Thanks, yes it is known in advance. I am doing a Leopard hunt with Vaughan Fulton in Namabia and we have talked about one of the few other species I am interested in is a Gariffe. I understand it is a large undertaking to get one properly and timely skinned. I want to have it thin enough to use it as a wall hanging, I don't know if this is possible and was planning on having it tanned over there if possible.



I hunted in your area in 01 for a few days on Phillip Bronkhourst (sp) property and some near by farms.

Does anyone know about what the size of the back skin of a big old bull would be after taking the shoulder mount off?

We have a back skin on the floor of one of our guest rooms at the lodge. There is a queen size bed on top of it and it still sticks out about 2 feet or more all around the bed. It's not perfectly square or rectangular but the bed is completly on the skin with plenty to spare.

The bull was a large one but not exceptional. He was very dark and beautifully marked as is typical with older bulls. The skin on giraffe is so thick that its difficult to salt cure the whole thing in the field. If you shoot a Giraffe the people sorting it out better have a good plan to get that hide taken care of properly. The skin can be well over an inch thick in places which prevents the salt from getting proper penetration to the hair roots. That will cause major hair slip if the "team" is not 100% on the ball with this and realizes what they are doing.

Giraffe for my hunters is not an incidental trophy. It's a well planned outing if the client wants to shoot one. We must have the "team" on line waiting to jump on this work in hurry to prevent any risk to the hide. In my opinion its more difficult to handle a Giraffe then a Hippo or Rhino. Both Hippo and Rhino can be corrected by a good panel beater or "auto body" man. They have no hair slip to really worry about. Giraffe bulls can bea nearly as big and they do have a serious issue with hair slip.