# How to freeze a bobcat



## BoCoMo

Is it whole or skinned?


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## BOOYAH

*freezing*

if its whole just put it in a bag and put in freezer. they will thaw it and skin it when your ready.
its what I did with a red fox, taxidermist told me this and its easier if its whole not skinned or gutted


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## Riverghost

Whole


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## TimberlandTaxi

If you plan on having it frozen for a while then you need to do everything you can to protect it from freezer burn. Those thin ears on a bobcat burn very quickly. If you are freezing it whole, then you need to wrap it's head in lots of plastic wrap, then triple bag it. This will keep it for a few months. If you are wanting to store it for over 6 months, then I would recommend skinning it. The best way to go about skinning it, is to pay the taxidermist that will be doing the mount to skin it to their preference. Most shops will reimburse this fee by applying it to the mount when you decide you are ready, so really it doesn't cost any more. If that is not a possibility, then I would suggest case skinning it, being very careful not to cut any holes and making your incision as straight and clean as you can. Also keep the incision away from the anus. Leave the legs in up to the elbow, and pull the tail. (bobcat tails pull rather easily using a couple dowel rods) Save as much skin around the lips as possible, cutting the gum line right next to the teeth, and be very careful not to cut the eyes, and save as much eye skin as you can. We will need this to tuck the eyes and lips when mounting. When you roll it up to bag it make sure the head and legs are rolled up inside the skin. Then double or triple bag it, and store it in a manual defrost freezer (if possible). 

It would also be helpful if you took a couple measurements and stored these with the bobcat for your taxidermist. *After skinning*, lay the carcass on it's side on a table, and pose it's head and neck as they would be in a standing pose. Using a soft measuring tape measure from the tip of the nose to the *base* of the tail, and also measure it's circumference at it's largest point.


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## BoCoMo

Dont freeze it w/ plastic next to the skin/fur. Use paper bags then put in plastic bags or trash bags.

Also never roll up fur and put it in the freezer. When u roll it up it doesnt freeze evenly and the hair on the inside of the roll can start to slip before its frozen. Also when u take it out to thaw and its rolled up it doesnt un thaw evenly and u risk slippage too. best to freeze flat on cardboard. Give it a couple days to freeze then u can bag it.


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## TimberlandTaxi

I couldn't disagree with BoCoMo ant more. We have been successfully freezing mammals using this method for over 20 years. Plastic against the fur aids in removing as much air as possible from the package, which is your goal. The hair will not slip. Rolling the face up inside the fur protects it from the air, which is what will ruin a skin. I have frozen thousands of skins rolled up this way in plastic, and have successfully mounted some of these skins 10 years after they were frozen!!!


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## BoCoMo

If anyone is interested in real fur handling advice ask a trapper not a taxi.


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## TimberlandTaxi

unless of course your intention is to get the thing mounted.


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## M.Magis

BoCoMo said:


> If anyone is interested in real fur handling advice ask a trapper not a taxi.


 That's rediculous, and Cole is right. Your "advice" is quite wrong as far as taxidermy goes. I've been a trapper and a taxidermist, and I can tell you that trappers know almost nothing about proper fur handling. They know what to do to get it sold, but they don't understand that much of what they sell is worthless because of their "real fur handing". 
It's sort of funny that someone can be so arrogant about something they know nothing about.


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## BoCoMo

Your right im not a taxidermist, I do however work very closely w/ several taxidermist. The majority of my fur does not go to fur auctions, it goes to the taxi market. I handle my fur exactly the way they want it done to insure a sale. Not all trappers sell mudd caked furs stained in blood and cut into pieces. I take a lot of pride in my work and get top dollar for it. I do apologize for the comment i made above, but i strongly disagree w/ rolling fur and freezing it. Ive lost to many fur that way early on when i took advice from someone "in the know". I guess we can agree to dis agree but i would hate to see someones prized bobcat pelt be rolled up in the freezer and when he gets the money to do the mount and takes it out of the freezer its ruined.


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## TimberlandTaxi

Bocomo, if you lost "too many furs" because they were rolled up and frozen, then you were doing something wrong prior to freezing them. I'm serious when I say we have rolled and frozen literally thousands of deer, mammals, etc. over the last 20 years and have never lost a single skin because of it. I think that is enough experience in the matter to offer advice. No need to apologize for your comment, it was kinda funny. 

Your method will work fine if you are only storing the skin for a month or so, but the question was asked about long term storage. When your bobcat's ear tips are freezer burnt it doesn't change that fur's value on the fur market. When a bobcats ear tips are burnt on a skin I'm trying to mount, the results can be disastrous. M.Magis is right about this as well: Many trappers know almost nothing about proper fur handling, at least when it comes to taxidermy fur. I have dozens of trappers in my shop every year selling bobcats, and this year not a single skinned bobcat brought into my shop was usable for taxidermy. The only cats I was able to use this year were the ones brought in on the carcass. (Which I promptly skinned, rolled up, and froze.)


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## bow hunter11

i put the whole thing in a freezer


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## TimberlandTaxi

bow hunter11 said:


> i put the whole thing in a freezer


Then you have 2 weeks to a month to figure out what you want to do with it.


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## Jeffress77

TimberlandTaxi said:


> Then you have 2 weeks to a month to figure out what you want to do with it.


I got lucky with my coyote... I am not sure if the bobcat ears/skin is different than the coyote, but I had mine in the freezer whole for two years inside two garbage bags. The taxidermist said he had no problem with skinning any of it besides the tail. He said he had some problem with the tail being freezer burned. I guess I got lucky with the rest of it.


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## TimberlandTaxi

Jeffress, double bagging helped I'm sure. I would agree though that you were pretty lucky.


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