Taxidermists in the East Rand for skins

Hi, dont know if anyone will be able help me, I'm looking for contact details for taxidermists in the East Rand area - not for anything big - going blesbuck hunting soon and would like to keep the skin - or - can anyone tell me how to do this on my own - I would like to keep the hair on.

Thanks

First step: remove all meaty bits from inside of skin, and wash skin down properly, inside and out. Remove exess moisture (dry in shaded area). NB skin edges must not dry out otherwise it will start to curl up. Cover the inside of the skin with LOTS of coarse salt (min2kg) and allow salt to absorb moisture, replenish if needed. Then fold up skin, salt inside & transport.

thanks for the help, but excuse my ignorance, now that it has been salted is it done, complete, or is this only preporation to take it to a taxidermist? Thanks again for the assistance :)

This is in preparation for the taxidermist. You need to get the skin to him asap. If you cant get to him immediately, put the folded skin in a plastic bag and place in deep freeze. The longer you wait, the more chance of slippage occurring (hair loss).
Take coarse salt with you when you go hunting.
If you leave he salted skin open to dry in a cool place (hang over wood and not steel which could rust , away from rodents!) it will dry , but then you need to braid (soften) it yourself, a time consuming task. Otherwise it will be as hard as a plank.

hi
heres the number for blue gum valley taxidermy in bapsfontein 0119641083 im sure they can help you.

cheers david

Bit of a trick I learned, leave the animal in the skin when the slaughter the animal.

We find that that does 2 things. The first is it helps to keep the meat cool when transporting back home and 2, the skin doesn't deteriorate as fast. Ask your butcher to then clean the skin off and take that immediately to the taxidermist.

That's how we do it, so I hope that helps a bit.