Now before all the canned hunt police come out, this was a ZOO lion. 20+ yrs old. The tanned skin was found in an old taxidermists shop after he passed away. The nephew of the taxidermist who found the skin wanted me to mount it in his memory. Regardless of whether it was wild or not, I think he is a magnificent specimen.

Beautiful

That's one heck of a way to be remembered!

AWESOME looking lion, Jerry!

Take a(nother) bow!

WOW!!!

Very nice work Jerry!

Awesome

Jerry,

The eyes are fantastic! Great job.

IMO, the eyes make or break the cat. A fraction of an inch off makes a huge difference.

You my friend, nailed it. Well done.

PS: Any more of them skins laying around?

Very nice job on that Jerry.

Wow what a mount.That would be a pride and joy of any man.

Jerry,

You are right that is a smokin beautiful cat! You did a wonderful job on it!

Hugh

AWESOME!!
W.

quote:

Originally posted by woodsie:
AWESOME!!
W.

X 2

Nice work.

Curious: do you know how long and how the hide was stored where it was in good enough shape to mount?

That can't be a 20 year old lion! He doesn't have a black nose, or at least that is what I learned here on AR!

Great work Jerry on bringing the ole boy back to life!!!

All you need now for a great diorama is to add the Tinman, the Scarecrow and Dorothy!!!!!

Just kidding.

That is superb work on a magnificent lion.

quote:

Originally posted by Outdoor Writer:
Nice work.

Curious: do you know how long and how the hide was stored where it was in good enough shape to mount?

Tony, It was just stored in a cardboard box, in a closet in the old taxidermist's shop. I've been told by the experts that the drier the climate the longer they will last.

Jerry, your work is so incredible, I wish I lived closer so I could visit your shop.

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Huffaker:
Tony, It was just stored in a cardboard box, in a closet in the old taxidermist's shop. I've been told by the experts that the drier the climate the longer they will last.

You don't know how long, huh?

Reason I'm asking is because I had a bunch of already tanned hides stored for several years. I had life-size mountain lion, blackbuck and two black bears, plus a half javelina, and capes for shoulder mounts of whitetail, Coues and blacktail bucks.

They were packed in black plastic trash bags in a closet in a VERY dry environment -- my house.

So..the first one I gave my taxidermist was the whitetail cape. As soon as he soaked it up and tried to stretch it, it fell apart. He found me another cape.

So then I gave him the lion to merely test. He tried rehydrating a foot; same results. So I quit right there and use all the unmounted hides as decorations in my trophy room. Most of them are now 20+ years old.

He told me the tanning oils eventually disappear regardless of how they are stored in the open. Thus, I would guess a DRY climate would be worse not better, no??

Anyway, he said the only way to keep tanned hides for several years is in the freezer. I wish I had known that early on because one of the black bears was a monster from BC.

Tony,
The skin had been tanned for 45yrs. I was very fragile, I had to pin the entire mount. There isn't a stitch in it. I think it was tanned by New Method Fur dressing. Most skins I deal with nowadays won't last out of the freezer as long as this one did. You definitely need to store them in the freezer.

Jerry,

Wow! Mine were stored no more than 5-6 years.

Is New Method the one in SF? If so, that is the same one that tanned those I had. Maybe a different type of tan?

Anyway, thanks for the info.

I agree on the eyes, the damn thing looks alive.

Beautiful job, Jerry.

Wow, what a magnificent specimen and welldone on the mount.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
That can't be a 20 year old lion! He doesn't have a black nose, or at least that is what I learned here on AR!

Great work Jerry on bringing the ole boy back to life!!!

Exactly what I was thinking.

quote:

Originally posted by crl:

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
That can't be a 20 year old lion! He doesn't have a black nose, or at least that is what I learned here on AR!

Great work Jerry on bringing the ole boy back to life!!!

Exactly what I was thinking.

I guess I just don't know what I'm doing!

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Huffaker:

quote:

Originally posted by crl:

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
That can't be a 20 year old lion! He doesn't have a black nose, or at least that is what I learned here on AR!

Great work Jerry on bringing the ole boy back to life!!!

Exactly what I was thinking.

I guess I just don't know what I'm doing!

Say it aint so. Shoot won't a magic marker fix the problem.

crl

Outdoor writer--
Many of the chemicals used years ago in
commercial tanning
are not legal to use any more,as they had a way of killing employees over time. They also werent EPA friendly.
They did add years to the shelf life of a tan. So this lion was more than likely tanned with earlier methods that let it make it a longer.
Plastic bags also make a hide sweat a little with changes in humidity speeding up degrading of the piece.
Although newer syntans have helped in shelf life over alum based tans, they have other draw backs as well.

Jerry very excellent work on the cat !!

Another GREAT piece of taxidermy artistry!! Wonderful job Jerry!