gently pulling the skin on the neck. It is absolutely impossible to pull the skin by the feathers. Then straighten the feathers, giving the turned-out skin the appearance of a calmly lying capercaillie, and wrap it in dry paper. The salted skin can be taken home in a plastic bag, taking care not to break or crush the tail and wing feathers.

SHOOTING SKINS
For preparation you need: a sharp knife (scalpel, razor blade), large scissors and tweezers, as well as starch and cotton wool. In the field, you can get by with one knife. The skin is removed from the cooled bird as soon as rigor mortis passes, from the chilled one - immediately. Frozen poultry should be left warm until the limbs and neck become plastic (the carcass may not yet be completely defrosted). As necessary, sprinkle with starch the blood that stains the feathers, as well as parts of the carcass that open during the shooting of the skin.
Put the capercaillie on the table on its back with its head to the left (for the right-handed person) and put a dense cotton swab into the beak if the previously inserted swab is wet. Insert a smaller tampon into the cloaca. Feel for the lower part of the bird's keel and spread the feathers in this place with the fingers of your left hand, and take a knife with your right hand and make an incision in the skin. Moving towards the tail and spreading the feathers on the belly of the capercaillie, carefully run the knife along the skin, trying not to cut the feather cores encountered in the path of the blade, and also trying not to cut the peritoneum (Fig. 1). The incision is made 1 cm before reaching the cloaca. After that, with the fingers of one hand or tweezers, you need to separate and lift the edges of the skin at the bottom of the keel, with the other hand penetrating between the skin and muscle tissue of the carcass, reaching the knee joint. With one hand, pushing the knee into the skin incision on the belly and at the same time running the fingers of the other hand under the skin, separate it at the knee and under it (Fig. 2). Insert the ends of the scissors into the gap between the skin and the joint and cut the knee joint. The same must be done with the other leg (Fig. 3).
Penetrating fingers under the skin, separate it from the carcass at the base of the tail. Bending the tail to the back, with a knife or scissors, separate the skin at the cloaca from the peritoneum and intestines. The liquid pouring out of the incision must be covered with starch and the incision should be plugged with a cotton swab. Expose the tail sheath (it is whitish), in which the tail feathers are attached, and, continuing to bend the tail towards the back of the bird, carefully cut the caudal spine without damaging the tail sheath. Special care is needed not to accidentally cut the skin on the back in the tail area. Having cut off the tail vertebrae, begin to carefully remove the skin from the sacrum and thighs of the carcass with your fingers. At the same time, it is convenient to hold the bird vertically, upside down. To facilitate further shooting, it is better to hang capercaillie skins on a hook (to a ceiling beam, a branch of a tree), looping the carcass around the hip joints (Fig. 4).
It is necessary to tighten the skin to the shoulder joints evenly from different sides, strongly pressing the fingers between the skin and the carcass of the capercaillie. Then the skin around each shoulder is separated in turn (Fig. 5). With a knife, each shoulder joint is separated from the carcass and the shooting is continued with a stocking from the capercaillie's neck (Fig. 6). A transparent goiter, often filled with needles, is separated from the skin with fingers. The skin is removed from the skull with great difficulty, so you have to help with a knife. From the auditory canals, the skin in the form of bags is carefully removed with tweezers. Next, the skin is removed to the corners of the mouth and to the eyes, where transparent films are cut with a knife. In order not to cut the eyelids, you need to trim closer to the eyeballs and away from the skin of the eyelids. After that, the skin is pulled down to the base of the beak (Fig. 7). The skull at its base is separated from the neck, and it remains with the skin for making stuffed.
Do not rush to butcher and send the meat carcass of the capercaillie to the boiler. Take linear measurements from it for the future stuffed animal (the length and height of the carcass, the length of the thigh, the length and thickness of the neck) or make an outline of the carcass on paper from the side. And measure the diameter of the eyes.

SKIN CLEANING
The skin, separated from the carcass, must be cleaned of films of connective tissues, of the muscles remaining on the limbs and skull, as well as of the eyes and brain. To remove the eyeballs, you need to insert the ends of the half-open scissors into the eye sockets and push them out of their sockets in turn, using the scissors as a lever. Then, with scissors, clean the skull from chewing muscles. Cleaning of bones from muscle tissues must be done carefully, because, poorly cleaned, they can emit a strong smell when drying the stuffed animal and lead to partial loss of feathers. It is necessary to completely remove the brain, for which purpose the hole in the base of the skull is expanded and its contents are removed with tweezers.
Since all the bones of the wings remain with the skin, the cleaning of each wing is done like this. With one hand they hold the humerus and tighten the skin to the elbow bend. Muscle tissue is removed with scissors, cutting the tendons at the elbow. The ulna and radius bones of the forearm are cleaned last, already on the skin, turned inside out with a feather. To do this, an incision is made on the underside of the wing between the elbow and
radius bones so that the blade does not cut the cores of covering feathers (Fig. 8). Separate the skin from the muscles with your fingers and tweezers. Cut the tendons with scissors and remove the muscles with tweezers.
The bones of the lower leg, tarsus and fingers remain with the skin (Fig. 9). The skin on the legs of the capercaillie is removed with a stocking, the tendons are cut at the joint and the muscles are separated from the bone. Then they remove the skin from the tarsus to the very fingers, since the capercaillie has a feathered tarsus. This procedure requires effort, but also care so as not to tear the skin.
Next, the cuts of muscle tissue at the base of the tail are cleaned. Then you need to clean the entire mezra from films, fat and muscle cuts, especially in the neck of the capercaillie, where the subcutaneous muscles are saturated with small blood vessels (Fig. 10). After that, you need to turn the skin out and inspect its appearance.
Separate soiled areas of the bird's plumage can be gently washed with cold water and dried. But if the feathers in many places, despite their powdering with starch, turn out to be heavily stained with blood, then after shooting the skin will need to be washed in cold water with the addition of washing powder and then rinsed thoroughly. The same will have to be done with salted skins taken in the field. If the salted skin has dried up (so that not only the skin, but also the wings and fingers of the bird have lost plasticity), then before washing it should be soaked in a saturated solution of common salt until the elasticity of the limbs is restored. So that at the beginning of soaking the skin does not float, but is completely immersed in the solution, oppression is placed on it (for example, a two-liter bottle of water). Soaking a dry skin of a large bird can take several days, and care must be taken to ensure that the solution remains cold, so it is best to do this in a cool room. In addition to salt, crystalline phenol (1 g per liter of solution) can be added to suppress putrefactive processes.

DRYING THE FELLOW AND PROTECTING THE SKIN FROM PESTS
The skin washed in water should be squeezed well, but without twisting, in a towel (in a rag, in paper). After that, dry the slightly straightened tail, wings and other parts of the plumage with a powerful stream of air blown from a vacuum cleaner. Feathers can be dried faster in a large amount of starch, knocking out the resulting raw lumps by tapping and shaking and again sprinkling starch on the feathers. Then, when the feathers dry and take on a natural look, you need to shake out the remaining starch or blow them out with an air jet from a vacuum cleaner.
If there are cuts or tears on the mezdra, they must be sewn over the edge with a needle with a strong thread. Ear openings should be closed. Small holes from the shot can not be sewn up.
Etching from insect pests (kozheedy, moth larvae) is made at choice with aqueous solutions: arsenic sodium (saturated solution is diluted 10 times) or borax (2.5 g of powder per 100 ml of water), which are applied twice or thrice with a bristle brush over the entire surface of the mezra and along the bones. Especially carefully pass with a brush at the places of attachment of the rods of the flywheel (wings) and steering (tail) feathers.

