[Illustration: Fig. 39.]

Quilt skin upon the lining with a good layer of cotton wadding between.
Be sure and not draw down a bunch of hair under each loop. Tie the
knots neatly on under side.

Fig. 39 shows incisions to make in removing a pelt for a symmetrical
rug. Rug skins are best dried with no preservative whatever. In drying
skins, stretch them symmetrically and dry in the shade.

[Illustration]

PREPARING AND MOUNTING A COYOTE

CHAPTER VI

PREPARING AND MOUNTING A COYOTE

This method may be applied to specimens from the size of a red fox or a
bobcat up to a timber wolf. Remove the skin and prepare it in same way
as that of a small mammal for mounting. When the carcass is bared in
skinning, measure the girth of the neck at middle and at base; of the
chest just behind the forelegs; the abdomen at its middle; the upper-arm
at middle; the forearm just below elbow; the thigh at middle; the shank
just below swell of thigh muscles back of knee, and the tail near its
base. (See Fig. 40 for measurements.)

Lay the carcass upon a large piece of wrapping paper and take an outline
of it complete, both before and after skinning.

Use same incisions and remove skin identically as in small specimen.
Upon the outline sketch of peeled complete carcass set down the girth
measurements in their proper places as taken with the tape. As in
smaller specimens, these outline sketches will be found of great value
as an aid to preserving natural lines in mounting.

[Illustration: Fig. 40.]

Wire the leg bones same as in a small mammal, using soft iron rod of
sufficient size to support the specimen firmly. In our coyote a
quarter-inch rod will be required. In a bobcat a three-sixteenths-inch
rod will be large enough to support sturdily.

Bend the leg rods to fit the joints in position desired. Cut the rods of
a length so that six or eight inches will protrude from the feet and
eight or ten inches will remain free above to anchor to the body core.
Bind the rods to the leg-bones with strong, light cord, doing the
firmest wrapping near the joints.

Working over the body outline, cut a one-inch-thick board core that will
set well within the outline. (See Fig. 41.)

[Illustration: Fig. 41.]

Cut a neck-rod of same size as for legs, having it twice as long as neck
and head. Near one end of the neck-rod bend a jog to hold well when set
with plaster of paris and chopped fiber into the brain cavity of the
cleaned