My six-year-old daughter jumped up and down with pleasure, her eyes glowing as she motioned towards the grey squirrel mendacity on the base of a cedar tree.
“I obtained it! I obtained my first squirrel,” she hollered.
She had certainly shot her first squirrel, along with her little red recurve no much less, and it was a day that neither of us will ever neglect.
There’s one thing particular a couple of child taking their first squirrel. I shot mine once I was 11 years previous, and I painstakingly skinned and dried the cover. For years, I had the cover hanging on my bed room wall till, finally, it was taken down and misplaced throughout a transfer. I want I nonetheless had it only for the reminiscences it held.
My daughter, nonetheless, requested if we may get her squirrel performed as a full-body mount and I, in fact, stated sure. However, the stipulation was that I’d do it for her.
I mounted exactly 1.5 squirrels up to now. The primary one, years in the past, was a black squirrel that my brother and I rigorously labored on collectively with out realizing something and it got here out alright. So far as I do know, it’s nonetheless on show at my dad and mom’ home.
The second squirrel mount I tried was a grey squirrel. I had performed it as a enjoyable undertaking earlier than my daughter was born, and it additionally got here out simply alright for not having a lot data on squirrel taxidermy.
Nevertheless, I wished to higher for my daughter, and I’m glad to say that her squirrel mount got here out nice. By way of this DIY squirrel mounting course of, I saved myself a couple of hundred {dollars} in taxidermy charges. If you’re contemplating giving taxidermy a strive, I’d advocate beginning with squirrel taxidermy — it’s enjoyable, comparatively straightforward, and much more cost effective (and decrease stakes) than starting with a giant sport animal.
The Equipment
I ordered an all-in-one equipment from Ellzey’s Squirrel Taxidermy. The equipment runs $90, which is a number of hundred {dollars} lower than it could value to ship your squirrel off to a taxidermist. All you want is just a little effort and time to make the remainder of it come collectively.
Having by no means ordered from them up to now, I wasn’t positive what to anticipate however was pleasantly stunned upon opening the bundle.
All of the squirrel mounting kits accessible on their website embody every thing you’ll need to mount a squirrel — minus the squirrel in fact.
Included with the provides are full-color picture directions, together with written directions. You’ll be able to simply entry movies on YouTube for reference, however I discovered having the pictures in entrance of me extraordinarily useful — and there’s no must pause or restart a video.
I’ll order all my squirrel kits solely from Ellzeys sooner or later, as additionally they have a higher choice than different locations.
The Squirrel
After you have shot a squirrel that you simply wish to mount, it’s important to comply with a couple of steps to make sure that the fur stays in nice situation for taxidermy. You’ll wish to be very cautious when skinning the squirrel, and as a substitute of the same old “hurry up and pores and skin it” that’s typically how most hunters clear squirrels, you’ll wish to “case pores and skin” your squirrel, which implies making minimal cuts to the cover. The squirrel equipment does present full directions on how to do that, nonetheless, you do want to accumulate the squirrel earlier than you order your equipment (extra on this in a minute). If wanted, you’ll be able to merely wrap your squirrel in a number of layers of hermetic freezer baggage and freeze it complete till you’re able to mount it.
At this level, you’ll wish to contemplate the professionals and cons of a DIY mount. Like several good do-it-yourself undertaking, there may be all the time an opportunity of failure or the potential for the undertaking not turning out fairly in addition to you had hoped. If you happen to don’t wish to threat it, you’ll be able to actually ship your squirrel to knowledgeable taxidermist. If you happen to like residing life on the sting…then proceed with the remainder of this text.
Measure the Squirrel
Earlier than ordering your equipment, you will need to measure your squirrel to see what dimension kind you’ll need. I’ve made the error of not measuring a squirrel and blindly ordering the shape, and naturally, it was too large. Whereas it’s nonetheless doable to make use of a kind that’s the fallacious dimension, loads of improvisation is required. It’s simpler to only measure and order the right dimension to start with.
You’ll measure your squirrel from nostril to the bottom of the tail and order based mostly off that measurement. Ellzeys has directions on its web site on easy methods to measure your squirrel. Most kinds are available numerous sizes, together with 9”, 10”, 11”, and 12”. A typical grey is often 9 or 10 inches, whereas a fox squirrel can measure 12 inches or extra.