PREPARATION FOR STAMPING
To do this, you will need tools: pliers, round-nose pliers, wire cutters, a hacksaw, a hammer, a drill and drills, a vice, a file, scissors, tweezers, an awl, a needle, pins. From the materials you will need: thin rope, thick strong threads, a board, thick iron wire (4-5 mm), artistic oil paints and bristle brushes, tow, cotton wool, foam plastic, packing wood shavings, sphagnum moss or other stuffing materials, depending on method and conditions for making stuffed animals.
You need to buy glass eyes for capercaillie or make them yourself in advance, for example, by squeezing out a piece of thin (0.5-2 mm) plexiglass. This requires two semicircular surfaces, one of which is convex, the other is concave, entering each other with a small gap. The diameter of these surfaces should correspond to the diameter of the capercaillie's eye (10–12 mm). Plexiglas heated over the stove softens. It must be quickly placed over the concave surface, pressed with force on top of the convex surface and immediately cut the plexiglass around the circumference with scissors. The plexiglass cools very quickly, after which it is necessary to separate the molds and remove the artificial eye blank. Squeeze out the other "eye" in the same way. Having processed the uneven edges of the plexiglass with a file, you need to cover both resulting hemispheres on the inside with black paint (preferably quick-drying nitro enamel). After drying, artificial eyes are ready. Since in nature the capercaillie's iris is very dark, the black pupil does not stand out against its background, therefore, in our opinion, an artificial eye with a pupil for a stuffed animal is not at all necessary.
You also need to prepare a stand for the future stuffed animal in advance: for example, find in the forest and saw off a beautifully curved dry branch (the “living” branch will have to be dried for many days) of pine, the root of a spruce eversion. The stand should be proportional to the size of the stuffed animal and complement it beautifully, giving liveliness to the bird.
But first you should decide in what position and where the stuffed capercaillie will be located. It is most often done in the pose of a flowing bird on a thick bough, mounted on the wall. However, the male wood grouse is beautiful in other poses, and even in flight (then it can be hung from the ceiling). To give the scarecrow a natural dynamic pose, you need to find suitable photographs of the capercaillie and focus on them.
The second important question is how to fill a scarecrow. In modern taxidermy workshops, capercaillie are made using the sculptural method. Having bought a finished casting of a carcass (dummy) of a capercaillie, you can make a stuffed animal at home. At the same time, you can do without a mannequin and make a stuffed animal on a board in the old fashioned way, especially since not everyone can buy a mannequin, and making it at home is quite troublesome: to mold a life-size carcass and neck of a capercaillie from clay, to make a plaster mold for its subsequent pouring plasticizer. Further, the work is reduced to the same operations as with other methods of stuffing an effigy, which will be discussed below.
The wire should serve as a strong frame and hold the finished stuffed animal on a stand. It is necessary to straighten the wire and cut it into pieces with wire cutters, slightly longer than the length of the straightened neck, leg, open wing, so that the free end parts of the wire on both sides of the neck and limbs can then be bent and fixed when assembling the stuffed animal (Fig. 11, 12 and 13) . Therefore, the total length of the wire for the neck will be 55–60 cm, for the leg or wing - 80–90 cm. Excess wire is removed with wire cutters already during the assembly of the frame. Clamp in a vise and sharpen with a file (or emery wheel on the machine) one end on each cut wire. Steel wire, so that it bends better and does not spring, is annealed in a flame to red and allowed to cool in air. The main element of the skeleton of the stuffed animal will be a board 2–3 cm thick. It is cut with a hacksaw, giving it an oval shape, approximately equal in length and height to the profile of the capercaillie carcass (Fig. 14). Paired holes are drilled in the board with a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the wire for attaching the neck, tail and four limbs (12 holes in total).

ASSEMBLING THE SCARECROW ON A RIGID FRAME
This includes attaching the limbs, head and tail to a finished dummy or board (see figures 15, 16 and 17). Let's imagine that you decide to make a stuffed wood grouse with a neck stretched upwards, wings lowered, and a tail unfolded like a fan. The assembly of the stuffed animal begins with attaching the wire for the neck on a board prepared in advance. Then, foam plastic can be strung on a straightened wire and, cutting off the excess with a knife, get an imitation of the neck, from which the sharp end of the wire will stick out, designed for fastening in the skull. Instead of foam, you can wind cotton wool, tow, moss on the neck wire and tie everything with thick threads. The neck should be somewhat thicker and shorter than the real neck (check your carcass measurements).
Next, you need to take the skin turned inside out by the skull left in it. With an awl or a pointed end of the wire through a hole in the base of the skull, pierce the bone between the eye sockets, bend it with round-nose pliers to the back of the head and fasten the end of the wire so that the skull is firmly drawn to the artificial neck. Insert cotton swabs into eye sockets. After that, the skin should be turned out with a feather.
The next step is to strengthen the wire in the wings. It is necessary to turn one of the wings outward with the mezra and, taking the forearm with one hand, and the wire with the other, pass its sharp end from one to the other joint between the radius and ulna to the fingers of the wing. Next, pass the end of the wire under the skin of the wing fingers on its inner side. Turn the wing inside out again and tie the humerus tightly to the wire with a thin rope, then wrap it with tow or cotton wool, imitating the thickness of the shoulder muscles. Cotton wool must also be wound with threads. Then, the free end of the wire extending from the bone must be bent in a V-shape, inserted into the hole in the board at the level of the capercaillie's shoulder and fasten the wing to the board using round-nose pliers and a hammer. Through the incision on the forearm, from which the muscles were previously removed, it is necessary to firmly tie the radius bone to the wire passing here in three places. After that, the wing must be bent with both hands and folded at the joints, otherwise, straightened, it will interfere with further stuffing of the stuffed animal. Now the wire passed along the skeleton of the wing will be one with it.
After completing the operations described above with the other wing, you can begin to assemble the leg frame. Taking the paw of the capercaillie in one hand, pierce the soft “sole” with the sharpened end of the wire and, gently pushing the wire under the skin of the tarsus, trying not to pierce or tear the skin, bring its sharp end to the joint. After that, holding the wire with the foot strung on it with one hand, turn the skin of the leg inside out with the other hand. Holding the joint and continuing to push the wire, you need to remove its main part, tightly tie it with a rope to the bones of the tarsus and lower leg, wrap it with tow or cotton and thread, imitating muscle tissue, as was done on the wing. Turn the foot right side out and make sure there is enough left end of the wire to secure it to the bitch or other support. Slightly bend the foot at the joint with both hands. At the opposite end in the upper part of the lower leg, the wire must be bent at an acute angle back, imitating the thigh (which was left with the carcass). Then fasten the wire to the board in the same way as the wing was previously strengthened.
Having done the same with the other leg of the capercaillie, you need to strengthen the core wire that will support the tail. To do this, from the side of the mezra, pierce with the sharp end of the wire the area between the vertebrae of the tail remaining with the skin and the tail cover and skip the wire to half the length of the central tail feathers. Fasten the other end of the wire to the board in the same way as the neck wire.

stuffing
After completing the assembly of the frame and giving the stuffed animal a certain pose, you can start stuffing the capercaillie with shavings, stuffing the neck, head, wings with tow or cotton wool. Stuffing material must be tightly filled with all the free space under the skin, making sure that there are no voids. To do this, you can use long tweezers, especially necessary for padding the neck. In the process of stuffing, the main proportions of the body inherent in the capercaillie should be observed. A tightly stuffed stuffed animal must be sewn up with a strong thread, pulling together the edges of the incision on the belly and adjusting the feathers along the incision. Line the forearms with tow or cotton wool and sew them up. Put a cotton swab in the beak and leave it ajar. Artificial eyes should be inserted symmetrically into the eye sockets and the eyelids should be corrected, giving them a natural look.

