Freezing and Shipping Raw Hides and Whole Animals

Shipping Raw Hides and Whole Frozen Animals: A photo Tutorial

Your Goal is to keep the hide frozen until arrival.

Folding Hides for Freezing

Step 1: Fold your skin meat to meat, fur out.

Step 2- Fold Fold Legs and tail inward onto the body.

Step 3: Roll the back half in towards the middle.  Don’t roll the whole hide up as there is a risk of slippage if this is done on a large animal, like an elk or cow hide.

Step 4-  Roll Head/face in towards middle, Make sure to fold ears against the head.  This will help keep the ears from getting broken and slow the thawing process and thus reducing the risk of slip. This is most important on large eared animals like deer and elk, as ears can be broken or damaged when removing them from a freezer if the ears are exposed.

Step 5:  Continue rolling until all the extremities are within the bundle.

Step 6: Place Hide in a bag that has been labeled with the species and/or  hide Number so you can tell which hide is which… As this can be quite difficult with a frozen ball of fur.

Step 7: Squeeze the air out of the bag, and tape it in to as small of shape as possible. Tape bag if necessary so nothing moves and Freeze for several days to ensure everything is frozen before shipping.

Step 1:  Thoroughly freeze your specimen according to the tutorials above. Make sure no large deposits of frost have accumulated on the animal.

Step 2- Bag your specimen, Seal against leaks with a ziptie or similar secure tie.

Step 3:  Apply a Second bag and ziptie shut, then wrap in several sheets of newsprint. The newsprint acts like a sponge, sucking up and holding any fluids that might leak, keeping them from reaching the box, if the hide should thaw.

Step 4-  Apply a third bag, and seal over the newspapers.

Step 5: Choose a box that is about 2″ larger than your item in all directions.

Step 6: Line your box with a layer of R11 or compariable fiberglass house insulation, craft paper backed is best. Line the sides and bottom.

Step 7: Put your frozen specimen in the box, make sure you don’t move the insulation leaving an air gap.

Step 8:  Add a final layer of insulation to the top of the box.

Step 9:  Add your Completed Shipping form to the box. Include your deposit and any other pertinent papers.

Step 10:  Seal box and mark ” Taxidermy Supplies”  and keep frozen till its picked up by shipper or dropped off at depot.