Taxidermy Legalities by State?

Another newbie interested in Taxidermy here. Ive been lurking in the back ground of this forum for about 2 months now and reading lots from the archives and have a few questions.

As stated.. Im totally new.. not one mount yet.. just a few snake skins tanned. Like many others here I wanted to watch some vidoes and read a book or two and jump right in.. after reading post for 2 months I already see that was my first mistake...there is lots more to it than I thought.. but yet I am still not scared away. I WILL be ordering the videos this week. I would prefer to mount small animals and birds native to my home state of Georgia to start with.. Fox, Bob cats,Raccoons, Squirrels, Dove, Qauil, Turkey, Wood ducks, etc.

Question 1- Where can I find out about the rules,regulations and laws concerning the mounting of animals/birds/fish in the state of Georgia. Ive read where certain birds must have papers of being pen raised etc.

Question 2- Any suggestions on the first mount to try.. animal verses bird?

Question 3- When animals are brought to you.. the Taxidermist..do you prefer them to be skinned,frozen whole for YOU to skin, etc.?

Question 4- What do yall do with all the remains suck as deer meat,skulls, etc.? For someone that mounts 50-100+ deer a year or complete animals I can see the remains being a problem.

Question 5- Practice animals... would you reconmend someone for their first mount to buy an already prepared hide to start with or going ahead and doing everything myself? Any suggestions on sources of reasonable priced animals for practiceing on?

And the final question... What would you consider to be the very basic tools required for LEARNING taxidermy and are there household items/tools that would work for the beginner who is just curious and wanting to see if this is something that I enjoy and more importantly.. do I have the skills required to produce life like mounts.

I have done some research and have lots more questions ofcourse but these were top of the list for me. The local Taxidernmy shops do not seem interested in spedning time answering the questions of a newbie and I cant blame them for that.. after all.. they are in business and not a training facility. This web site has shed some light on the subject for me and seems to tollerate the annoying questions of a newbie fairly well. Any and all help will be apprecaited and remembered.

Thank you all... Sam

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Sam

I sent you a copy of the GA regs via email.
To answer your questions:
1 check your email
2 squirrel
3 fresh
4 Freeze till garbage pickup day,then put in garbage.
5 Start from scratch
6 Sharp knife and lots of patience.

Bill...

Thanks so much. I just went and read and printed what you sent. Thanks for responding to my other questions.. I know things get repeated a lot on here and older forum members get tired of hearing the same old questions day after day from people who think they want to be taxidermist. I promise I will always TRY to read in the archives first but sometimes the archives can be kind of over whelming themselves. Ive also noticed that like every other subject in the world... EVERYONE has their own opinions and preferences on products and procedures and Im willing to listen to all of them until I can form MY own opinion of things thru personal experience.
Im not asking for people to tell me how to do things.. just a little guidence in the proper ways or the best way to learn for myself... or any pitfalls and possible mistakes to avoid for the beginner.
I was reading in the archives earlier and saw mention of 2 different videos on sguirrel mounting.. one was by John Bellucci and the other was by Dennis Behn of McKenzie.... are you or anyone else familar with these and if so is there one you would recommend over the other for a beginner?

Thank you all..... Sam Sherry

video

Sam,
Either one of the videos mentioned will do the job. Both John and Dennis are well respected, and you won't go wrong with either one.

sam

along with bill, i would suggest a squirrell, readily available
not much in materials to invest and real good practice skinning

Bill and Paul...

Thanks for answering guys. I actually ordered a 4 tape series of tapes from "learntaxidermy.com" last night.. are yall familar with this outfit?
Its 4 tapes... squirrels, Wood ducks, Deer and Bass... should be a good STARTING point. Ive also been contacted by a another person from the forum who has been a great help already and offered to help me further... GREAT people around here. I hope I can develope the skills required to perform Taxidermy that is up to the standards of fellow Taxidermist. I can tell you this much.. the best sign of good work and good people are the opinions of others in the industry and both of these guys have the respect of other Taxidermist in the industry which says a lot to me. Im sure there is a lot of qualified Taxidernist out there but to have EARNED the respect of your peers is the best true indicator of the person.

Thanks again... Sam

Books and videos r good start

Videos are a great start thats how I started. The best thing after the videos is obtaining specimans, anything you can get practice on it. Ducks Coons Deer Squirrels Road kill etc. any questions feel free to write me.