FINAL DESIGN
It's time to plant the stuffed animal on the stand. Having tried on the capercaillie, on the bitch you need to mark the places of the holes for attaching the leg wires. In the drilled holes, which should be slightly larger than the diameter of the wires of the legs, the wire should be passed. In order for the stuffed animal to sit firmly on the stand, you need to tightly pull the sole and toes to it, bend the wire on the other side of the knot and beat it with a hammer.
After that, it is necessary to give the final pose to the stuffed animal on the stand, referring to the photographs of the streaming bird. Spread the toes on the bitch, lower the wings down. Then straighten and lay the plumage with tweezers: smooth the feathers on the belly and chest, wings and legs, lift them on the neck, throat and rump. The capercaillie tail raised up and fanned out should be fixed with bandages (strips of cardboard fastened with pins), which, after complete drying, the stuffed animals are removed. If necessary, with bandages, you can press both individual protruding feathers and areas covered with feathers for the drying time: belly, back, wings, and others. Pay special attention to the head, symmetrical setting of the eyebrows, eyes and eyelids.
At normal temperature and humidity in the room, a stuffed capercaillie will dry for 3-4 weeks. At the end of this process, the fingers on the paws and the lower jaw of the capercaillie will lose all mobility, the joints will harden, and the foreign smells that accompany the drying skin will disappear. Now you can remove the bandages and take up the paints, since the white beak of the male common capercaillie (in the stone capercaillie it is black) and the scarlet eyebrows will darken. It should be added that the dried eyebrows on the skin will decrease in size. To give them a more natural look, you can glue foam rubber on top of them, previously cut with scissors in the shape of an eyebrow. When the glue dries, the artificial eyebrows are dyed. Now the stuffed capercaillie is ready.

STORAGE CONDITIONS
A place for a stuffed animal in the house must be chosen so that direct sunlight does not fall on it, from which the plumage fades and fades; away from sources of dampness and strong heat (ovens, reflectors, radiators), from which the scarecrow is deformed; also, it should not hang in a dark corner, where, imperceptibly to your eyes, it will be covered with dust and be eaten by moths. Dust from a stuffed animal can be brushed off several times a year with a dry soft cloth, trying not to wrinkle the feathers. A scarecrow damaged by insects should be treated immediately with an aerosol insecticide (dichlorvos) and repeated if the first treatment did not help.

30.09.2016

The development and implementation of new, modern taxidermy technologies made it possible to offer the manufacture of high-quality products, which began to find greater interest among people in trophies, regardless of the cost of work, to popularize trophy hunting.

The emotional impact of well-made trophies is immeasurably greater than that of mediocre ones. A well-made trophy can be a great interior decoration, a good gift, and remind you of unforgettable moments of hunting episodes.

To make a good animal trophy, in addition to modern materials and manufacturing technology, you need high-quality raw materials. The low level of knowledge of most hunters on this topic leads to the fact that the skins of most of the hunted animals become unusable at the stages of shooting, primary processing, and storage. This recommendation will give the most basic tips on how to save and not spoil your trophy.

Only the master can correctly shoot and process the skin of a bird, so if the hunter is interested in the quality of his trophy and he has the opportunity, then the dead bird should be frozen. Also, a bird carcass is necessary to determine body measurements.

When hunting for a bird, and indeed for all animals intended for taxidermy, the most unpleasant moment is the killing of a wounded animal. With animals it looks easier, with a bird it is more difficult.

When killing a wounded bird, do not beat on the head, but gently suffocate, squeezing the chest. You can also use a thin awl to kill: calmly press the wounded bird to the ground and fix the wings, then take it by the head, pierce the skull and quickly break the integrity of the brain.

If you intend to get a bird to make a stuffed animal, then before leaving for the hunt, do not forget to take packing material for the carcass. For example, put a cotton swab in the mouth of a captured capercaillie and put its head under the wing, if the head is covered in blood, then wrap it with a cloth. Next, put the capercaillie in a polypropylene bag and wrap it tightly with tape, wrap the tail especially well. In this form, the carcass is convenient to carry and freeze.

Any bird caught must be transported carefully so as not to damage the feather, especially the wings and tail. Also, try once again not to stain the white plumage of a bird (white partridge, snowy owl) with blood.

Before freezing in a bird, straighten the plumage, in a waterfowl, the head is bent to the side, then the carcass is placed in a plastic bag and frozen.

When hunting, shoot the bird in such a way as to inflict a minimum of damage to the feather cover, especially the flight feathers of the wing. Remember, the quality of your trophy depends on how you got and saved the bird.

Processing animal skins

small animals

All small animals after production should be stored only in a frozen state. The hunter needs to carefully get the animal, pack and freeze, and deliver it to the master in this form.

You need to know that frequent thawing of the carcass, especially when stored outside, due to the action of intestinal enzymes, leads to hair loss on the abdomen, sides, and inguinal parts.

large animals

To make a stuffed animal, measurements of the body, special shooting and processing of the skin are necessary, therefore the best thing is when properly shot and frozen carcasses are offered.

How and with what the animal was obtained does not matter, it can only determine what trophy can be made from the extracted animal. For example, a trap wolf with a damaged and non-repairable limb, or if the legs have hair shuffled against the crust, which is especially observed in individuals caught at the end of winter, it is advisable to use it to make a trophy head (medallion or pedestal). Or there are hair defects on the skin caused by ringworm, which is often found in a wolf, or sometimes in a bear. It is better to make a head than a carpet with visible defects.

The hunter must understand that, due to ignorance, he can spoil or reduce the value of the hunted animal by skinning alone, therefore, if weather conditions permit, it is advisable to freeze the carcass.

Carcasses of animals, for example, a wolf, are frozen only in an extended position. The carcass is suspended by the parted hind limbs, the tail, so as not to interfere with transportation, can be tied to one of them. It is not allowed to freeze the carcass, randomly, stuffing it into a bag, etc., especially large specimens. This leads to uneven cooling of the carcass of the animal, as a result of which hair loss can occur on different parts of the body. It is possible to freeze the carcass of a large animal only in established frosty weather. But the best thing is to remove all the insides before freezing. To do this, you need to cut the peritoneum along the midline, put a cotton glove on your hand and remove the contents of the body. Next, cut out the diaphragm, pull out the lungs and heart. Wipe the cavity of the carcass from the blood with a dry cloth. All this will exclude the possibility of a hair fall on the abdomen (wolf, lynx, wolverine, beaver). After that, the carcass will freeze very quickly.

When hunting animals that will be offered for taxidermy purposes, the following should be remembered:

• when shooting or finishing off an animal, do not shoot at the head, but only at the body, the bear can be shot at the base of the skull, if necessary, since defects in the head, especially the front part, are practically irremovable. Better three holes in the body than one in the head;
• do not finish off a mortally wounded animal with a second shot, especially with shotgun cartridges, wait, let it die calmly on its own;
• when killing an animal in a trap, in a hurry, do not shoot at close range with shotgun shells. Move away and, if possible, cover the animal's head with natural objects, such as a tree trunk;
• when hunting, use the caliber of the weapon and the type of ammunition corresponding to the object of hunting. For example, don't shoot a wolf with half-shell or expansion bullets. If you have a large smooth-bore caliber weapon and you need to shoot from it, for example, a wolf caught in a trap or noose, then equip a cartridge with a small sub-caliber bullet for this;
• when using dogs, do not allow the latter to grab, tear, pinch a wounded or killed animal;
• a killed animal, especially one caught while chasing it on a snowmobile (lynx, wolf, fox) during transportation should not be rolled up into a ball, stuffed into a bag to avoid hair loss. The carcass should cool evenly;
• any animal caught must be transported very carefully.

