I never saw this post here til just now. Since I trained them I'm glad to hear they have done such a good job. Trust me this was not an easy process to get into their heads. Very few blacks will likely have a mounted head so the intricate details of skinning the ears lips and nose were hard for them to understand. We have had so many trophies that their experience is probably far in excess of any skinner in the USA.

I still find it amusing when I have a taxidermist hunting in camp that wants to be sure everything is done just right to his standards. He is very nervous when I have the black guys doing it. Then after the first animal is finished and he looks it over finding the job is perfect he can relax and actually enjoy the hunt.

Ruben is my #1 skinner and as Shikari has stated that guy works lots of hours during the short hunting season. He made an amusing comment last season which I will interpret here:

"Our drains are always plugged with blood when Jim has the hunters here".

During the busy time of year they have a skinning room with a floor drain. The game is coming in so fast that it's difficult to keep up. Sometimes we have 4 or even 6 hunters in camp. If each one shoots an animal the first day he is hardly finished with all the skinning caping and quartering before the animals start coming in on the second day. We have two skinners that do not do the caping but can handle the body work. When you have 6 hunters each shooting one or more animals the first day. The skinning shed becomes a very busy place!

I will see Ruben and Samual in a few months and will certainly pass these kind words along to them.

shakari,
I hope you take this in the fair way I mean to say this.
your statements:
Especially from an inexperienced client.
I don't care how much you pay a skinner, it's never enough!!!!

rub me the wrong way.May be my attitude rubs you wrong...

If I as a client hire you as an outfitter or PH and the contract includes the services of the skinners,then it is YOUR responsibility to hire competent personel and arrange for fair compensation.I mean to say YOUR , not my responsibility.

Granted I assume people I do business way are good decent folks,honest and interested in performing a decent job.

I in turn appreciate the PH and his setup for a job well done,I presume the PH appreciates the help he gets from his helpers.

Would the situation be different,meaning I hire my own cook,skinner,tracker etc,absolutely ,it now becomes my responsibility.But for many reasons,thats not the way packages are constructed.

Peace , sheephunter

Hi Sheephunter,

No offence taken whatsoever. I think you misunderstood my post...... I meant I don't care how much the outfitter pays the skinner, it's never enough..... implying that a good skinner has the worst job of all in a hunting camp and earns his money the hard way.

The comment about the inexperienced client meant that they would probably not realise that the skinners job is such a tough one. Nor did I mean to suggest that the client hires any of the staff...... If you take a look at my website (and most others) you will see that every single hunt includes all skinner services and in fact all native and Professional Hunter services.

I also suggested that the skinners are often hard done by in the tip department when compared to the trackers etc... this is especially true if inexperienced clients are not made aware of how tough the job is as often they don't see how the work is done...... I always make a point of taking the clients to the skinning shed sometime in the hunt and showing them what's going on while they sit round the African TV (campfire) with a cold beer in their hand.

I've been a skinner, and I don't mean I've supervised skinners, I mean that I've been down there on the ground with them skinning a seemingly never-ending supply of animals. I'll never forget (for example) the night I spent with a torch in my mouth skinning a fullmount bushbuck! So I REALLY know what a shitty job it is.... believe me.

shakari,
I understand,you are just pointing out that some people sweat in silence,their work not readily seen and therefore not that much appreciated.
I can appreciate that.My own work is very similar.
Most of the work and skilled labor is hidden from the customer

sheephunter

The one thing that I have noticed in Africa is in many camps after the hides are salted and dry they stack them up on top of each other and if one runs then it drips on the others on its way down and can sour the batch...I have taken great pains to see that this does not happen in our camps and the tanners and taxidermist have congratulated the Safari Companies on many ocassions over the condition of the skins...

But don't you hate when a client gives your skinner a razor sharp knife! Don't do this guys, give them a watch.

We have a few really good skinners, but we always tend towards fleshing out the heads ourselves. I don't know why. I do know one thing, if I never have to cape a girraffe for a full mount again, it will be too soon! Three of us worked on one from six pm (when it was shot) till four the next morning. It took two bakkies just to roll the darn thing over. My hat is off to whoever-white or black-can skin an ostrich as well. Those two are my least favorites! If you ever book with me, please don't book those two animals, or book them in RSA so my ph there will have to deal with them