where can i find some up to date bird mounting videos everyone i've found is from the 80s or 90s
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Why would you think that those videos from 10 -20 years ago AREN'T up to date. Basics remain the same and work done by those artisans would still win in most competitions today.
I think that's the bigest pile you've layed in a long time.
Now i'm not one for watching tapes but the last one i saw ; a flying turkey tape, he soaked in gas and poured bondo in the tail area of the skin while spreding the tail between his legs.
I sent that one to John C for the give-away a year or two ago ;should have burned it.
Then by all means, be my guest. Paul Czarnecki is an excellent bird person and I THINK he still advocates using acetone or gas or some other flammable. The incisions are still the same and the techniques are still the same. Would YOU pit any work you've ever done against that jumping greenwing teal drake that Frank Newmyer has on tape? (I gotta bet going here I hope.) Calley hasn't modified his methods a lot in the 10 years I've known him though he has added the use of caulk to the wings, and Dave Luke does a pretty fair job wrapping bodies still. So be careful about accusing someone of throwing crap. You may get splattered.
BTW, I could look at Joe Ferebee's tape 10,000 times and it wouldn't keep me from mounting a crappy duck.
I thought about this and it wouldn't be far to give George crap
About his opinion without giving you mine.
10-20 years ago, is was acceptable, to sell a tape of someone holding a VCR camera on a taxidermist, mounting a bird, but now that low quality will not fly, so, that brings us to what makes the world go around; MONEY. How many, will you sell a year and how much will it cost to make a quality tapes. To spend $4,000 and only make $400.00 a year does not make you money.
if it swims, quacks and has web feet; it's a duck
Who was using a cast head 10-20 years ago [what tape is it on] who was using a wire wheel 20 years ago, cast feet, eye rings and so on.
George you know as well as I, what he is talking about; tapes as I described along with them showing how to pin ,instead of sewing, leaving meat in fish heads, stuffing fish with all sorts of things, a lot of what are in the tapes is not or should not be used in today's Taxidermy.
George you know,,,, the basics are not enough, these days.
Now, even 10 years ago you were not splitting or as you call it separating pheasant wattles.
Some of the guys are bringing back some of the accent Basics, so they say; using sponges.
i don't think any of the boys will say, use gas to degrease , well maybe leanna but thats it.hehe
I ,like you have no ego , if a bet you want(I gotta bet going here I hope.) it will have to be a foot race .
Most tapes, current or years old, are and were aimed towards beginners. As a beginner, you aren't striving to put out a competition level product, heck you're probalby doing good to get the skin off the carcass. Most videos are geared towards having a suitable end result as easy as possible.
Besides, I'm a firm believer in knowing the "basics" before knowing the "bells and whistles". And I'm also a firm believer that the "basics" can put out an equally the same if NOT better mount than the "bells and whistles"
anyhow.. I could and should go on about this.. but I haven't had my coffee yet.. and I might get snippy~
Jon
But Wilson, I wasn't using artificial heads, but I still don't on hen turkeys and on pheasants. Ten years ago, there WERE artificial heads available but IMO, just like learning to drive with a manual transmission, I think every beginner should know how to use the real head even if he doesn't.
And I still don't "split" pheasant wattles and I'm not sure that's not a myth created in somebody's mind. I open them with my thumb and I fill them with clay and they look like pheasants.
You , George and many others have earned the writ-right-rit to be snippy~
any time you feel froggy, coffee or not.
RW
I feel important now.. I can get snippy!LOL.
Jon~
didn't wNT YOU TO think you had to have an excuse to be an ass ; bend over and show us , hahahhahahaah i do
You apparently have just entered the wide world of taxidermy. I have been doing birds for almost 25 years, have learned from the best out there Wichers,Luke,Rummans,Morris,Senk Etc. etc. BIRD taxidermy has not changed a whole lot over the years. I agree with George. Wrapping bodies, using cast heads, injecting feet, using artificial parts are things we have all been doing for well over twenty years, my how time flies. Gas be it unleaded white acetone laquer thinner mineral spirits etc are used every day by bird taxidermist and Dave Luke showed me the wire wheel method of fleshing back in 1983 I think excelling at birds is a thing that happens with experience, mount 350-450 birds a year for 10 years and then see if your putting out a quality mount at a fast pace. Yes it seems nowdays you can put almost any mount together using cast parts of someone elses creating but mount a bird using your own wrapped body own cast head and or feet and when your completed with it you can say I did that. Tapes from years ago still show us the talents of bygone artist Jack wilson for one I still havent seen anyone mount birds with his style. Look beyond the age of the tape and you will probobly still see a lot of talent on some old bird mounting tapes. Just my opinion.
It never impress me when someone comes on here ,without a name and tells me he has over twenty years of experience; then drops every name he has ever read, but his own.
If I had mounted 4,500 bird in the last 10 years I'd think I was hot crap too, but I just have to many other things to mount beside just birds; I'm a well rounded taxidermist.
I quit, gasing birds over twenty years ago along with many other bad habits, if you have not changed your mounting tech., in the last twenty years ,and think your the head of the pack you better turn around to make sur someone is still there.
Now for you and George, with all the name dropping your doing. ask one of those big boys to come on here and convince me. and others, the use of flammable's in bird mounting does anything, that a good degreaser, soap and water will not do, not to mention the health and safety and I"LL CHANGE MY WAYS
George was rit about the basic basic's but the MAN asked [where can i find some up to date bird mounting videos] HE found the basics HE WANTS BELLS AND whistles.
One last thing George, wait i havent had my coffee yet and don't want to get snippy so i'll stop.
I noticed the time you posted your message, Do you do taxidermy as a hobby or is it your full time occupation? As far as being "well rounded" I have also done enough big game over the years to remember the days before Bondo, foam forms auto set eyes etc. etc.. Seems to me that there are a lot of what I call Kit Taxidermist out there. I strictly mount birds now Because I can make a very successful living at it and because It is my passion. and to be honest with you I could give a sh@t less about being in the front of the pack I enjoy what I do, and ego doesnt pay the bills I have been blessed to know and work alongside many talented people I have not felt the need to watch videos when I can call one of many friends and ask the lowdown on a new technique or product. It is when you think your work is the best that somone will make you go WOW thats awesome. I still see improvement in my work from day to year it is very fullfilling to see improvement in your own eyes. I am not looking for a typing match here on this site nor am I out to prove myself to anyone I think the best way to improve your work is through experience but there are also some great classes out there along with all the seminars and Breakthrough Magazine. Good Luck