At present, all taxidermy works can be combined into the main groups of products - these are trophy heads (medallion or pedestal), animal skin carpets with a taxidermy head and stuffed animals.

For the manufacture of trophies from animal skins, if it is not possible to preserve the carcass of the animal, for example, due to weather or transportation, the skin can be removed, observing the conditions.

Conditions for skinning on the example of a bear and a wolf

Rice. 1 Bear skin cut

The skin of a bear has a number of features that must be taken into account.

The skin is removed in layers. The central incision is made from the base of the lower jaw to the anus exactly along the midline of the abdomen, bypassing the genitals.

Do not cut the skin on the lower jaw. An error in this process is that the cut is filled up to the side, as a result of which the unfolded skin has one side larger than the other.

Section of the forelimbs start from the base of the central part of the palmar callus, pass next to a small callus, leaving 3-4 mm on it. skin with hair, and lead strictly to the elbow. Further, the incision from the elbow should go to the inner surface of the limb and along the least hairy part (almost the center of the inner surface of the shoulder) converges at a right angle with the central incision. A common mistake in this case is that the limb is extended and the incision is made in a straight line, bypassing the elbow, to the midline and, in addition, the incision is taken to the side. As a result, the correctness of dressing the skin and its aesthetic appearance are violated, which entails a waste of time to eliminate these errors in the process of dressing and dressing the skin, and extra seams in the inguinal parts of the skin are not desirable, especially on the skins of early autumn bears. The second mistake is that a small callus is cut in half, which cannot be done, especially if you are skinning a carpet (wolf, lynx).

The incision of the hind limbs starts from the base of the calcaneal callus. In a wolf, an incision is made through the hock joint, along the back of the thigh and further to the anus.

As for the bear, the incision is approximately 5-10 cm from the calcaneal callus, they begin to smoothly lead to the inner surface of the hind limb and then along the least hairy part to the central incision. The point of intersection of the incisions should be approximately 5-20 cm (depending on the size of the animal) above the anus. The main mistake of this work is the incision from the heel to the anus, along the back of the hind limb. In this case, the fur gachas are cut in half, and part of them goes in the form of an addition to the lower part of the belly, and you get a stubby, as if cut-out rump near the skin. You can not start the incision from the middle of the inner part of the calcaneal callus.

Rice. 3 On a properly cut wolf foot, the small calcaneal callus should be in the back and the fifth toe in front.	Rice. 4 The right paw of a bear. The cut is correct	Rice. five The right paw of a bear. The cut is wrong

Photo 1	Photo 2	Photo 3

Photo 1. The skin of a bear with incorrectly made cuts in the fore and hind limbs.

Photo 2. In this photo, the incision of the hind limbs is made incorrectly, since it is strongly diverted towards the head from the anus. As a result, part of the groin of the skin was on the rump.

Photo 3. The incision of the forelimbs was not made correctly due to the fact that it was taken towards the head, and not perpendicular to the central incision. As a result of this, part of the skin of the front paw was on the front groin.

In addition to the above-described method of shooting the skin with a layer, you can use a simpler and faster method - with a tube. This is how almost all commercial furs are removed. It is convenient in that it is not necessary to make a central incision on the animal's carcass. Also, when working with mannequins, there are postures and methods for making a trophy, where it is necessary to cut the skin not along the stomach, but along the back or other topographic parts of the skin, and therefore the method of skinning with a tube is more optimal. The master himself will make additional cuts where he needs it. To skin with a tube, make an incision in the hind limbs as when shooting with a layer, and in the front ones from the paw to the elbow. Next, expose the hocks, insert the handle through them and hang the carcass of the animal to shoot the skin. It will be even better if the forelimbs are not cut at all, but pulled off as much as possible from them with a tube to the paws and cut off.

So, you correctly carried out all the main cuts of the skin. If the skin can be frozen or quickly delivered to the master, then the paws should be separated at the joints, leaving them in the skin. The tail vertebra remains in the skin. Cut off the tail at the base. The head is also separated from the neck along the condyles (the base of the skull) and left in the skin. For example, the skin of a bear removed in this way is laid out and allowed to cool. Next, the skin is folded in half, skin on skin, folded and put into a bag. It is impossible to randomly fold and freeze the skins of a wolf, lynx and other animals. The open parts of the skin quickly freeze in the cold, which subsequently makes it very difficult to process these places, affecting the quality of the leather tissue.

If the bear was caught in warm weather, then the paws and head must be prepared.

Working with bear paws

Most hunters, due to their ignorance and laziness, cut the palm and heel pads of the paws in half, and the worst thing for convenience and quick extraction of the phalanges of the fingers is to cut them on the paws. It's like cutting off your nose or ears and wanting a nicely made trophy, or selling raw materials well.

The paws of a bear, if there is a desire and time, can be turned out without any cuts, especially the front. But if there is no experience or conditions do not allow, then to extract the phalanges of the fingers on the paws of the bear, only one lateral incision is made along the inside of the paw to the pad of the extreme finger, leaving 0.5-1 cm of skin on the callus. The latter is necessary to mask the seam under the hair and better stitching the incision.

Next, the paw pads are bent, the phalanges of the fingers can be separated and each is pulled out separately to the claw, and then cut off. This work must be done very carefully, avoiding skin cuts between the fingers.

Extracting the phalanges of the fingers requires some skill. For convenience, each paw is tied to a rope, then it is hung up and then gently in a circle, cutting the skin, the phalanges are pulled out to the claw and cut off.

Photo 4	Photo 5	Photo 6
Photo 7	Photo 8	Photo 9
Photo 10

Photo 4 - preparation of the paw of a bear.

Photo 5 - bear paws turned out entirely (after 7 hours of cooking with spices, a miracle dish is obtained).

Photo 6 - the paws of the wolf, lynx and other animals are not cut, but turned into a “cam”. The phalanges are also separated, turned out to the claw and cut off.

Photo 7 - when processing and preserving skins, it is advisable to open the upper lip and salt it well.

Photo 8, 9,10- an example of different options for ditching the paws of a bear.

It is very important to properly skin the head. The main thing is not to allow eyelid cuts, carefully separate the nose from the skull, keep the inner lips (do not cut the lower lip), separate the ears along the ear canal, and not cut off the auricles. If the skin will not freeze, then the ears must be turned out, i.e. separate the ear skin from the ear cartilage. Ear cartilage can not be removed - this will be done by the master himself. It must be remembered that ear defects, obtained both during the life of the animal, and due to a careless attitude to raw materials, are practically unremovable.

The tail of the animal must be cut and removed. It is necessary to cut carefully along the entire length, with a well-sharpened tool. When removing the tail, take care not to cut or tear the skin on it.

Photo 11	Photo 12	Photo 13
Photo 14	Photo 15	Photo 16
Photo 17

Photo 11- fox ear preparation.

Photo 12 - dissection of the eye of a fox.

Photo 13- preparation of the lips of the fox.

Photo 14, 15- correctly dissected heads of a fox and a bear.

Photo 16- the bear's ears got soaked and crawled out due to the fact that they were not turned out in time and not salted.

Photo 17- the bear's ears are cut along the cartilage, and not along the ear canal. When extracting the skull from the skin of the head, the eyelids of the eyes were cut off along with part of the skin. This defect will require extensive restoration work by a master taxidermist.

The main mistakes made when shooting animal skins

1. The main cuts on the skin were not made correctly or not symmetrically.
2. The paw pads are cut in half, or cut out. The lateral incision of the bear's paw was made along the line of the border of the hair and callus without capturing the skin.
3. Split lower lip.
4. Wrongly cut off and not everted ears.
5. Cut eyelids.
6. The tail has not been cut or removed.

