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PERFECT FUR SKINS ARE SCARCE Poor Preparation and Adverse Climatic Conditions It is rarely that you see a perfect tiger skin leopard skin or Jaguar skin All these tropical skins have bad feet usually most of the toes and claws gone Perhaps the killers do not know how to skin well or perhaps the climate is such that tho feet rot off readily If you are skinning thft foot of a cat of any kind you want to gu clear up to the base of the claw The same is true of the bears foot all those closeknit bones have to be worked out clear up to the ball of the claw and it Is si big job to skin out all four feet on a bite grizzly as you must be careful not to cut through the thin skin between the claws clawsSome Some taxidermists mount a bear rug with wooden blocks in the feet to protect the claws which arc easily broken off when the skin becomes dry Of course you know that a bears hide has more value with the claws left on as in that case it may be used for a rug and not made into a coachmans cape the shako of some grenadier guard or a muff for Imogene ImogeneThe The feet of the beaver nnd the rat are left with the skinned carcass and the rats tail is also left there The tail of the Insiver you cat it is a whitish gelatinous sort of thing and I am person aly not crazy about It though it is not commonly offered in our cafes so we are not obliged ti it it from a sense of duty dutyA A skunk skin is graded by its size and darkncs so usually tu whole skin is examined by the grader A mnrten skin is gRidcd by rolling backtin fur just far enough to get a look at the root of the tail and a bit of the back and this not on the fur side but on the flesh side If the color then U pure white the skin is prime and a look at that part of the fur gives the grader the color of tl whole skin just as a look at the flesh side gives him the condition If there is a yellow tinge to the flesh side the skin is not prime Of coun e cased skins are stretched and dried inside out A trapper will usually turn valuable skins fur side out iKifore he ships them themA A heavy hide like a bear hide must be saltd thoroughly or it will spoil especially in a warm or moist country You dont salt the light furs for they dry and preserve themselves but with a heavy robe you must use a lot of salt twenty five or fifty pounds being sometimes not too much for one of the great Alaska brown bear hides The scalps ears and nose Sire filled full of salt which is trodden into the hides thoroughly Salt your lMar hide thus heavily fold it from each edge to the middle edges together roll it up into a cyl ¬ inder with the fur side out and let it lie forUyeiity four hours Unroll it shake it and drain it repeat the next day and then stretch anil dry Never dry any hide in tho sun or near a stove or fire of any kind Keep it in the shade or it will get burned or grease struck
