After 9 long months, my throphys have finally arrived from Namibia, included in this was my Zebra skin whis has been done as a floor mat.

BTW, I think they have done a fantastic job of it, now Mrs Runas has come up with a new plan for the living room and has made the descision that the Zebra is to go on the wall, all well and good but, What is the best way to hang this sucker!

My Taxidermist here suggested to mount it on ply wood first then on the wall?

Advise or pics appreciated, thanks in advance

Runas

Use black furniture nails/tacks with the large head similar to a "thumb-tack". Have some one help you align the hide on the wall and put the furniture tacks all around the edge of the hide in the black/dark stripes. They are almost invisible. This is assuming the hide was "flat" tanned and done without a backing of felt or some other fabric. If it has a backing, it may be too heavy to be held firmly by the furniture tacks. In that case, you may need to use something stronger. The furniture tacks are normally 1/2 to 3/4 inch in length and are pretty sturdy.

Bull1

Not knowing what your sewing skill are...you could hand sew some D rings to the back side of the skin at the 5 major points, (head & legs), and hang that way?

Bull 1 has it right, the only thing I might add is you could use #4 finish nails, you can put as many as you need to secure it and it won't do much damage to the wall.

This is mine, which as suggested above has been hung using 3/4" upholstery tacks through the felt backing along the edges.

I couldn't find any with black heads, so I bought antique brass ones, stuck them all in a piece of polystyrene and sprayed them with flat-black enamel.

While hangers on the back will hold it up, they often don't allow the skin to stay flat against the wall. Plus, even with the hangers, you'll need to have something along the upper edges to keep them from sagging in places. Just be sure you have help; two other people holding the hide while you place the tacks are ideal. I put the tacks at 1' to 1.5' intervals.

If the wall is sheetrock like mine is, you can pretty much start the tacks with a thumb push. I then used a rubber-faced mallet so as not to mar the painted heads. -TONY

???
Does a Zebra rug w/felt weigh more than an average bear skin rug w/felt?
I have always used a H/D staple gun to hang my bear rugs on drywall (staples between the two layers of felt. Also very easy to fill the small holes in wall with spackel if removed. I was wondering if this will work on my Zebra?

quote:

Originally posted by elkfitter:
???
Does a Zebra rug w/felt weigh more than an average bear skin rug w/felt?
I have always used a H/D staple gun to hang my bear rugs on drywall (staples between the two layers of felt. Also very easy to fill the small holes in wall with spackel if removed. I was wondering if this will work on my Zebra?

I used your technique on my bear rug, too. BUT...my zebra has only one felt layer, so the staples would show regradless where I put them.

As for the ? about weight, the zebra rug is probably no heavier, considering your bear likely has a head for and paws still attached just like mine does. IOW, staples should hold the zebra just as well. -TONY