Critter

Big bear

That's a beautiful fur. Bigger than a grey also. Should do a rug out of it.

I wanna see pic of the red fox! you might be one of few to have taken one in Az. that is awesome.

Plus factor in freight. To ship a coyote pelt in a small 7" by 7" box I've paid around $9 usually through fedex. I also use USAA and they charge you $15 to freight it back to you... $15 or $20... cant remember but they have a minimum freight fee. It ends up being about a $50 ordeal to send it off. I've sent lots to Usaa fox in Duluth and also golden state tannery in CA. Both do a good job. Usaa fox has a 30 day rapid tan which costs a little more but if you're not in a hurry just go with the normal tan which can take 3 months or so. Ideally, you'd send a few at a time to save on shipping. No harm in losing it once it is dried out you can store it until you have a few more pelts to send.

Vandykestaxidermy, midwayusa, thetanneryinc.com, etc... are all sites where you can buy self hide tanning kits. The kits come with all the tanning crystals and almost everything you need to make it simple. I used a kit from "thetanneryinc.com" and tanned an Elk hide my first time ever. Boy was that a mistake. What a sloppy, nasty, stinky mess of an elk hide that was laying in my garage right after a kill for two weeks. And fleshing it took forever. Had to re-hydrate it after salting/drying in a large tote then dump out the bloody water a few times. Literally... this lady walking her dog down the street watched me dump out a large tote of potent, stinky, bloody red water down the driveway... as the blood red water ran down my driveway and into the street I stood there and looked at her while wearing an apron, dustmask, nitrile gloves. The sloppy elk hide sort of fell out of the tote as she looked at me like I had 10 heads. This lady must've thought I had just murdered and cut up someone due to the look she gave me. Anyway... But that is the extreme.... Coyotes, fox, bobcats I wouldn't think would be too bad but I have not actually tanned them myself. I have skinned, fleshed, salted and dried a lot of coyotes and typically once they are dry I just put them in a small box and send off to the tannery and let them deal with it. The kits are around $30... the tannery charges around $30... so it's not much of a cost saver to do it yourself but could be if you are doing a lot of them at once or maybe you just want to do it as hobby and something to learn. I would advise against trying an elk hide on your first attempt -hah.

I'm assuming you're talk'n dispatching out of a foothold trap. My mind was on cage trapping. But either way it seems like a risky way to kill a bobcat. If you've done it and it works more power to ya! Seems like they go completely nuts which could make it tough but I've never done it so I can't say for sure. My point was that it is done with the least amount of suffering to the animal... quick as possible.

I'm also getting into trapping this coming season..I've done a ton of research on it but haven't trapped anything. Whatever you do or however you dispatch the animal do it quick and efficiently. Don't drown them or stomp on their neck! Lol.. Wth. Either choke'm out good and hard (don't be a pussy about it) and should only take 50 sec. or less or put a bullet in them in the right spot and don't use too light of a caliber.

Democraps are too stupid to realize our financial situation... they believe in happy rainbows and endless money. Half or less of the country knows better and understands we can only last so long on this kind of stupid debt before we collapse. Makes my blood boil all the BS pet projects the govt pays for as well as the foreign aid to terrorist countries we give. This is our F'n tax dollars. Kick the dam libtard, greeny, granolacrunch'n, earthmuffin, liberal freaks out of this country and only then will we have a chance. The other option is to get out and VOTE for a true conservative.

The 1st/2nd pic of my post....little cinnamon cub... I believe is the offspring of bear in pic 4th and 6th from last in my 2nd batch of pics... same long neck and same color coat, same tank, etc. The last pics are 3 yrs ago and obviously bigger bear but looks the same... gotta be momma or papa of the bear from 2 wks ago.

Awesome pics.

Here's a few more from prior years

how much bacon did you bury under the soil! just kiddin.

Great job Keith! Obviously we are awaiting the pics. Persistence pays off.

Pain and Suffering of course

But they have to save money just in case they'd have an instance where they would end up having to pay a lawsuit worth $100k to one of their own officers that poached an elk.. I'm just say'n... just in case. You know. Can never be too cautious about the funds.

We should all understand by now in theory it should work consistently up until the deadline... but there are always problems especially the last day or two...every year. Not sure why people wait until the last day when you know you might have an issue. I agree it sucks but use your head.

I'd like to see some other bear rugs also... hopefully some others will post up.

