Are the WASCO deer shoulder mount kits totally complete? Do they work well? How do I know what size i would need?
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I think that the kit must be complete if a taxidermist on a taxidermy supply site put it together? Most important of all is to use the phone number when you get in a bind on anything that you cannot understand. The size that you will need, can be determend by measuring you're cape. The nose to front corner of the eye is one measurement; the circumference around the neck behind the ears is the other. Good luck and go 4 it!
NO! Kits stink. Do your research and find out what it takes to do a mount. If you wish to continue after that than Have Fun! It's work and it's not easy! Jeff F.
Dont know much about WASCO kits, but the ones from Van Dykes are a joke. The instruction sheet is a black and white copy thats so faded out you cant make out any of the pictures. The "detailed instructions" are so vague that they dont make any sense to a beginner. And the supplies that come with are the cheapest stuff they have. Im not their supplies are low quiality, but the kits suck. Save your money and cruise through the archives in here to find out what all you need.
Guys, truthfully, that's how I started was a kit from Vandyke. And YES it sucked! Justin asked if the kit was complete. I checked it out and it seemed so. Getting a kit is like giving someone surgical tools and a black and white picture of a brain and "Now go make you're self a doctor." I was stumped and was forced to do the research, and I agree, the kit was a pile of garbage, as with the whole Vandyke book.
But if you look at Justin's questions, 3 of them, I over looked the one in the middle, and only answered the other two of them. My fault Justin, Do the research, Get a Breakthrough Whitetail Mounting manual and read it first, far more information in it than a kit. Buy some mounting videos, find a helping taxidermist, and search it archives. THEN go 4 it.
I was planning to buy the Breakthrough Whitetail Manual and the Sallie Dahmes video for whitetails i know these two things will be great helps to me. Finding a taxidermist to help me would also be great but the closest one is over an hour away and i cant afford nor do i have the time to be driving that far all the time. I'm going to check out eBay for the books and videos. One more question... Where can i find the best quality mannikin for the most reasonable price? The world of taxidermy is so frustrating already and i havent even started mounting an animal. So many people have so many opinions. Hopefully once i have books and videos I will be able to figure out where to start. Thats the most frustrating part right now.
I was planning to buy the Breakthrough Whitetail Manual and the Sallie Dahmes video for whitetails i know these two things will be great helps to me. Finding a taxidermist to help me would also be great but the closest one is over an hour away and i cant afford nor do i have the time to be driving that far all the time. I'm going to check out eBay for the books and videos. One more question... Where can i find the best quality mannikin for the most reasonable price? The world of taxidermy is so frustrating already and i havent even started mounting an animal. So many people have so many opinions. Hopefully once i have books and videos I will be able to figure out where to start. Thats the most frustrating part right now.
I was planning to buy the Breakthrough Whitetail Manual and the Sallie Dahmes video for whitetails i know these two things will be great helps to me. Finding a taxidermist to help me would also be great but the closest one is over an hour away and i cant afford nor do i have the time to be driving that far all the time. One more question... Where can i find the best quality mannikin for the most reasonable price?
First of all,,, relax, the manikin is the last thing you need to think about. Get you're product knowledge first. Get the learning materials you talked about, tan and pickle and prep a cape, then find a manikin to fit the cape after the tan. This is the problem with kits, you order the manikin you think you want, then the cape wont fit it. Get it tanned first, then measure and order.
They all run from $25 to $35 depending on what you want. Because this is you're first mount, I wouldn't worry about "the best quality manikin) for the best price. Most any manikin will do for you're test project. Remember, you will be making mistakes the first time around, you are learning, remember this. A video is most helpful as you can stop and rewind, and the video will have a phone number for support when you get stuck.
Sorry for all those posts i made. i was at school and they werent coming up and then i thought maybe it was too long so i shortened it but it still didnt show up. im going to try to get my mom to order the book and video by the end of the weekend. thanks for all the help and im sure ill be asking more questions
I started with a WASCO kit and bought a Sallie Dahmes video along with it. I was just learning on my own and it was helpful. Sure, it's not a Yale course with hardback books and a pop-up professor, but it got me started. If you're going it alone, it's not like your choices are many anyway. As long as you understand that you are going to get stuck sometimes, you are going to make many mistakes and you might even ruin a mount, but what the heck, you're learning. The WASCO kit instructions were very basic, not detailed (As it should be fo beginners)and the kit did contain everything a BEGINNER needs (nothing more). In other words you're not going to be able to run a career in taxidermy with the material you get from the kit. I mean the kit had dry preservative for the hide. I didn't even use that. I learned tanning first, and tanned my own hide. Jut have fun with it and take risks!
The whitetail deer kit is complete,but i would get the tape by sallie dahames on mounting a whitetail and watch it several times you will learn a lot. there is nothing wrong with useing the DP method.
later you may change if you wish, But you may want to order a bit moreDP because it is just enough in the kit ,I like extra.