Im a very serious waterfowl taxidermist. I am also a full time construction foreman. Ive got about 17 years of experience in the craft (on and off) My question is basically how much time does a average person really spend mounting a specimen start to finish? The reason I ask it seems that I spend way to much time doing it. Honestly I spend 8-10 hours on one specimen, and it just seems like entirely to much time. Let me know some of your times, espessially some part timers. Thanks
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If you think about it you probally spend alot more than that, what with the time you spend picking and fluffing and grooming while it is drying, actual hands on time is probally closer to 15 or 20 hours,or at least mine is when i figure in all the nitpicking i do to a mount.
A standing teal takes about 3-4 hours, while a big mallard hanging from the ceiling takes about 6 hours. You can really cut down on preening time if you concentrate on feather patterns and preening whild drying the bird. It used to take me a minimum 8 hours to mount ducks, now I can do two a day with no problem.
Not counting base work I'll admit I enjoy 8 hours for the average size duck. I do my ducks in sections so its not 8 hours continuously. Yes you get faster the more you do but I get such a variety in my area and their all different. I'll also admit I don't make much money doing ducks. Fish are worse. Deer heads and bear are my meal ticket.
With all due respect, sometimes I wonder if everyone is being honest in thier answers. Sure you can do a teal in 4 hours and two ducks a day, but I sure would like to see the finsished result. I too can do a Teal in 4 hours if I wanted to, but I have 15 years experience under my belt to tell me it would look like you know what. So come on guy's let's get rid of the ego's and start answering the posts honestly. Now to P.J's question. It takes me about the same time as you are doing it. I'm sure the quality of your mount shows as does mine. The faster you try to do them the quality goes way down. I have not had a customer complain yet on a bird I have done, and seeing the smile on their face when they leave my shop with thier mount makes me want to continue to do a duck in 8 hours. Hope that answers your question. John
After i sat and thought about it awhile, i would also say that i spend around 8 hours on a quality duck. Yeah, sometimes i do em in 6, but thats the ones that everything falls in place and they basically "mount themselves" with little work on the feather patterns.
After 23 years, it still takes Danny one full day to mount a duck, pheasant or just about any other bird he mounts. If it's a goose, crane, or turkey- a day and a half. This does not include the time he puts into it after it's mounted and is in the drying stage. This is why he gets so frustrated when he has to do a mounting seminar and he only 2-3 hours to do it in. Next to impossible!
If your doing quality work which it sounds like you are, time shouldn't be that big of an issue. Remember, you get out what you put into something. If your mount is taken care of it will last a lifetime, so if I'm going to do something that reprents my work I will spend as much time as neccessary to make it look the best it can be, no matter what the project is.
about the time I spend working on a bird after reading a few of the later posts.I been working on birds for 35 years and it still takes me forever and a day to get one done. The prep work is a burger but I still love putting them together on that ol' home stretch.That excitement is still there!
When I took David Luke's bird mounting course this summer, he starting skinning a wood duck at 8:00am one morning. By 11:30am that same morning that duck was mounted on a mounting stand, pinned, carded, the works (not including drying time and painting of course)and looked fabulous. I know he did this b/c I sat there and watched him do it. So, if some of you guys out there take 4-5 hours to mount a duck, I don't doubt you b/c I know it can be done. Granted, Dave Luke is quite a pro and expert, but it doesn't have to take 8-10 hours to mount a bird (even though that's how long it still takes me!)