In the process of skinning, try to avoid cuts and holes in the skin tissue, especially on the front of the head. Cuts on the skin of a bear are formed due to the fact that the hunter, while working with a knife, holds it at the wrong angle, is in a hurry and does not feel the border between the skin tissue and the mezra

The skinned skin is best to roll and freeze, but if this is not possible, then the skin must be salted.

From the skin of a bear, at least superficially remove cuts of meat, fat, spongy tissue from the pads of the paws, dirt from the skin and hair. The skins of a wolf, lynx, wolverine can not be worked out. Do not work off the head of all types of animals, but turn out only the ears, since only the master should do this processing.

For salting, the steam skin is laid out and salted very abundantly. Don't be sorry for the salt. Particular attention should be paid to the edges that form folds in the raw skin, especially on the forelimbs from the side of the elbow. Salt stuffed into paws. Pour salt into the ears between the cartilage and the skin. Don't forget to salt the tail. If the skin is dry, then it needs to be slightly moistened.

After salting, it is not advisable to immediately roll up the skin, but let it lie down so that the leather tissue is salted evenly. Protruding moisture from the skin must drain.

For salting, you need to use pure edible grinding salt No. 1 or No. 2, and not some technical salt or crushed lick. Do not think that by pouring a few kilograms of salt on the skin of a bear, you will save it. Because of this, at low negative air temperatures, the skin will not freeze and will be in a moist state, which can lead to fluidity and fragrant hairline right with the epidermis of the skin.

When going on a bear hunt in early autumn, do not forget to take salt. Untreated salted skin, and even more so steam, in warm weather, do not pack in polyethylene for storage or transportation, being afraid to stain something. On the skin wrapped in polyethylene, in warm weather, very favorable conditions arise for the development of putrefactive processes.

The above method of salting the skin to preserve it is not a method of conservation. It is desirable to sell skins processed in this way faster or to preserve them correctly.

It must be remembered that salt is not capable of preserving the skin for a long time without its appropriate preparation. If salt is applied to an untreated, dirty skin in a small amount unevenly over the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe skin, then all this can lead to the appearance of putrefactive processes in the skin tissue and fragrant hairline.

To preserve the skin (for example, a freshly harvested bear) for a year or more, you must:

1. Make the perfect pre-treatment.
2. Salt the skin and keep it for about 7-10 days, preferably in a cool place. The skin should not dry, but remain wet - salty.
3. After that, do a chemical degreasing of the skin with detergents.
4. Next, salt the washed skin again with pure salt and bring the leather fabric to a certain percentage of moisture. The skin should not be dry, but slightly damp.
5. After that, remove excess salt, pack the skin tightly and freeze.

This method of preserving the skin of a bear has been tested for years. After long-term storage, at the beginning of its further processing, the skin has all its original properties and is ready for dressing processes.

Methods for shooting the skin with a layer and a tube are classic and the easiest. They are applicable for making all kinds of hunting trophies.

There is a way to shoot a skin with a cut not on the stomach, but on the back. This method is used only when working with polyurethane mannequins. It is the most difficult and requires a certain amount of skill, so if you can't skin it correctly, then don't try to experiment.

Photo 19	Photo 20	Photo 21
Photo 22	Photo 23	Photo 24
Photo 25	Photo 26

Photo 19- to make a trophy in a sitting position, it is advisable to remove the skin with a cut along the back. This method is the most basic and applicable to various poses, and greatly facilitates the work with foam mannequins when making a trophy.

Photo 20, 21 - when shooting the skin of a wolf with a cut along the back, the cut of the forelimbs is made from the paw to the elbow joint, and the cut of the hind limbs (photo 21) is made from the paw, passing through the hock joint to the beginning of the feathering.

Photo 22- an incision along the back is made from the occiput, along the upper line of the back. Further on the rump, the incision passes to the lower part of the tail (the incision can also be made along the upper side of the tail). When making an incision along the back, it is advisable to make small incisions along the edge of the skin with a scalpel, which will help to align the edges of the skin in place when sewing it on the mannequin, especially if the body is rotated.

Photo 23- after making all the cuts, when removing the skin, the front and hind limbs turn inside out.

Photo 24- this is how the skin of a wolf looks like, taken with a cut along the back.

Photo 25, 26- trophy head and wolf carpet.

To properly remove and process a skin intended not for making a fur product, but for taxidermy purposes, you need certain knowledge, experience, conditions, and if you are interested in getting a high-quality trophy, for example, from a wolf, lynx, wolverine, then these animals are best frozen in carcasses. In this case, the skin from the animal will be removed correctly and, most importantly, when preparing the mannequin for making a stuffed animal, all parameters of the animal carcass will be taken into account. Each animal is individual and carcass measurements will greatly facilitate the work in the manufacture of your trophy.

Working with the use of polyurethane mannequins and plastic accessories shows the client all the advantages of modern professional taxidermy, so it is advisable to use only high-quality raw materials.

Tracking the beast, the hunter should strive to get the skin with minimal damage to the skin and hair.

To a large extent, this is ensured by the correct choice of fraction numbers. So, for example, when hunting for a squirrel, cartridges equipped with shot No. 6 and 5 are used, and some of the cartridges are made with reduced charges. A squirrel sitting high on a tree is fired with a full charge, and at close range (10-20 m) with a reduced one. For shooting martens, minks and sables, shot No. 4, 5 is used, for a hare - No. 1, 2, for a fox - No. 0-00, etc.

When hunting with dogs, one should not allow them to wag, tear prey. Before shooting, the skins of the animal must be carried so as not to stain the hairline with blood and not damage it. The hunter must be able to properly remove, degrease (flee) and conserve the skin so that it can be stored for 3-4 or more months before entering the fur industry. These operations are called primary processing of skins. Depending on the requirements of fur production, the primary processing of the skins of different types of animals has some differences, which are reflected in the State Standard for Fur Raw Materials.

These requirements must be taken into account by the hunter during the primary processing of the skins. As a result, damage to the skin made during the process of inept extraction and primary processing will affect its harvesting value, and the hunter may lose from 10 to 50% of earnings. The primary processing of skins of fur-bearing animals consists of four operations: shooting - separation from the carcass, degreasing the skin, straightening on the rules and canning.

Before skinning, the hunted animal may be in a state of rigor mortis, frozen, or, conversely, still warm (steam). In the first case, the carcass of the animal must first be kneaded, unbending and bending the torso and limbs, in the second - thawed at room conditions, in the last - allowed to cool, which will reduce bleeding.

In accordance with the requirements of the State Standard, there are the following differences in the primary processing of skins (Table 1).

Table 1. Differences in the primary processing of skins

Kind of an animal.	Shooting method.	Edit type.	Canning.
Ermine, weasel, weasel, solong.	Stocking from the head.	On collapsible rules, with the flesh outward.	Fresh-dry.
		On collapsible rules with wedges, hair out.
	A tube, with a cut along the rump.	Without straightening with a narrow tube, the core outward.
Wolf, otter, raccoon dog, martens, fox, mink, arctic fox, black polecat.		On wedge-shaped, sliding or forked rules, hair out.
Hare, muskrat, white polecat.		On wedge-shaped or fork-shaped rules, with the core outward.
Badger, mole, bear, marmot, ground squirrels, wild boar, roe deer, elk, deer.		On the shield, skin up.	Wet-salty.

Shooting skins with a stocking, degreasing them and editing

This method of primary processing of skins is the most complex and requires skill. Before starting work, it is necessary to prepare tools and materials - a knife with a narrow straight blade and a bar, a blank and a collapsible rule, as well as a dry, clean rag.

After cleaning the fur, freeing the bladder and rectum of the animal from the contents, the inner surface of the lips is cut along the border with the gums. The incision is made from the corners of the mouth to the nasal cartilage, which is cut, and then along the lower jaw (Fig. 53/1)

Rice. 53. Skin cut lines when shooting;

1 stocking; 2-tube; 3-layer.

