I've had feral goat skins down in hallways for years and they wear very tough.
Fallow deer skins I avoid putting on the ground as said by someone earlier they will loose their hair.
My zebra has lasted well so far.
I brought impala and bushbuck skins back from Africa but these have not been tanned. The taxidermist claims they were spoiled.
Cattle skins are ideal as rugs.
I once examined a tiger skin which was to be auctioned and it was quite badly damaged by use over time. Really quite ratty. Nevertheless I was interested in buying it or seeing what price it would sell for. In the end I did not attend as I was interstate when the auction occurred. It would have looked nice however in the background of photos. I think a cat skin in good condition really deserves to go on a wall.
Dogs are a good point but if they are properly house trained they should not be chewing anything in the house! It is funny sometimes to observe a dog the first time they see a new trophy or something else. My GSP is nervous and takes his time to approach, eventually after a good sniff or two, he forgets about it. The full mounted bushbuck made him concerned until after a good sniffing. The funniest one is I have a half sized ceramic black panther which was once given to me. The dog was very scared by that for a long time.
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Interesting comment about Waterbuck. Ann, was this skin given the Pierre shampooing trick?
-------------------- John aka NitroX
...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"