Been a wildgame meatcutter going on my 7th season and thought about taking my passion for the outdoors to the next level . As a hunter and a meat cutter I think this would prove to be the final thing that makes me go full circle . Just where do I start? , with who? , books and/or video? . I will apoligize now since I realize this question has probably been asked a 1,000,000,000 times .
Thank-you all for your advice
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Definately start out with some books and videos. As your first project I would reccommend a deer shoulder mount, if you want to get into mammal taxidermy. Many people start with squirrels and other small game but they are smaller so they are also harder to mount. Being a meatcutter I'm sure you'll get many, many practice skins. :)
Nina
My advice would be to do a deer shoulder mount first. And I wouldn't mess with skinning, fleshing and tanning. Get yourself a tanned cape and enjoy learning how to mount it.
Skinning, fleshing, tanning, etc is a whole different ballgame.....and a part of the game that I have learned to pay someone else to do. This part of it an be tedious and frustrating.
I butchered a lot of good hides until I got fairly "handy" with my scalpel. It was that frustration that almost put an end to my "hobby" before it really got started.
Get a tanned deer hide and have fun.