Rice. 54. Skinning ermine.

Next, the lips are separated from the muscles of the nasal part and the lower jaw - the upper one to the eyes, the lower one to the throat, pulling the skin near the eyes, cut the eyelids, and tighten the skin from the ear cartilages with a bag. After the skin is separated from the body to the shoulder blades, a rope loop is tightened around the animal’s neck, fixed on the wall or bench below the hunter’s hands, so that the removed part of the skin is always located above the skinned part of the carcass (Fig. 54). This helps to protect the skin from contamination with blood and fat. The skin from the paws is pulled down to the last phalanges of the fingers, the tendons are cut, leaving the claws on the skin. The vertebrae of the tail are removed from the skin tube by pulling out.

The use of a simple device for this purpose - a slingshot greatly facilitates the task (Fig. 55). As usual, the root of the tail (1-2 cm) is initially exposed from the skin of the skin, which is placed in the fork so that the skin roller prevents the tail from moving, the roller is held from above with the left hand, and the “twig” is pulled out of the tail tube with the right hand. The skin removed with a stocking is degreased with a knife on a round or flat blank inserted inside it through the mouth opening. Degreasing is carried out in the direction of the head, starting from the rump.

Bruises are removed by squeezing the blood out of the mezra with a knife, and then washing it off with a clean, dry cloth. After degreasing, the skin is straightened on collapsible rules (Fig. 56/1, 2). First, the first part of the rule is inserted through the mouth opening into the skin, turned inside out with the hair, - a wedge, expanding downwards, then its second part - a wedge, tapering downwards.

Both wedges are inserted with “legs” into the hind legs - until they come into contact with the claws, then they are aligned in length and plane, with a slight passage of the skin between the fingers from the rump to the head, the warehouse is straightened.

Rice. 55. Extraction of the "twig" (vertebrae) fromtail tubules with a slingshot and mezra

Fixing the skin on the rule

The skin is fastened to the rule with the help of a carnation or a thin cord, which is threaded into the spout, and then into a hole made in the upper part of the rule, and tied. The straightened skin is wrapped in a slightly moistened white cloth and put to dry. Drying, the fabric absorbs fat, blood and protects the skin from contamination.

Rules for ermine and weasel skins when folded form a rectangle with an aspect ratio of 1:7. In contrast to them, the rule for skins of kolonka and solongoy is characterized by an extension for the rump part and, when folded, has a trapezoidal shape.

The sable skin straightener consists of two oval halves and two wedges. Straightening, the skin is given a rounded, or square, or slightly elongated shape, and the canned skin should be set with the hair out.

1- team for sable;

2 - team for ermine: for skins removed by a tube:

3 - sliding;

4 - forked;

5 - wedge-shaped.

Rice. 56. Rules for the skins of animals taken with a stocking.

Shooting skins with a tube, their degreasing and editing

To shoot with a tube, an incision in the skin is made along the rump - from the middle finger of one hind paw along its inner side to the anus, and from it to the middle finger of the other paw. The tail is cut along its underside from root to tip, with the exception of the tail of a squirrel, hare, muskrat (Fig. 53/2).

In small animals - squirrels, ferrets, minks - the vertebrae are removed from the skin tube of the tail by pulling out, after which it is cut with the tip of a narrow sharp knife. To do this, it is convenient to use a metal groove-shaped probe (Fig. 57). The probe is inserted inside the tail so that the groove matches its underside.

Then, along the groove inside the tail tube, the tip of a sharp knife is inserted with the blade up and, moving it forward, rip it open. The cut is straight, without damage. The probe is made from a strip of sheet metal about 0.5 mm thick. The working part of the probe is a groove, the edges of which are up to 3 mm high, bent at an angle of 45°, and the length of the probe is about 15 cm.

Rice. 57. Ripping the tail tube along the groove of the probe.

After the skin is removed from the hind legs and tail, the carcass of a large animal is hung in a harness (Fig. 58). Then, pulling the edges of the skin down and cutting the films with a knife, they separate it from the carcass to the shoulder blades, release the front paws - tighten the skin to the last phalanges; cutting the tendons, leaving the claws on the skin.

When removing the skin from the head, pull it off as completely as possible from the outside of the ears, leaving part of the thin cartilage at the tips of the ears. In conclusion, the skin is removed from the muzzle: the lips are cut along the border with the gums, starting from the corners of the mouth and ending with the cutting of the nasal cartilage. Degreasing of the core of the skin removed by the tube is performed on a round blank. Its dimensions should correspond to the size of the beast.

So, for example, a blank for fox skins is about 100 cm long and 14-15 cm in diameter. The surface must be smooth sanded. The skin is put on a blank with the fur inside, slightly pulled over the rump edges and the fat is cut off along with the films and cuts of meat in the direction from the rump to the head. Degreasing in the opposite direction leads to cutting-exposing the hair roots and their loss, which devalues ​​the skin. Especially carefully you need to degrease the skins with a dark, pigmented mezdra, in which the roots sit deep in the skin.

rice. 58. Skinning with a tube from a fox hanging in a harness.

In this case, it is advisable to use a blunt knife, with which fat and films are not cut off, but are knocked down or fat is squeezed out of the subcutaneous tissue. Next, soft tissues on the lips, tendons in the paws, cartilage, etc. are cut with scissors, the mezra is wiped with a dry rag and the gaps are sewn up with white threads. The skins removed with a tube are dressed on sliding, forked or wedge-shaped rules (Fig. 56/3, 4, 5) with the following approximate ratio of width to length: wolf, fox, corsac fox, arctic fox, lynx - 1: 4; marten forest and stone - 1:5; otter and mink - 1:7.

If the standard provides for straightening the skin with the hair outward, then first it must be straightened with the mezra outward and dried, after which it must be turned inside out and dried.

Shooting skins in layers, their degreasing and editing

To shoot in a layer, three cuts are made on the skin of the animal: the first is from the middle of the lower lip through the middle of the chest and abdomen to the anus, and then to the root of the tail and along its underside to the tip; the second incision is made along the inside of the hind legs - from the middle fingers to the anus; the third incision is made along the inner surface of the front paws to the middle of the chest (Fig. 53/3). The cuts should be straight and ensure the symmetry of the parts of the removed skin.

Further, holding the edges of the skin with your left hand and squeezing the muscle tissue of the carcass with your right thumb, and for large animals (bear, elk, etc.) with fingers clenched into a fist, separate the skin from the carcass, first on the sides to the tail, then on the front of the body and head. Places of strong connection of the skin with the carcass are cut with a knife without damaging it.

In small animals - a mole, a gopher - the hands and feet are cut off; in large predators of a bear, leopard, etc., they retain claws on their paws. The removed skins are degreased (mezdryat); large ones (wild boar, elk, badger, etc.) with a scythe or a scraper on a deck covered with burlap in two or three rows; small ones (mole, gopher, marmot) - with a knife on a board with a smooth convex surface. Degreasing is carried out by scraping the mezra with a knife (oblique, dead end) from the rump to the head.

The head part of the skin, lips, ears, eyelids - and paws are especially carefully cleaned of cuts of meat. Next, the skin is wiped with a dry clean rag, the cuts of the mezra are sutured so that their edges close when the thread is tightened (with a herringbone or over the edge seam). Then the skins are straightened, while eliminating the folds of the skin, so that the subsequent canning is uniform. At the same time, the skins are given the standard shape of rectangles with an aspect ratio of 1:2 or 1:3. The skins of small animals are straightened on shields, nailing the edges with small carnations.

