OK here is my dilemma. I am very very new to this (have yet to do my first mount). I am considering going to a quality school and learn the business. However I want to do a couple mounts for practice before deciding if this is really what I want to do. I have antlers and have access to fresh killed deer (being a hunter and knowing many people) I have a couple people who will give me their heads for practice. However I just had my 4th kid last week. So I want to freeze the hides to do later. I have done a search on the boards here to try to learn more about and am somewhat confused. I have read about salting and not salting. Freezing head on raw vs caping and fleshing first. For a beginner who doesnt have a lot of time right now and just wants to practice (not make a mount for show or money) can I freeze it raw? Do I add anything to the hide before freezing? Do I leave hide on head and freeze or cape it out. Thanks in advance for any information.
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Depending on how much time you have, you can either freeze the entire head or cape it out and freeze it. It is easier to cape it out right away then freeze it for later until you get the spare time to work on it. You do not need to do anything else until you are ready to flesh it out, split and turn the eyes, nose, lips, ears....then salt.
Be sure to take all the measurments, then skin it out. Dont roll the skin into a ball as it may spoil before it freezes,
Roll the skin in a long thin roll, like a new paper.
You can slide the skin down into a plastic bag, flatten the skinout inside the bag and roll it up in the long small roll. This will help you thaw it faster.
DOnt waste your money on a school. You get very limited in the number of mounts you can do, You will not learn enough with the typical 2 gameheads, 2 lifesize, 2 bird and 2 fish.
Find someone that will give you a one on one or one to two workshop. The cost will be a bit more you will learn so much more and come out a far better taxidermist.
Years back I took a two week workshop on birds, 3 turkeys and 3 ducks. Before that my birds were ok, after so much better yes it cost a bit more but was well worth it!
With 4 kids and a full time job, I can understand your prediciment.
When someone brings you a head and you can't work on it right away (like Jim said, it's more pleasurable to work on a green hide) simply bag it, tightly seal aroung antlers, and throw into freezer. Do not salt before freezing. Later, thaw out when you are ready to work. (get some insulin syringes from local pharmacy) Use the syringe to inject water into areas that are stiff (freezer burn). Work the water into the areas you injected until flexible. Now you are ready to do the normal tasks of fleshing, etc.
Hope this helps.
Ron