Bobcat took three hens. Anyone know how to tan a bobcat? < Graphic. >

[LadyinRed]

A female bobcat decided after taking three free range birds one day to come back the next and be seen in broad daylight again, the third day a human with a gun was posted ontop of the barn and a 'bait' chicken was caged near where the three were taken. She came right back for a easy meal in the middle of the day. I wouldn't have minded if it killed one bird and never came back but once it found easy prey it came back. The worst part is there are litterally hundreds if not thousands of rabbits in this area. They are constantly running across the road at night and even sitting in the middle of manicured lawns in daylight. Probably only weighed 25-30 pounds. Did not let her go to waste though, I skinned her and the skin is stored in the freezer untill I can either tan it or find someone to do it for me.

Does anyone know how to tan a bobcat hide? I am rather new to skinning and preserving skins. She had a number of holes in her, a shotgun was used. I cleaned most the blood off her before skinning and brushed her fur back down. The holes are not obvious on the outside of the skin.

 

[7L Farm]

Here's one that I trapped I took it to a taxidermist. You can get a kit to tan the hide yourself. Google will help you find the kit. Your kitty looked real thin glad you got her. Where theirs one there's more keep your gun loaded.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Judging by the picture and the fact thats a young adult or a full adult female, bobcats usually hunt rabbits and only take easy meals occassionally - either she had babies (but its a bit late in the year for that), or she was sick/injured in some way. I'm betting she was injured or sick as she was so thin. You probably did her a favor - she'd have just kept coming back after easy meals anyway.

My uncle had a bobcat take camp in his old hay barn a couple years ago and she raised kittens 2 years there, he had chickens, ducks, barn cats, etc. She only ever was thought to have killed 1 or 2 chickens and that was when teaching the kittens to hunt. Usually she decimated the rabbit and possums even though she had a sitting buffet. She didn't come back the 3rd year only because they were doing remodeling on the barn that year and it was too busy for her.

7L said it, google it, I have seen the self tanning kits they aren't too expensive, less money than paying a taxidermist for sure.

 

[onthespot]

I have heard it said that every animal has enough brains to tan their own hide. Did you throw the head away?

 

[LadyinRed]

Quote:
She was very skinny, She had two broken canine teeth one was VERY dark where it looked to be going rotten and broken very high, and she was missing a rear claw, Had very few external parasites aside from the tiny ticks which I sprayed her down to kill and looked as though she had weaned off kits in the past month or two from the way she was still a little bare around the teats and saggy still. But the saggy part may have just been from being so thin.

As for the brains, I did throw the head away, Eek! How do you get the brains out anyway? I imagine if needed you could fairly easily break open say a small cat skull but something like a deer sounds plain hard to get to! I will look up one of those kits, It sounds like the way to go!

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Quote:
She was very skinny, She had two broken canine teeth one was VERY dark where it looked to be going rotten and broken very high, and she was missing a rear claw, Had very few external parasites aside from the tiny ticks which I sprayed her down to kill and looked as though she had weaned off kits in the past month or two from the way she was still a little bare around the teats and saggy still. But the saggy part may have just been from being so thin.

As for the brains, I did throw the head away, Eek! How do you get the brains out anyway? I imagine if needed you could fairly easily break open say a small cat skull but something like a deer sounds plain hard to get to! I will look up one of those kits, It sounds like the way to go!

you did the cat a favor - she was slowly starving to death because of those broken teeth - if you've ever cracked a tooth you know how painful it is. for a wild predator its a death sentence - unless they find easy meals like your chickens.

 

[mrpekinduck]

Oh poor thing it's so thin! You probably did it a favor by putting it out of it's misery.

 

[Thornius]

Fur Harvester's Trading Post has a free catalog. They sell everything you need and need to know for tanning skins. I recently inherited a 70 acre farm in Middle tennessee that is overrun with Coyotes and will be setting snares, traps, and using a crossbow to eliminate coyotes and other predators and will harvest their fur. Go here for Fur Harvester's site: www.fntpost.com

 

[ruffedgrouse]

With all to holes from the shotgun blast it makes it pretty much worthless if you are going to sell the hide but it would still look nice on the wall or something like that.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
I shoot them with bird shot up close and fox too and the fur buyers keep buying them here last year I average $75 a pelt here our cats fur is really flat the fox pelts are much nicer