Canadian Bear Hunt

[Buckfever4life]

Once you choose an airline....go to their website to find out their restrictions. This is the best source of info....

I do know that you can't have a container of liquid much bigger that 2 or 3 oz in your carry one. I'm sure anything larger will be fine in your checked bag.

I need to look into the thermacell issue myself.

My boss says AAA still has the flight plans and he is to get them tomorrow to see what flight we are taking. Should I put my binoculars and camera in my luggage, or take it in a carry-on? I will call whichever airline that we are flying with and see the restrictions.

[Buckfever4life]

Firediver knows what he's talking about, those measurements are supposed to be done after skinning but go with what your taxidermist wants.

I am no taxidermist, but if you think about it, the measurments taken from the bear before skinning would think be more accurate. He siad the measurement from the corner of the eye to the tip of the nose was no big deal since the skull would be included on the cape that he will receive, but he stressed to measure the bear before being cut with a flexible tailor-type measuring tape. He said you will get a bigger bear this way rather than doing measurments after skinning. Not a huge size difference, but he said generally speaking it would be more true to its originial size.

I will take both measurements before caping and after caping just to give him both. I wonder what the difference would be if if was measured before as apposed to after skinning? I guess I will find out.

But to me not being a taxidermist one would think that you would get a true measurement before skinning as it would be anatomically correct as its being measured. I am not starting a debate here but in my eye this is how I see it. With the skin and muscles having their attachment points and anatomical variations that you would loose when measuring when the cape is free and loosley laying flat on the ground.

[firediver]

I personally like to put as much as possible in my checked bag just for pure convenience while walking through the airport and while on the plane.

I do keep cameras, audio, and video equipment with me at all times though.

One more thing we haven't covered.....make sure you have a SOLID gun case. The airlines have a bad habit of seeing who can throw a gun case the farthest.

[firediver]

As far as measuring the animal for mounting goes.......all manikins are designed to represent the carcass of the animal. To be honest though, the measurements on a bear won't make that big of a difference. The only one that will be a little off is the belly circumference but there is a lot of stretch in bear hides.

Try ordering a deer form after you get the measurements with the hide on and you will understand what I am talking about.

Like I said........all manikins are designed to represent the carcass, not the live animal.

Good question though

[Adam]

Plus, hides shrink when they're tanned, so, since the manikin is made to represent the carcass, if you take the measurements over the fur, you've ADDED girth, length, whatever because of the skin and fur, and then your cape / hide shrinks making it smaller (thus SUBTRACTING girth, length, whatever, from the hide). So, theoretically, you have a hide that wouldn't fit over the original, actual carcass let alone a manikin that is actually bigger than the original carcass because you took the measurements over the fur.

So, the taxidermist actually has to stretch the tanned hide BEYOND what it was when the animal was alive.

You follow?

[Buckfever4life]

One more thing we haven't covered.....make sure you have a SOLID gun case. The airlines have a bad habit of seeing who can throw a gun case the farthest.

LOL...a buddy of mine worked for DHL and I know how they treat freight, especially the ones that say "fragile"...lol...those were doomed. Its sad to say.

Plus, hides shrink when they're tanned, so, since the manikin is made to represent the carcass, if you take the measurements over the fur, you've ADDED girth, length, whatever because of the skin and fur, and then your cape / hide shrinks making it smaller (thus SUBTRACTING girth, length, whatever, from the hide). So, theoretically, you have a hide that wouldn't fit over the original, actual carcass let alone a manikin that is actually bigger than the original carcass because you took the measurements over the fur.

So, the taxidermist actually has to stretch the tanned hide BEYOND what it was when the animal was alive.

You follow?

I follow you, and that makes sense. I will take both sets of measurments before and after caping just to present to the taxidermist.

Thanks again

[firediver]

This has turned into a great discussion!!! This is what I like about forums.....especially this one. NO EGO'S OR BAD ATTITUDES.

The bear hides do shrink quite a bit during the tanning process but the thing that really makes it confusing is the fact that a bear hide gets overstretched lengthwise during the process.

I remember doing my first lifesize bear. I had just finished stretching out the bear and took a length measurement for reference. I then looked at my catalog to check out the options for a bear that size. This is where I started to panic. For a length like I had....the girth was over 20" too small.

I then did some research on a taxidermy forum and found that, without measurement from the carcass to go from, stretch the girth as far as it will go and use that at a starting point.

I followed that advice, increased the girth by 20"ish inches which in turn shortened the length of the bear to a size that was proportional with all of the manikins in that size range.

Lifesize bear mounts are a tricky thing.

Now...even though you have the measurements from the carcass...that doesn't mean there is a form available for that particular size. This is where a taxidermist earns his money by reshaping and resizing the form to fit your particular bear.

Ever run your hands over a bear mount and feel folds and wrinkles on the skin? The form was too small!!!! Some wrinkles are gonna happen but I've felt big folds before which just meant the customer got a mount back smaller than what it should have been.

[Buckfever4life]

Now...even though you have the measurements from the carcass...that doesn't mean there is a form available for that particular size. This is where a taxidermist earns his money by reshaping and resizing the form to fit your particular bear.

LOL...those were his exact words too...lol... I told him that I have been looking in my 2 inch thick McKenzie Taxidermy catologue for ideas....lol...

This has turned into a great discussion!!! This is what I like about forums.....especially this one. NO EGO'S OR BAD ATTITUDES.

I cannot agree more, and I appreciate you alls advice and help. This is what makes this a great forum unlike many others on the net.

This morning when I walked into work, I had planned on having my bear (in the event I harvest one) mounted in canada and shipped back to me for $500--$700, and I was going to ship my clothing and gear to the outfitter a week prior via FedEx for ~$100. Now I got your advice, spoke to my local taxidermist, called the airline and am going to take a big duffle bag on wheels to the airport along with my rifle case. You all have saved me alot of grief/misery and a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders and not to mention, saved me money.....lol..I will sleep alot better tonite. I was getting so worried and worked up worrying about all these details that I forgot about having a fun trip.

Thanks again

[firediver]

What you need to do is find a form that you like.....and then wait for a bear that size. Just take a tape with you and while he is feeding on the bait, sneak down and take a few measurements

[firediver]

Here are a couple of the bears I did. I'm not totally happy with the one on the limb but I am still learning with bears.