The only D-ring that needs to be in a stud is the top frt leg (If hung with head angled up)... if you think about it that is where the weight is hanging from. Once that is in a stud you're good... then all you really need is a finish nail tightly through the drywall for the other rings as there really isn't much weight hanging on those. However... if you hang completely horizontal you may want to be in a stud on one of the leg rings for sure, then the other rear leg/D-ring you might get away with just a nail but using a drywall anchor with a screw would be better (Because now your weight is centered more) The reason for this is the chance you landing on a Stud on the frt leg and rear leg D-ring is slim... but maybe you'll get lucky so get into a stud on at least one and maybe a drywall anchor/screw on the other. Then....the rest of the D-rings just use a finish nail simply for the Dring to latch onto tightly. Helps to have two people hanging it up. Get it positioned on the wall where you want it, use a stud finder to find the nearest stud to where the weight will be hanging from.. you may have to compromise and move over a few inches from where you actually wanted it to hang. Or, you can use a few drywall anchors if you're dead set on where it should be and no studs to get into. I have a half body bear mount hanging from a drywall anchor perfectly fine for 3 years now but the anchor is in real snug. Good luck! post up pics once it is up!

I had this rug done on beige/chocolate double felt as it was a good fit for the color of this bear imo. Had it done open mouth. I'm not a fan of the heavy ruffles so I had them flatten it out a bit to avoid so much ruffling on the edges. Just my preference though. I've seen some bobcat rugs where I really liked the heavy ruffle look but overall not for me. Also I prefer the rug on the wall to avoid it getting damaged. Also make sure the taxidermy work on the head is completely dry before hanging as I've heard that if you hang at a slant like I have, the form in the head can slide back over time with gravity??... Just what I've heard but it makes sense if not mounted right or not dry. Did you get a bear? Maybe I missed the post.

That drone kicks butt:) I want one. Do they make one that comes with the camera? or do you have to buy a gopro?

This country needs to make an example out of this moron and impeach him. Very important that we take back control of the senate in which case we may have a chance. THE worst president in US history no doubt about it. Makes Carter look like rush Limbaugh.

Here are a few from this spring. The first few are all from one morning in unit 8 with my father in law who came down from ND. The last pic of the larger shed I found in 6a on a fence line 200 yards from a water hole. Seems he had jumped the fence and that is when it came off and I tried like crazy to find the other side but no luck (If you have it i'll buy it from you!). It's a 300ish bull assuming other side is similar. Nothing huge but in unit 8 did find that little coues shed which was fun. I sent all those sheds home with my father in law back to ND for his ManCave. We made a box to put the sheds in which looked like a corpse in a box all duct taped up... It was very strange. We walked into FedEx in PV and the lady said "man ya'll are Reeeedddneck" hah. I replied, "yeah what's even more redneck is that this box is full of antlers" she laughed and said she shed hunts also. It was funny. Anyway, enjoy...

blahblahblah... then answer the questions dustin. As for your comment.... I can't speak for some of the off the wall crazy churches that claim to be Christian bible based but are as far from it as possible. Again I disagree.. it is more black and white than you think. Just because some crazy westboro church (and others like it) is a cult but hides under the name of Christianity we're suppose to acknowledge their BS? yeah not so much. And all the other crazy churches that have their own interpretation of the bible. They don't stand a chance and I don't put them in the same category with true christians. Anyone can take a bible and twist the words however they want just as the Jehovas have done. The majority of Christian bible based churches have it right and have a huge influence in changing peoples lives in this country. I'm not going to continue to argue with you dustin. you can have the last word/comment... but I'm sure you'll comment 10 more times at least. You'd end up debating yourself if no one else replied.

Dustin you seem confused. Why not answer Sjvcon's questions? Just a rant: One of the biggest downfalls in this society is people trying to modify, manipulate, and change Christianity to fit "their" truths or beliefs with the goal of making themselves feel more comfortable with how they behave or believe... when really they are sacrificing truths of the bible and going against God's word. You see it all the time... all the sudden things and actions that used to be sinful people now try to make acceptable because of the excuse "well we live in a different world now.. things aren't like they used to be" Right and wrong will always remain the same and sin is sin.

Dustin I would never label you a Christian or non-Christian as that is not my place. But what I can tell you is you have said so many things (in this thread and others) I disagree with and that are inconsistent with the Christian faith and what the Bible teaches it's not even funny. If there is anything the Bible teaches it is to find truth in Jesus, not your own false truth. Further I don't know how many times you've mentioned hatred, tolerance, etc.. but none of us on here have said we "hate" gay people. Couldn't be further from the truth. Again, no one cares their sexual preference but my problem lies with society and mainstream media/Tv trying to brainwash our kids into thinking it is normal and ok when it is not what God intended for procreation and clearly goes against the Christian faith. You also mention "finding God" and how you've found "your" God which I'm not sure who that is but one thing I can tell you is the difference between all the other religions of the world and Christianity is that in every other religion people are striving to find God.. some claim success and some never do. However with Christianity God is reaching out to you trying like crazy to bring you to him through a personal relationship. You don't have to go searching. Dustin I don't believe you are who you say you are. You claim to not be a liberal but I don't believe you. You have very liberal leanings which you have prominently displayed in this thread and several others. It's ok to come out of the liberal closet:) We will go easy on you haha.