First, my hat goes off to the talents of taxidermist for bringing back wildlife to a natural original look with such great detail. I had a trophy room that was full of such trophies from the south until I lost them in a flood in 94. I have always been interested in taxidermy so my goal is to mount a whitetail deer this year and hopefully continue to remount all my whitetails. My first mistake is that I have skinned and fleshed the deer before I did all my homework. I since purchased the beginner taxidermy books from WASCO and learned that I did not leave enough eye lid membrane to tuck under the clay. And I also cut a hole in one the lower lips and a hole in the neck. Before freezing I did wash the inside of the cape with Joy and the outside with Tide but I not use any Lysol. When it thaws out do I need to wash it in Lysol? For the eyes I had planned to use hide paste and then pin around the eyes to secure the lids. Will this method work? I plan to sew the lip but will the needle and thread that comes in WASCO's beginner mounting kit work? For the hole in the neck I plan to use hide tacks or should it be sewed? Here are the things that I'm going to order and was wondering if there is something else that would be better and helpful or that I need. WASCO deer kit, Sallie Dahme mannikan, Sallie's A to Z video, Sallis's WT deer manual, Sallie's reference kit, Jim Hall fleshing tool, Jonas ear openers, and ultimate scissors. When sculpting the clay around the eye is a modeling tool needed or will a table knife really work? I plan to build my mounting stand and fleshing beam and buy somthings at the hardware store to ruff up my form and to brush the cape. Thanks to all that reply and for the forums.
Return to Beginners Category Menu
Welcome aboard Johnny, as you will soon find everyone has allot of advice and suggestions when it comes to taxidermy - there really aren't any right and wrong ways. What I would suggest to you is to start out easy - by that I mean use all the great aids that are availible to make the job easier. First I would recommend having you cape tanned for you. That means either sending it to a tanner or having a taxidermist in your area tan it for you (perhaps one has an autotanner and will do it for hire for you). The enemy in taxidermy is bacteria, bacteria needs moisture to survive. You need to dry you cape ASAP after thawing. If you chose to tan it other than via an autotanner you need to 'turn' the lips eyes and ears then double salt it (autotanning you do not need the salt).
After the cape is tanned - I recommend getting the eye capsules from VanDykes - you can modify your form to accept these eye holders with your eyes in place (they work great) - trim the eye lids right up to the edge, use epoxy to glue the lids in place (protect the glass eye with a piece of cloth which can be removed after the epoxy dries.
Get used to sewing.... Sew the holes you have (if you don't like sewing get to like it, if you can't get to like it give up taxidermy).
Sallies kit is excellent to start out with. The most important thing is use referances (cut pix from magazines), ask questions, watch videos and just do it! Don't get discouraged and never give up on a mount, most mounts i do at some point during the process I think 'man this is never gonna turn out right' stick with that mount, it will come together and you will learn from each one you do.
Remember make it fun, use the great things availible that will make your job easier, as you get better use only the ones you want (maybe then you will want to set your eyes instead, or do your own tanning then). Taxidermy got its name from taxi-ing around the skin, it's not called tannidermy.
It's a great time to start out in the field, 20 years ago nobody would share anything (everything was a secret) there were no videos and no internet forums. Use all the aids you can. Good luck.
PS- do not rush into doing taxidermy for hire until you are ready, poor work out there can take years and years to recover from.
I myself am just starting out and learning taxidermy as well. What I have done, even though it costs a little bit, is bought several different videos and manuals specifically on deer head mounting. I have the one you refer to from Sallie Dahmes, as well as others. The WASCO kit uses dry preservative (if I remember correctly...) and you may want to look into tanning the hide. I will watch all of the videos several times and like JEM has mentioned above, every taxidermist does his own thing. By watching as many different videos as you can, you then can see the diiferent techniques and then you can use the ones that you are most comfortable with. I have done only six mounts to date, and with each one I have learned something new. Practice makes perfect, stick with it, don't get frustrated, keep it fun and enjoyable.
P.S. I think the videos from Rhinehart taxidermy have been the most beneficial to me.