Skins of large predators

The skins of large predators (bear, leopard, etc.) are straightened on a frame connected from four poles. 10-12 narrow punctures are made along the edges of the skin, through which ropes are passed, with the help of which they stretch on the frame and give the skin a symmetrical shape. The skins of ungulates are straightened with the flesh upwards on a pad with a convex longitudinal part. Skin preservation. To ensure that the skins can be preserved until processing, simple and reliable methods of preserving animal protein are used. Small skins are preserved by drying (fresh-dry method), large ones - by salting (wet-salted method).

Reducing the moisture content of the skin tissue to 25-30% delays the decomposition of proteins, and when it is reduced to 10-15%, bacterial, autolytic processes and mold development stop. A well-dried core of the skin, which can be stored in a dry room for a long time, contains no more than 10-12% moisture. When fresh-dry canning skins, it is necessary to maintain optimal temperatures (about 22-25 ° C) and indoor air humidity (relative humidity 60-40%).

Gross deviations from the specified characteristics lead to damage to the skins: at low temperatures, drying is delayed, it is possible to warm up and form bald spots; drying at a higher temperature, by an open fire or near chimneys, causes welding, the squirrel-mezdra becomes rough and even brittle. As already noted, if the standard provides for dressing the skins “on the hair”, then initially they are dried on the rules with the hair inside and only after partial drying they are turned out and put on the rules again for final drying. The skins of hoofed animals are preserved by wet-salting.

For salting, the skin is spread on the undergarment with the skin up, the edges and folds of the skin are straightened and covered with an even layer of table salt. For canning, take medium-grinding salt. Fine salt is unsuitable because it instantly dissolves and is washed off by moisture plentifully released from the skin, while coarse salt, on the contrary, slowly dissolves, and salting is delayed. Salt consumption is equal to 40% of the weight of a pair of skins.

The skin is salted for 7-8 days, then the release of moisture from the skin stops, it becomes dense and elastic. The skin tissue loses about 30-40% of the moisture previously contained in it during the preservation process, and a high salt concentration protects the skin tissue from decomposition.

Rice. 59. Removing the skin of a bird with an incision along the abdomen: 1-incision along the parting; 2-exposure of the pectoral muscles; 3-separation of the leg and knee joint; 4 limbs separated; 5-tail compartment.

Rice. 60/1. Removing the skin from the bird: with a cut on the side.

Rice. 60/2. Removing the skin from the bird: with a cut on the back.

Rice. 61. Cleaning of the skull and separation of the eyeball.

Shooting and conservation of skins of animals and birds intended for the manufacture (stuffing) of stuffed animals

The shooting of skins intended for stuffing stuffed animals is distinguished by a certain specification, since the task is to obtain a natural effect characteristic of animals in different life situations.

So, for example, if the bird will be mounted in a sitting position, then the skin is removed by cutting the skin along the abdomen (Fig. 59); for the manufacture of a stuffed bird in flight, the skin is removed by making a skin incision on the back (Fig. 60/1), and for the pose of a floating bird, the skin is more suitable, removed through an incision on the side (Fig. 60/2). In birds with a long neck, another cut is made in the skin along the underside of the neck - from the throat to the chest.

From small animals

Small animals (squirrel, chipmunk) are skinned through a skin incision on the abdomen - from the anus to the chest, and skins from large animals (roe deer, wild boar, bear) are skinned in a layer, preserving all the details of the head - ears, whiskers, eyelids, lips , nose, horns, and on the legs - hooves or claws. Before cutting the skins, the hairline of the animal or the feather cover of the bird is “parted”, a sharp knife is inserted under the skin above the anus (cloaca) with the blade up and, pulling the skin away from the muscles, move it forward, trying not to damage the muscle tissue and not cause bleeding. .

The skin is separated from the carcass, holding the edge of the skin with the fingers of the left hand, and the muscle tissue is squeezed from it with the thumb of the right hand. The skin is separated from the sides towards the tail. Since when shooting skins, blood vessels are always damaged and bleeding opens, so as not to stain feathers or fur, you need to have on hand materials that absorb liquids well: starch, powdered dry moss lichen, absorbent cotton, which are abundantly sprinkled or plug bleeding foci.

Rice. 62. Degreasing poultry skins.

After separating the skin from the muscles to the thighs, the thigh is turned out of the skin sheath, a finger is placed under the knee joint, the skin is pulled with a stocking to the toes and the leg is cut at the knee joint. Further, in the same way, the second leg is also released from the skin. After that, fingers are brought under the skin in the lumbar region of the carcass and separated to the tail. In squirrels, hares and other lean animals, the tail shaft is removed by pulling.

In animals with fatty subcutaneous tissue (muskrat, hori), the tail vertebrae are removed through a tail incision made along its underside from root to tip. In birds, the tail (pygostyle), together with the tail feathers, is separated from the carcass by cutting the ligaments between the movable vertebrae. The skin, released from the connection with the back of the body, is then removed from the chest and shoulder blades. There, bringing the index finger under the skin at the shoulder joint, they expose the shoulder and then the elbow joint, cutting the ligaments with a knife.

In animals, the skin is removed from the forearm to the fingers, in birds - to the wings, which are cut off from the carcass at the shoulder joint. After the skin is released from its connection with the carcass in the chest and forelimbs, it is pulled together from the neck to the head. In birds, the neck is cut at the base of the skull, which finally separates the skin from the carcass.

In animals, the skin is removed from the head, first to the ears, and the ear cartilage is cut off at the base of the ear, then to the eyes, where the mucous membrane of the eye is cut, keeping the lower and upper eyelids intact; then the skin is removed to the nose, where the nasal cartilage is cut closer to the nasal bones and the lips - along the border with the gums. After separating the skin from the carcass, it is cleaned of cuts of meat, fat and tendons.

The skin of the bird begins to be cleaned from the head

They begin to clean the skin of the bird from the head - they expose the skull until the skin passes into the cornea of ​​the upper beak. At the same time, in order not to damage the feather cover of the head, the skin is first pulled up to the auditory canals, the skin tubes lining the auditory canals are pulled out of the skull and cut off.

The eyeball is removed from the eye sockets, for which the muscles of the eye are cut, pulled away from the mucous membrane and cut off (Fig. 61). After that, the skull is cleaned of soft tissues, and the brain cavity is cleaned dry with a cotton swab.

The bones of the wing are cleaned of muscles and tendons, lowering the skin to the forearm (not lower). In medium and large birds (hazel grouse, black grouse and larger), the soft tissues of the forearm are removed through a lobar skin incision on the inside of the wing. The bones of the bird's leg are cleaned by pulling the skin to the tarsus, and the muscles are cut off. Particularly careful and careful cleaning requires the tail section of the skin - here they cut out fat deposits, the coccygeal gland, trying not to destroy the base of the tail feathers.

In conclusion, the entire skin of the bird is cleaned of fat, for which the mezra is scraped with a blunt knife along the bases of the feather, substituting the thumb of the left hand as a support from the outer (feathered) side of the skin (Fig. 62). When degreasing, the skin is abundantly sprinkled with starch or dry reindeer moss, ground into powder.

The skins of animals after degreasing, to ensure their safety before the manufacture of stuffed animals and subsequently, are salted or pickled. In the latter case, the skins are first washed in a warm solution of washing soda (5-8 g per 1 liter of water), then rinsed thoroughly in cold water, after which they are immersed for 12-24 hours in a nickel solution in 1 liter of water, 50-70 g of sodium chloride and 18 g of acetic acid.

The pickled skin is given a soak for 10-12 hours, after which it is dried, the hairline of large skins is cleaned with dry sawdust of hardwood, the skins of small animals are cleaned with starch. Skin storage.

