How long can mouts be put off after the get to the States

If the skins are tanned, re-hydrated and frozen you can wait several years before mounting.

One year after receiving the cape (along with several others done at South Texas Fur Dressers) my taxi put Pamela's waterbuck together just fine. I have two other capes in the freezer for whenever, anticipating even five years won't make a difference. They are bagged against picking up freezer odors, dry as the day they arrived from STFD.

See, here's the thing - I love "MONK". A dry tanned hide, cape, lifesize, does not have to be rehydrated before freezing. The reason is simple, a wetted skin, can dry out if left in a freezer for more than a couple of years. It doesn't hurt it really, but those areas need rehydrating again. A dry tanned skin can stay indefinitely.

I kept my African Lion skin - dry tanned by New Method - in the deep freeze for nearly ten years before mounting him. He soaked up and rehydrated like a brand new tanned skin.

Storing a dry tanned skin in the freezer is akin to putting a fur coat in cold storage. They don't wet down fur coats before storing. To that effect, a dry tanned skin can be folded, packed and kept frozen for an unseen number of years.

Either way works, but for years of long term cold storage, I prefer to leave the skin in its fresh, dry tanned state for freezing. Hope this helps you out!

John.

Along the same lines how long can skins be stored in the flint hard salted state? It would seem to me short of some sort of insect infestation or them getting wet they would be pretty indestructable stored in cool dry boxes.

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Along the same lines how long can skins be stored in the flint hard salted state? It would seem to me short of some sort of insect infestation or them getting wet they would be pretty indestructable stored in cool dry boxes.

They could be stored for a long time too but I would not consider it safe storage. The risk of bug damage is too high. remember with a rock hard folded skin, you would not be able to "check" for bug damage. Most likely they will be working inside those folded areas, cutting hair and making those "insect game trails" without you ever knowing it. Tanning and storing is much better.

This is new to me , Last time I went to Africa I had the mounts done over there. I don't want to do them over there this time. I amm going after a lot of little dikers and small antelope. If I have luck I should bring back around 10 animals to have mounted here. There are a few Taxidermist on here that I am concidering to do the work a little at a time due to the cost of Mounting them.
The reason I was not going to leave them to be mounted is the Bush buck that I shot looks way diffrent in my field pictures then the one that was mounted. the colors and spots don't match.
So in my opion that was not the bush buck I shot.

Blaser 93, PM sent.

Spoke with Grafton today , very nice to Deal with. Grate guy.