Taxidermy
A few years ago I started tanning my own deer hides. The first hide I tried, the hair "slipped" on it and it was a real mess. I told my wife to never let me try that again....She laughed, she knew better. My next attempt went much better. I then decided to try stuffing some birds. I did a couple of grouse and ducks and while they did not look too good, I knew I could get better at it.
I have now done a goose, several ducks and grouse, 2 pheasant, a couple of squirrels and several shoulder mounts. Below are some pictures of the mounts I have done.
This is my second attempt at a pheasant. It was a big improvement over the first.
The goose was shot on the 99 opener but the neck and leg bands actually came from a goose I shot in 1989. He turned out much better than the first one I tried.
This ringer was the first duck I did that turned out well enough to hang up. Degreasing ducks and geese is by far the hardest part of doing waterfowl. I use a home made wire wheel that works ok but I need to modify it a little. This particular ringer had almost no fat on him so he was easier to do.
When doing either ducks or upland birds, the "hanging from a strap" presentation is a good one to start with. You don't have to worry about getting every feather positioned perfectly. This allows you to focus on the basics. I plan on adding several different kinds of ducks to the pair below.
This is a Wyoming Coyote that I tanned this year.
This is the 10 pointer I shot in 1997. It was the first shoulder mount I had attempted and it turned out excellent. The ears were the hardest part to do and after painstakingly turning them inside out and removing the cartilage, I almost blew it when I was putting the cape back on. I put the ear inserts in the wrong ears (left one in the right ear) by the time I figured it out the glue was setting up. I got it fixed but it was a pretty tense few minutes. Out of all the things I lost in the fire this is the one that hurt the most. I could not even find a piece of the horn it burned so hot. These two pictures that I had at work at the time of the fire are the only two pictures I have of the mount.
This year I used the cape from a forkhorn to mount this nice basket 6 pointer rack I have had for a few years. It was my second attempt at a whitetail shoulder mount and I mainly did it for practice but I think it turned out really nice.
This is what it looks like going onto the form and the finished product below. This was my 4th mount.
If you are interested in trying to do some taxidermy get a catalog from Van Dyke's. They offer a lot of kits and how to books and videos. It is a relatively cheap hobby. The deer mount cost me about $85 and that included $20 for the "how to video" and $40 for the form with the eyes preset. The other misc. supplies and tools can be used for other projects. The second one you could probably do for less than $50. If you mess it up you still have the form. The parts to do a duck or grouse is only about $5 or so. Deer hides can be tanned for less than $10 and are easy to do. Click here for instructions on tanning using Luftan (Aluminum Chloride) from Van Dykes.
Taxidermy Links
Taxidermy. net Forums A good source of information, good message boards. Be sure to search the archives before posting a question. For example, if you want to learn about mounting a raccoon, just search on raccoon and you will get hundreds of questions and answers.
Taxidermy.net Home Home page for Taxidermy.net. Has good links including Wasco's (the sites sponsor) online catalog.
Taxidermyreference.com A good source of reference photos as well as links to good taxidermy sites.
Tanning Basics This is a link from the taxidermyreference site that gives the basics of how to prepare a hide for tanning.
Van Dyke's Taxidermy Supplies 1-800-843-3320
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