Looking for beetles to clean a paddlefish head....

[Sika]

Not too late to have it mounted!



J/k

[crittergetter76]

Not too late to have it mounted!

[ATTACH]847923[/ATTACH]

J/k

There are some pretty sweet paddlefish mounts, but that isn't one of them.

[Texastaxi]

That will surely make a very unique trophy!
Please post some pictures, when it's done.

I don't think I would put that in beetles, at least until I researched how much cartilage was part of the skull skeleton as opposed to bone. Beetles will eat the cartilage as well. But I can't wait to see the end result. That would make a killer skull mount.

It is cartilage, but there are several reputable cleaners that say beetles will not eat it all.

[bowhuntertex]

That will surely make a very unique trophy!
Please post some pictures, when it's done.



It is cartilage, but there are several reputable cleaners that say beetles will not eat it all.

That's good to know. I read a lot of taxidermists forums that said they will eat the cartilage so I never tested it with my beetles. Didn't want to ruin someone's trophy. I guess if I were to try it I would call one of the bigger skull cleaning services that have been around for a long time. I do think it will make a really cool euro.

[muzzlebrake]

Cool fish. The old timers where I'm from used to call em shovelbill catfish. A family friend and commercial fisherman, great great nephew of John Wesley Hardin, named Arb Hardin from Telephone, Tx used to bring us one every year to eat. As I recall they were pretty good and had no bones in the meat.
Arb caught them in the Red River in gill nets. This was back in the early 1950's.

[crittergetter76]

The meat is good. I really like it. It's very firm, kind of like shark. Planning to fry a little up this evening.

[crittergetter76]

Bringing this back to the top. Still looking for hungry beetles!