I put up my first 2 today. what do you think?

Looks great. I would try pinning the back legs flat on the stretcher and turning the front legs up toward the head.

Nice looking cats, especially the one on the left.

How long are they and how wide at the base?

Pictures can be deceiving, but the one on the right looks a bit wide to me on my computer.

Did you bone out the tail and open it up so it can dry?

I'm sure you will get plenty of other comments - every body likes looking at cats.

Pin the front legs UP to give the impression of a larger belly..the bottoms I've never seen done QUITE LIKE that... IF you want to do the Nevada type stretch...use a CENTER board and bring the whites TOGHTHER in the center, pinning together to make a LOOOOOONG belly...remember to stretch LENGHT then width.. I also pull down and tie the tail to the bottom of the stretcher.. Otherwise...not bad lookin!!!
lynx

Lynx do you cut off the bottom lip on your cat. I do on all mine.

im NO EXPERT BY ANY STRETCH, but IMO, they look better nevada style, with a center board.

id also pin his ears down to...thats how i was taught.

Yup...chop that lip RIGHT off!!

In the last photo the cat on the right looks like it has a large wrinkle in the pelt right behind the ears. needs to be pulled down tight.

if you put the legs up like lynx is telling you they look like this...lot more belly

They look good cept I think you could of got more length outta them.Try to go for more length next time!!!

why do you cut off bottom lip

It isnt needed for anything and it looks better without it.

Try to get them at least 36" if you can, it will bring you better money when selling them, and do the Nevada strech just like Lynx and Donnie said, they look really good, yours look good too, and nice kitty's!!!

You cut off the bottom lip to make it easier for the auction house to attach there tags

do you just cut it straight across from v to v ?

I get it down till there about an inch left on the jaw and give er a rip!!(knife)

whats the nevada strecth? got pics?

Pic's I had on the puter..dont remember who to give credit to tho..

A little history: back in the 80's as cat put-up was evolving, and as has been mentioned, buyers were measuring cats for grade size. large, X-large, jumbo etc. So it was very important to not loose length on your cats as they dried. A 36.5 inch cat brought more money than a 34" cat since it was graded a larger size. We started using center boards to tack the base of the tail to so we didn't loose any length when the cat dried. The natural evolution of that process was to close the legs together to show off the all white on the cat. I know a lot of Nevada trappers traditionally tacked the legs to the boards but hard to say who started to close them together first. It seems like I've always done it that way. I've heard old trappers bicker and say they did it first, but old men don't have good memories and all old men don't know all other old men. Many, many trapping techniques evolved at the same time in different locations. Doesn't really matter anyway. The buyers themselves started referring to the style of stretch as the "Nevada style". They seemed to like it and that encouraged good prices and we kept doing it. I heard the term "Nevada Style" from our fur manager and mentioned the name in the bobCATching 1 video.

Nice looking cat Donnie!

Here's some cats at the fur sale stretched Nevada Style.