Case Skinning
Case skinning a squirrel entails making a reduce from the bottom of 1 again leg (if it’s a grey squirrel, meaning proper the place the white fur meets the grey), throughout to the other foot. You’ll then pores and skin it down the physique, making no extra cuts within the cover. Utilizing shears or a really sharp knife, reduce all of the toes off on the final joint earlier than you get to the toes, and take cautious consideration whereas skinning the face. The picture directions within the equipment are extraordinarily useful right here. The face would be the most troublesome to grasp, however don’t fear, most errors may be mounted.
Tip: Pliers come in useful when pulling the bone out of the tail.
Making ready The Cover
As soon as your squirrel is skinned and (hopefully) in a single piece, you’ll need to begin the fleshing course of. That is pretty easy as a lot of the cover will likely be peeled off the squirrel flesh-free. You will want to concentrate to the face and the areas across the nostril, ears, and mouth and scrape off any small items of flesh which will stay behind. You’ll additionally wish to look at any holes within the cover from a bullet or arrow and ensure no flesh stays round these. You’ll then want to stitch up any holes with the needle and thread offered within the equipment.
You CAN refreeze your squirrel cover at this level for those who want extra time. The remainder of the method is straightforward however will doubtless take you an hour or two from begin to end.
Wash and dry the cover with dish cleaning soap (any sort is okay) and thoroughly clear off any blood stains or extra filth on the fur. Rinse it in addition to doable, as any remaining cleaning soap will make the cover look barely matted and depart a barely stiff or cheesy really feel. Gently towel dry the cover or use a blow dryer till the fur is fluffed and not damp.
Subsequent, you’ll liberally apply Borax to the flesh aspect of the squirrel. It’s higher to make use of too little as a substitute of an excessive amount of — the Borax will be sure that the flesh aspect of the cover will dry with out smelling like rotting flesh. You’ll wish to work Borax into the legs and tail, particularly since these locations are more durable to flesh.
Making ready the Kind
I recommend rigorously sliding the shape into the cover at this level to ensure it suits correctly. If it’s too large or too small, you’ll need to make some cuts or add clay to make the shape match realistically.
You’ll add some clay to some spots on the shape and add the eyes. Pay particular consideration to the putting of the eyes. They’ll give your squirrel a loopy eye look in the event that they aren’t positioned evenly.
Run the lengthy piece of wire by way of your kind to your tail and apply clay to the bottom. I like to recommend not shifting the tail an excessive amount of till your mount is totally dry, because the clay can shift when it’s moist.
Mounting
Rigorously pull the pores and skin over the shape and stitch up the open incision. You’ll wish to exactly pin the ears, mouth, and eyes in order that they keep in place whereas drying. Relying on which kind you’re utilizing, you may as well pin the toes so the toes are splayed open. Nevertheless, they’re pretty straightforward to maneuver even after they’re dried.
As soon as every thing is pinned accurately and your squirrel seems to be the way you need it to, you’ll wish to discover a cool, dry place to retailer it. Make certain it’s in a spot that’s out of attain of babies or pets. Drying time can range relying on the squirrel and air temperatures, however they’re typically full dry inside a month. You’ll be able to inform if the squirrel is dry by rigorously touching the ears — if they’re laborious, the squirrel mount is dry.
Tip: you should utilize a smooth brush to fluff up the fur and tail after mounting. To make the tail seem fuller, you’ll be able to gently rub the hairs the fallacious means and hit it with just a little hair spray, so it stays in place.
My Daughter’s Squirrel Mount
I made a decision to take my squirrel mount a step additional and dangle it on a chunk of cork bark, which is way cheaper than the slabs of pretend bark or wooden slabs from taxidermy suppliers. It’s pure, inexpensive, straightforward to hold on the wall, and is available in various sizes. The bark I used turned out to be the right dimension. You’ll be able to actually discover one thing from the woods to make use of as a base to your squirrel mount, nonetheless, you’ll wish to be sure that it’s correctly cleaned so that you don’t have bugs. To take your mount’s background even additional, you add some pretend leaves or acorns.
My daughter was thrilled with how her squirrel mount turned out. My subsequent taxidermy undertaking will likely be a cottontail rabbit, one thing I’ve by no means tried. Hopefully, it really works out in addition to this bushy tail.
