Thawing bobcats to skin

[lancewilkins]

I am getting ready to thaw three bobcats to skin and put up, any advise will be appreciated, and I'm sure I will have some questions along the way. Should I let them thaw in my basement or at outside temp? And also I never fleshed a bobcat, do they require a lot or a little work

[silverfox]

Thaw them at room temp or below but it will take a while. Definitely keep them away from high temps. I usually lay them out in a cool place in the fur shed or a concrete floor and give them a few days. Once thawed, skin them even though the insides are still super cold and possibly a slight bit frozen. Kim Townsend would be the best person I know to ask about this.

Once skinned, scrape it like a coon. Cut off the legs about an inch out and slit the tail and cut off the bottom lip. Do not cut out a window!! Leave all the fur on the belly that you can!!! They are easy to scrape and hard to ruin unless you are using a sharp scraping knive. I keep my knive dull so I can scrape off fat and meat and not destroy pelts. No need ever to use a sharp knive unless you have a few to do and want to concentrate 100%! I daydream when I scrape 100 coon and would ruin them with a sharp knife!

You will enjoy scraping cats.

Then stretch it like the books, local experts and internest sites say. There are lots of fancy ways to do it but I use coon boards for the smaller ones and yote wire stretchrs for the larger ones. Never had a complaint about their quality so it must work.

Have fun!!

Hope you get big bucks for your fun and efforts!!

I borax my foxy, yote and cat critters before I turn them to ensure no spoilage but in most cases that is not necessary. But it sure as bleep don't hurt!

[bigjohn]

If you don't remove the ear catilage,I'd defiently boax the ear butts heavily.Cat's ears seem to want to slip or go bad.Like Marc said,just scrape like a coon.Not near as greasy as a coon,but I throw a little boax on the skirt area when I get to it,as it helps the knife grab the tissue better and helps to keep the grease off the fur.Once the cats are dry,you can rub borax into the fur,especially the belly,and it will really brighten up the fur.It will remove grease, dirt and blood from the fur.Makes them spots really show.I then use a shop vac to remove what borax you can't shake from the pelt.

[lancewilkins]

Thanks guys!

[lancewilkins]

I will wait for my new stretchers to get in before I start. I orders 1/2 dozen of those fancy freedom brand adjustable stretchers for my coyotes and cats