Need Ideas for bobcat skin

I have a bobcat that's is case skinned and would like some ideas on what I could make from it. The poor cat committed suicide by running under my car.( I didn't even know what happened until I looked back). I've been thinking on getting some leather to make a shooting bag when I go up to The Davey Crockett Days in Tenn. next week an using it to as a cover over the leather. Does anyone have a better idea or more options? Thanks.

They are getting from $600 to $1,000 each for premium Rocky Mountain bobcat right now. In China they sew up the white bellies to make a fur coat that looks like snow leopard. Fur is high right now. China and Russia are buying everything we catch.

Line it with trade wool and make a super winter hat out of it! __ I used to have one, that I made out of a whole small beaver skin with a quilled rosette and a couple Grouse feathers in it. Looked real Mountainmanish!

I've got a case skinned coon that I carry my pistol to the range in sometimes. :haha:

Did you recently kill it, or was it killed back in winter? If it recently died, don't bother trying to sell it. Even if it was a winter kill, you wont get near those numbers. A perfect hide from your region (and I mean perfect -good color, size, fur, and handling) might fetch you $100-$120 or so. But yes, the fur market is pretty good right now for some critters. IIRC, beaver isn't what it should be.

Anyways, since its a bobcat, I'd keep it as fur-on leather. A small bobcat-hide shooting bag would look cool, with the spots and all. Not sure how you should tan it though. You could try braintanning it yourself for even more authenticity (and of course more coolness :grin: ) but if it is a summer skin, you risk damaging the hair follicles and causing the hair to slip (fall out) as you scrape the meat and crud off. Might consider sending it to a tannery then. Or pickle it yourself to help set the hair and possibly prevent it from slipping as you tan it.

If it is a good winter hide though, braintanning it shouldn't be a problem. I haven't dealt with a bobcat hide myself, so I cant say for sure.

Pack it thoroughly in a mixture of table salt and alum. Work it well into the hair side and coat the flesh side with a generous portion. Use un-iodized salt and make sure that it is table salt not ice cream salt. Let it sit in the salt and alum mixture for several days to set the hair. Then send it to a professional tannery to have it properly tanned. Then it will make a good hide to make things from and being professionally tanned, it will last. Do-it-yourself tanning can work but it can also fail and the hide become quite malodorous. :cursing: If that happens, all your work goes into the trash.

First I would make sure you can legally own the fur/ hide, it can get kind of touchy in some states. Get it tanned and then make yourself a hat or use the face for a pouch flap. I have seen some really neat arrow quivers made from them.

I killed him last winter sometime around Dec. and have had him back from the tanner for awhile. We don't get very cold down here so he didn't have a thick coat on. I just might make a hat or use him to cover a possibles bag.

Ah, that clears a lot up. A hat would be cool. Any left over scraps could be used to decorate a bag.

Yeah- I was sort of gilding the lilly a bit :grin: since fur prices vary widely depending on the area. I like that idea of a bobcat hat, that would be unique. The hat ought to get less wear and tear than the shooting bag.
If you are an archer a bobcat covered quiver? Might work.