Some of us were blessed to have known Terry Davis both personally and professionally for many years, while some of us only knew him for a matter of weeks. In May of 2008 he lost his battle with cancer. There are no words to adequately express the grief many of us felt for Terry & his family. For many months we read his “Cancer Blogs”. Through the good times and bad, Terry tried to smile and tried to help. He gave his life, his family, and this industry that he loved so much, everything he could, until he could give no more.
I hope that in some small way, by putting the tutorials that Terry had on his website, here on Taxidermy.net, he will continue to teach, inspire, and watch over all of us. His beloved wife, Maggie, has given her blessing to this project.
I haven’t changed a word of the tutorials. The methods described within are entirely Terry’s. I made the pictures taxi.net friendly, but other than that, this is the exact tutorial Terry had on his website. 
Enjoy, and God bless. L
Making a mountain fox habitat1) You gotta start with an animal - I mounted this fox and let him predry on a wall a had added to my shop - we need to transfer him from wall to habitat - I have outlined the basic habitat size so I can see how big to make it when I take the fox down

2) Get your rough measurements here

3) Here is size as a square on work stand

4) Level

5) Kill the wood look with any colors you have

6) Prefit animal and make a line where two front legs will be supported

7) Four legs are supported so we need four braces


Level the two braces

9) Measure how far out the foot needs to be supported and put your first lateral

10) We need to give more support to where the weight bearing part of mount is

11) Screw the brace on

12) Add another foot support

13) Finish putting braces on

14) Pick you outline and mark it on board

15) Pull animal off and cut outline

16) Rough color the board

17) Habitat will hang on dry wall screws on 16" centers

18) Mark your 16" spots

19) Drill them out - rock on the front will hide holes

20) Put animal back on habitat - place small screws next to wire - this will wedge wire against wood and hold fox in place - enlarge this picture to see it more clearly

21) As with all my other habitats I use foam insulation

22) Start by adding small pieces to habitat with animal still on there so you are form fitting 'rock' to animal

23) Keep going

24) Rock needs to go around wood pieces so that all you see is rock - in addition you need to be able to access wires in the bottom so you need to make sure to think 2 steps ahead

25) Acetone or you can use lacquer thinner

26) Here is the smooth insulation board

27) Paint the acetone on lightly and it immediately turns to something completely different looking

28) Here's another shot

29) Instead of two part foam we are going to go to our local hardware store and get some foam insulation used for filling in cracks

30) Foam wherever there is a crack or if something looks manmade

31) Spray paint lightly in two or three colors

32) Keep going

33) Keep going

34) Spray rock available from home depot - this is made by rustoleum and is much better than fleck stone

35) Spray in on.....

36) ...... and seal with clear lacquer

37) Put animal back on

38) Another look

39) Another look

40) He's done - hang him up in the front room so your wife can see him clearly
