General Discussion

@SageKorppi i absolutely am! my collection started with me finding a kangaroo head in a plastic bag on the side of the road.... and the majority of my bones are wallaby! macropods are pretty common as road kill around here bing so close to the bush. ive actually been quie lucky with my finds :^) im pretty grateful that i live in australia too so i dont have to worry about the legality of collecting feathers like in the US. also ace job on calling the lapwing the correct name !

Yes meeeeeee! I love collecting dead animal stuff and parts!
Currently I have:

• A butt load of feathers, more than I know what to do with (mostly pheasant, rooster, peacock and turkey)
• Unidentified fish jaw with massive teeth
• Mink skull
• Coyote skull
• Black bear skull
• Shark jaw (North sea, don't know the species)
• Small spotted cat shark embryo
• Unidentified piece of bone found on the beach
• One vertebrae also found at the beach, close to the other one
• Fox pelt (complete)
• Reindeer calf pelt
• Super fluffy billy goat pelt
• 100+ year old African jaguar claw (my precious!)
• Three rabbit skulls
• Two guinea pig skulls
• Two hawk skulls (don't know the species)
• Complete cat skeleton
• Unidentified lizard skull
• Mummified sea horse
• Mummified frog
• Mummified common brown bat (still fluffy!)
• Three queen bees
• Two fossilized shark teeth
• Bunch of coyote claws
• Self-mounted grey squirrel from London
• Self-mounted common kestrel
• Decorative knife + holder carved out of cow bone
• Dozens and dozens and dozens of crab claws

I think that's about it, I may have forgotten one or two things. I really want a bear claw ;__;

Wow, where do you all find these things? While I dont really collect them, I do enjoy finding them.

All I ever found was some animal skull (most likely from a badger or something) and some mummified reptiles, amphibians or occasional bird.

@Xoriat
Good question, let me think...

The fox pelt I bought at a fair, same with the coyote skull. The reindeer pelt I got from a friend who got it from an aunt who didn't want it anymore because there's a coffee stain on the underside. And the goat pelt I bought from a friend who didn't do much with it and I was fawning over it so she agreed to sell.

The black bear skull I bought from someone who helped me mount the squirrel and the kestrel (which were provided, it was a course). I also bought the shark jaw from him, they own a taxidermy store.

The mink skull was part of a necklace that also included the coyote claws.

The unidentified fish jaw was a gift from my mom.

The shark embryo was a birthday gift - my friend knew a fisherman who accidentally caught an adult in his net but she already died before he could free her. When the vet cut her open to remove the embryos for safekeeping my friend managed to get two of them, one for herself and one for me, I think she had five.

The African jaguar claw came from a German trader who managed to get her hands on an antique pre-ban pelt, but it was falling apart so all she could salvage were 5 claws. I was lucky enough to snag one of them.

The cat skeleton came in a box, along with the bat mummy, sea horse, rabbit/quinea pig/hawk/lizard skulls, from a thrift store I used to volunteer at. The manager is my neighbor so she kept it for me as a gift instead of selling.

The cow bone knife came from ebay.

All the feathers come from the petting zoo I work at.

The mummified frog I found in a shed.

One of the fossil shark tooth I bought in a store, the other one was a gift from my boss, bought in France.

The crab claws all came from the beach, and the three bee queens were caught by my friend over the course of one week when she was on vacation. Yes, I told her not to do it again XD But I'm not throwing them away.

I think that covers it all ^_^

That reminds me I still have to dig up that woodpecker I buried for its bones... ._.

Woah! This is so cool. :3 I didn't know there was a name for this kind of thing!

I am an odd duck. As a nature lover, I ADORE seeing natural artwork in the world and I want to bring some of that beauty into my home. I partake in rifle hunting (USA) and have gotten one wee button buck in all my years. :')

As an empath, though, the pain of another creature physically pains me / makes me ill. (The deer I think I am all right with because I know I would never allow an animal to suffer--my button dropped like a rock and didn't twitch at all.) Anything from inside the animal in particular just -really- squicks me out. Therefore, I can't collect much in the way of bone. :/ Especially not by myself--seeing roadkill makes me cry. >.>''' However, I do LOVE collecting the following:

• Feathers (I have a TON of peacock feathers because one showed up at my grandparents' place one day and decided to stay--he dropped feathers every year and we would always hunt for them. He sadly died this year of apparently natural causes.
• Leather. Particularly buckskin--the good, light, supple stuff is my favorite--as it reminds me of my grandfather, who was my hunting buddy until his passing on December 7th, 2013.
• Antler (I have none of this but will begin looking for sheds this spring)
• SEA SHELLS OH MY GOODNESS :D :D :D water flight stuff woot
• Bone of a certain kind; @Kludde 's are all right for me as they look clean and polished and beautiful. :)

I began working at the local Renaissance Festival last season so my appreciation of natural things and natural materials in particular are being heightened like never before. :) It is for this reason I cultivate the hope of someday being reconciled with cool animal things. Right now my #1 priority is learning how to work leather and antler and getting my hands on some to make some pieces--both for Fest and for my own life--to commemorate my grandfather and all the memories I have of him.


@Kludde
I LOVE your antlers/teeth/shells/fawn pelt. :3 Along with your bones, too. As I said they look polished and beautiful.

My brother is staying at an organic farm, and told me about a wall of bones they have there from their past animal residents.
Of course, next time I was there I had to check it out. My baby bro was crying so I had to rush, but I managed to grab a pair of deer jawbones. There is a very intact cow skull there I am going to have my brother ask about for me. It is cleanly sawed in half so you can look into the brain cavity, witch I really like. It is so big and cool, I don't want to take it in case someone is saving it for themselves.
Yeah, I will never be able to go there again without grabbing some of their lovely sun bleached bones.

Oh gosh I've always wanted to start bone collecting, but I'm afraid I have no space in my house to safely keep one D:
I do take dead birds I find near my house and mess around with how their joints work though, it's really helped with drawing wings! (Found an entire mallard duck on the beach yesterday you could tell how he died and everything it was pretty cool!)

((I'm so happy this thread exists omg))

Edit: I've also always had an interest in wet specimens! (although im not 100% if that's within this same topic aahh)
I've always wanted an eel to be exact, I know there's a guy on etsy that does some really nice looking ones, hhh maybe someday.

@KiraJacqueline thank you ! :> i like keeping the more natural look rather than the "bleached-white" look, and i always make sure my bones are 100% clean :^) and good luck with looking for antler sheds come spring!

I have a small bone collection, quite a few feathers, a huge hoard of shells, and one rabbit pelt. I think my pride and joy is a nearly complete deer skeleton that I found in the woods. I had to keep it outside, so rodents nibbled on it, but it's in fairly good condition.

@Kludde

Thank you! ^ ^ Do you have any advice for cleaning/taking care of the antlers? (Does anyone for that matter?) I want to be able to saw/carve them and use them in jewelry/daily objects, as I've said. Are there any precautions I should take that you are aware of?