It is not recommended to store the skins subject to delivery at home in order to avoid damage to them by moths, skin beetles, mouse-like rodents, and with an increase in humidity - mold. At the first opportunity, the skins should be handed over to procurement organizations.

If the skin is stored before stuffing the stuffed animal, it must be treated with a 10% solution of karbofos and kept in a gauze bag in a cool, dry place. If a moth or a skin beetle is found on the skins, they must first be shaken out well, cleaned of larvae, and then treated with karbofos and the mezra, and the hairline, as well as the room in which they are stored.

Which of the hunters did not dream of having stuffed birds he had caught at home? It is a completely understandable desire: after all, each bird caught is not only a more or less valuable trophy, it is, as it were, a part of life, the soul of a hunter. A lot of memories of past hunts, hunter friends, travels, adventures are associated with trophies.

To make a good stuffed animal from a bird that you caught, sometimes thousands of kilometers from your home, is this not the height of dreams?
But not everyone can make a good stuffed animal. You need a practical skill, knowledge of biology and anatomy, artistic taste and much more. All this comes with time - it is impossible to make a good scarecrow the first time. You will have to learn from your own mistakes: numerous instructions and publications will give you only general information about making stuffed animals. You don’t have to immediately take on complex work, use an ordinary crow for the first experiments, which is not difficult to get even in urban conditions.
This article is devoted to the first and most important stage in the manufacture of stuffed animals - shooting the skin from the bird caught. Whether you will make a stuffed animal yourself or entrust its production to a specialist, a lot depends on shooting the skin and its preservation. If you had to remove skins from small fur-bearing animals, it will not be difficult to remove the skin from a bird, but if you did not have to remove the skins, you need to master this simple operation. Especially you will need the ability to remove and preserve the skin in the field when traveling for a long hunt.
To shoot skins, you will need a set of simple tools: a scalpel or a small sharp knife; curved scissors (suitable from a manicure set); large tweezers; a special spatula for extracting the brain from the skull of a bird (make it yourself). One or two steel wire hooks, a piece of strong twine, a harsh thread and a large needle will come in handy. With a serious approach to business, you need to have cardboard tags, a notebook, a measuring tape. From the materials you will need non-sterile cotton wool (or tow), a bandage, a bag of starch, a jar of fine table salt, an aerosol can dichlorvos and any remedy for moths. Here is the bird's skin and all the equipment that won't take up much space in a hunter's backpack.

Next, the skin is removed to the base of the wings. The wing bones are separated at the point of attachment to the carcass. After the wings are separated, the skin is freely removed from the neck to the head of the bird. The skin is removed from the wings with a stocking to the elbow joint. The bones of the wing are cleaned of muscles and tendons with tweezers and scissors. In medium and large birds, to remove meat from the wings, you have to make an incision along the inside of the wing.
Shooting the skin from the head of a bird is a responsible operation. The skin is removed with fingers. Strong ligaments, ear pouches and skin around the eyes are trimmed with a sharp knife. When trimming the skin around the eyes, be careful not to damage the protective transparent film around the eyeballs. In small birds, you can use tweezers to separate the skin along with the eyeballs, and then free them from the skin. The skin is removed from the head to the base of the beak. The skull is in no case separated from the skin.
In some birds, the head does not pass through the skin of the neck removed by the stocking (woodpeckers, ducks, owls). To remove the skin from the head of such birds, it is necessary to make an additional incision from the back of the head or under the beak. In this cut, the bird's head is turned out.
From the skull, freed from the skin, the meat is cut with scissors, the tongue, eyeballs and all soft tissues of the beak and lower jaw are removed. The brain is removed with a special spatula through the occipital foramen of the skull, but you can do otherwise. Scissors make an incision across the palate and the second, parallel to the first, at the back walls of the orbits. All tissues between the incisions are removed and, having cut through the thin walls of the skull in the eye sockets, the brain is removed with a spatula and tweezers.
After cleaning the skull, carefully examine the entire skin again. Cleaned from the remnants of meat, fat, tendons. If the skin is very oily, it must be carefully scraped with a blunt knife in the direction from the head to the tail, without damaging the base of the feathers. All cuts and tears that occurred during the shooting of the skin must be carefully sewn up from the inside with butt threads.
This completes the shooting of the skin, and you can start making stuffed animals, but this is the topic of the next publication. Here we will talk about two ways to preserve the skin for a long time: few people would think of making a stuffed bird in the hunting grounds.
The simplest and most reliable method of preservation is salting. Fine salt is poured into the inside of the skull, into the eye sockets, into the beak. The skin is rubbed with salt from the inside, the bones of the legs and wings, cleaned of meat, are also salted and wrapped with a thin layer of cotton wool. The skull with neck skin after salting is wrapped in paper and laid on the inside along the length of the skin. The legs are stretched, the feathers are straightened. The wings are flattened and folded, giving the skin the shape of a bird. After that, the skin is not tightly wrapped with a bandage, a cardboard tag is tied to the leg, on which the name of the bird, gender, whether it is young or old, the place and time of production, as well as the results of measurements and inspection are written. The skin is packed in several layers of paper and can be stored in this state for a very long time - up to several years.
There is another method of preserving bird skins that brings the hunter close to the process of making a stuffed animal. To preserve the skin by this method, after removing the skin and cleaning it, the skin should be treated with a poisonous solution to protect it from insects. Various arsenic salts are used as poison, but since it is impossible to purchase them for a simple hunter, it is recommended to treat the removed skin with a strong solution of table salt or some kind of moth and insect preparation. The bones of the legs and wings, as in the first case, are sprinkled with salt so that it penetrates into the joints. The skull of the bird is also salted.
On the bones of the legs and wings, a layer of cotton wool or tow is wound and fixed with threads, equal in volume to the removed muscles. Cotton balls are placed in the eye sockets the size of the eyeball. A tourniquet with a diameter and length equal to the bird's neck is twisted from cotton wool or tow, and the end of the tourniquet (thin and strongly twisted) is fixed in the occipital foramen of the skull. After that, by pulling the thread tied to the beak, the skin is pulled over the skull and a tourniquet imitating the neck. The bird is laid on its back and a thin layer of cotton wool is placed inside. The bones of the wings are tied with a thread, bending into the position of folded wings.
The entire skin is filled with cotton wool, according to the volume of the removed carcass, and, having placed any drug from moths inside the stuffing, the incision on the skin should be sewn up with a rare seam. The plumage is straightened, the wings are folded, the legs are pulled along the body, the skin is given the appearance of a dead bird lying on its back. The wings, legs, plumage of the bird are fixed in this position with a bandage, paper strips and pins, and the cooked skin is dried in the shade, in a well-ventilated dry place.
Complete drying time ranges from several days to several weeks, depending on the size of the bird and the weather. The dried skin perfectly retains a given shape and can serve as a visual material in identifying and studying birds. Finished skins are packed in cotton wool and placed in boxes for storage and transportation.
The skins harvested in this way require more careful handling, they are afraid of water, dampness and insects, but with proper handling they can be stored for many decades.
Having mastered the methods of removing and preserving bird skins, the hunter will be able to provide himself with material for further work on making stuffed animals, preserving a rare trophy, and sometimes a copy that is most valuable for science.
In conclusion, I would like to turn to fellow hunters. If you decide to start making stuffed animals yourself, you should not shoot all the birds in a row, justifying yourself with the fact that this is supposedly necessary, and the stuffed animal will last for many years. In most cases, a thoughtlessly shot (sometimes rare) bird disappears aimlessly. Direct your ardor to making stuffed birds common in your area.
To obtain beautiful specimens of rare birds, it is not necessary to shoot them. Take walks without a gun while birds fly along power lines and telegraph lines - and your collection will surely be replenished with the rarest specimens of birds.