Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1897-05-27
TROPHIES OF HUNTERS.
Big Elk Horns Supplied to Hunter
by New York Dealers.

Big Elk Horns Supplied to Hunters
by New York Dealers.
n common cause OF disappoint mert
among sportsmen arises from their ina
bility to have their trophies mounted
as they hoped. This happens because
the trophies were not properly treated
Immediately after the game was slain
I've got case of skins from Lahra-i
dor once, a taXidermist said. 1T was
| about four feet high by five square. 1t
was full ofearibou parts-horns, skulls.
hoofs, legs. and skips-and all were
worthless. Here We're trophies that
money could not have purchased spoiled
because the owner had neglected to
dress his skins little before sending
them to us. If that man mad just taken
some alum and twice as much common
salt and rubbed the stuff into the skins,
and then hung them up in some shady
place away from the camp fire. he would
have had as fine collection of caribou
heads as one could find in week among
sportsmens- relics.
| Then there are men who take too
much care of their skins. A man came
into our place last fall with two bear
| skins rolled up in bundle. | began to
| unroIl them, and it was just like roll
| ing a cracker up. The skins broke and
cracked all to pieces. and nothing in the
world could have saved them The man
had told his guides to take the utmost
care of the skins He had rubbed salt
| into them and alum. too. Then the
| guides had hung them up before the
fire to dry and had dried the life out of
them. The skins would have been all
right had they been suspended from a
| tree in the shade and stretched enough
to get the kinks out.
"a few days ago we got eight fox
| skins from man down in South Caro-
ina. They all looked alike and appeared
to be all right. We put them into the tan
and three of them went to pieces. What
was the matter? No one can tell. Most
likely the skins had been tackled up on a
barn. The three may have happened
to hang in the sun longer than the
others and that spoiled them. Lots of
men hang skins out on the sunny side
of a building. That is wrong and al
most sure to ruin hide in warm days
or warm climates. The shady side
should always be selected if the hides
ire to be treated in that way at all, and
they should be we'll rubbed with salt
and alum to begin with.
I'VE do good trade in elk horns
and what do you think? Most of the
elk are sent to regions where elk were
once numerous, but are now scarce. The
mountain guides come to New York
buy big heads for from $40 to $125 each
and take them to the game regions. The
sportsman comes along awhile after
and the guide takes him out hunting
The region. so far as game is concerned
is pretty well played out. Possibly, the
! sportsman gets shot; more likely n
doesn't. Coming back to the guide:
ranch disguised, ne goes into the par
Tor and sees over the manteI a 40-incl
spread of elk antlers and all around big
horns and heads. He gets the guide t.
tell about them. The biggest pair ha
a history yard long, and the sports
man can almost hear the gun roar tina
killed the beast. The other heads hav'
stories in proportion to the size of thei
horns, except the smallest, which ha
the biggest story of all attached to il
The sportsman gets fidgety, and at las
buys two or three heads. paying tn
guide three or four times much TO
them as the guide had paid down OF
William street. New York, where tn
taNidermists hold out.
''More big heads have come in thi
fall than we ever knew of before. I saw
35 Michigan deer in one batch, not on
of which weighed less than 200 pounds
and one was a 4OO-pound deer. I kneN
they had been killed by market hunters
because they had been shot in the head
Big moose heads come from Maine an
the west. and a couple of weeks ago w
got wildcat with 44-inch hide and
head like pumpkin. Some bully goo
bearskiEs have come in. too. If folk
would skin the heads of their game
taking care about the eyes and lips,
would be lots easier for us to save tn
skin on them when they are mounted
but all taxidermists keep supply O
hides of heads, so if man comes i
with just pair of horns off a deer w
can fit out the rest of it.'-N. u. Sun.