What to do with a giraffe

27 February 2010, 10:29

Kelly Gill

I shot a huge black bull with a .450-400 double and 400 grain Woodleigh solids after a stalk to 60 yards. I cut and tanned a six foot square piece, hair on, from the center of the back and it is remarkable. Don't ever scoff at the toughness of a large giraffe. They have the thickest skin in Africa. A great animal for an off hand double rifle shot. Make that shots.

28 February 2010, 01:42

AnotherAZWriter

quote:
Originally posted by Scottyboy:
Yeah Jeff, those giraffe are notorious for slipping.. Problem is, the hide is so thick and the salt can't penetrate the full thickness.. I've seen MANY of our customer's come back from the tannery and were a total loss.. and this after paying a small fortune to ship the damned thing over here then pay the tannery!

What I did with mine when I shot it was get right in there with the skinners and make sure it was skinned right.. Once we had it skinned, I "scored" the entire cape with a sharp knife.. By this I mean that I cut about halfway through the thickness of the skin, but not deep enough to go through.. and did this on the entire cape in a checkerboard pattern.. Once scored, we mixed a 55 gallon drum up with some SALTY brine water...and dunked the cape in there for about 3 hrs to let that salt water permeate the cape, through and through.. Then took it out, drained it completely, THEN salted it as normally done.
My cape came back from the tannery nary a hair missing. The guys over at the tannery even said it was the best, well prepared giraffe bull cape they'd ever seen..
Lot of work, but it greatly increases your cahnces of a great showpiece, instead of a worthless piece of "leather"..

Now a L/S would be a LOT more work!

Scottyboy,

Not sure if a freezer will avoid the problems, but my taxidermist has told me not to keep tanned hides too long before mounting. Apparently, waiting too long makes it difficult to mount without falling apart. Apparently rewetting the hide causes it to fall apart sometimes if the cape/hide is a few years old. I would guess a tanned hide is in no danger of rotting (obviously) but if your freezer is frostless, it is most definitely going to dry out.

I have always assumed once tanned that hides could be kept forever. I no longer assume that. You might want to get that giraffe mounted.

28 February 2010, 09:08

Equinsu Ocha

I hydrated the hide before I put it in the freezer.. It went ino the deep freeze almost dripping wet. So it is essentially a big block of ice in that bag!! So no chance of it getting dried out!! It can stay good for decades in that condition without mounting so long as it is frozen with plenty of moisture. I want to mount it, but I am just dreading the transport of the damned thing should I ever have to move it, hence my foot dragging on mounting my bull!

A tanned hide's oils dry out if left out for LONG periods of time. That's what makes it become brittle and unstable.

04 April 2010, 09:58

Dogleg

I was notified awhile back that my giraffe hide had slipped in the tanning process. All that's left is the skull.

That leaves me deciding whether to take another one.

08 April 2010, 08:46

RBHunt

quote:
Originally posted by Dogleg:
I was notified awhile back that my giraffe hide had slipped in the tanning process. All that's left is the skull.
That leaves me deciding whether to take another one.

Same thing happened to me. I was going to have it made into a rug. Doubt I will take another one.

13 June 2012, 16:14

controlled_feed

quote:
Originally posted by BOWHUNR:
This is one of the better Giraffe mounts that I have seen.

Mike

Apologies for resurecting an old thread.

I have a Giraffe I shot in Zim a couple of years ago. I really want to get him mounted.

Is someone able to tell me what the overall height of this mount, or similar, is, and what the height of just the Giraffe is.

Many thanks

15 June 2012, 12:48

Todd Williams

quote:
Originally posted by Scottyboy:
Best giraffe mount Ive ever seen in person was done by Roy Holdridge.. It's his own bull.. Absolutely beautiful mount.. and he put alot of extra work into it.
I am going to do my bull in a very similar pose as this one..

Roy is my taxidermist. I've seen this mount in person as well and it is one of the most impressive taxidermy specimens you'll ever see. I'm not sure of all the specific awards it won but Roy has it in his showroom with numerous Blue Ribbon awards on it. My wife, who does not hunt by the way, has taken several of her friends by Roy's studio to see this Giraffe. It's that good!