Glad y'all liked the pics!
On the tom, we first called AZ Game and Fish, who chastized and almost fined us for trapping out of season. Then they put us in touch with someone licensed to release. It was released "outside of Tombstone" (no further details provided) which would be a minimum of 20 miles from us. He was back in about a week, hungrier than ever. (I know it was the same animal, because it had a disfigured pupil in one eye.)
The trap is homemade, adapting a standard dog kennel by replacing the front door with with a heavy trap door attached to a pressure plate of plywood. Bait was live birds in the adjoining kennel, well covered on all sides except the one the trap was on, so the cat had to enter the trap to really see the birds.
I tanned one bobcat hide like I tan domestic rabbit pelts, with an acid/salt solution. It was a lot of work! Here's my tanning recipe, if anyone's interested, adapted from Mother Earth News:
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2 gal cool water
1/2 cup battery acid (from auto supply store)
1 lb rock salt (or any non-iodized salt. Rock salt is usually cheapest.)
Pelts (up to four rabbits, or one bobcat, rinsed and major fat deposits etc. removed)
Add salt and water to 5 gal plastic bucket, stir with wood or plastic spoon to disolve. Carefully add acid by pouring down side of bucket to avoid splashing. Stir. Add pelt(s). Stir. Keep pelts submerged (I use a glass plate with a heavy glass bowl on top) and stir daily. After a week, check if membrane will separate from skin easily. If not, put back in the solution. Rinse pelt well in cool water and peel membrane from skin. (I use my fingernails, which becomes painful after a while
Hang pelt in shade (I use a wooden laundry drying rack) and periodically stretch by pulling across the back of a chair, skin side down. Skin will turn whiter as it dries, usually from the edges first. Fluff in dryer with dryer sheet for a few minutes to freshen. Done!
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My tanning method isn't professional or anything, but works fine for craft-quality results with minimum cost and effort.
