This post will be long, so bail out if you don't care. I'm an avid bowhunter and trapper. Last winter, I ordered the whitetail mounting video's by Research Mannikins with the idea of mounting my own buck. I decided to just get my buck mounted by a professional instead. This year, I harvested another nice buck. I called my taxidermist a week or so after the harvest and he gives me a bunch of crap that I left too much neck in, and that by the time it thaws the ears or other parts will slip. By the way, I froze it immediately after skinning. He then proceeds to tell me that he is busy and can't take my cape so I'm like, screw-it. It was then that I decided to mount it myself. After all, he acted like I was doing him a favor. So, I got out my old video's and got pumped up....this will be my year. Meanwhile, my taxidermist has called three times wanting to know when I'm bring up my cape. All three calls were on my answering machine. I'm thinking....whatever! After hours of research on tanning, fleshing machines etc, I've come to the conclusion that mounting my own buck just may cost me more than getting it mounted. This is based on the cost of tanning supplies, forms, eyes, airbrush, my time to build a nice mounting stand, misc. But even after I tan the cape....it will need thinning. Some have mentioned the grinder method which sounds like it could work, others say you need a fleshing machine. Still others say send the cape out. By now I'm overloaded with info and am questioning my purpose just because my taxidermist pissed me off. Sure, my ultimate goal is to mount my own deer in the future, but at what cost. The point I'm getting at is this: Taxidermist, explain to your clients what you expect. Do not be arrogant or else you will lose business. For the beginner/home taxidermist, be prepared to spend some cash and damn well hope you enjoy it or else your going to be unhappy. Thanks for listening.
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Wow what a crock of crap the man is feeding you.
You allow the head to thaw just enough to thaw the skin a bit and start skinning when the item is frozen, don't mater deerhead, fox or whatever, skin it while its frozen. the ear and face will be soft enough to skin by the time the hide is off the neck.
For lifesize mammals, the legs will thaw in just 30-40 minutes at room temp.
This saves bloody messes and slipping capes/hides.
Just caped two head out this morning that I layed out at 7:00AM.
I always freeze everything because of ticks, for three days.
Hope this gives you someheads up on saving hides.
You can mount this deer without spending a fortune. You can fresh and thin with a goog sharp knife and a scaple. Airbrushes are great, but painting can be done with a brush. Many pro's use brushes and oil paints on deer. After the investment you will also be ready to mount the next one. Hey, you might enjoy it ! Good Luck !
I just don't see the reasoning by my taxidermist for what he said. Had he said, "Skin immediately and only leave the first vertebrae on the head," then fine. He's never said anything. In fact, I'm way more concerned than most folks would be. Leaving 5 or 6" of neck, whatever. Guess that explains why my deer mounts come back with a much smaller neck than they did when I harvested them. Ya I'm mad.
.....Has probably had his fill of idiots! Not that you are one, but if you deal with enough screwed up capes and heads, you will tend to reguard all hunters as idiots. I'm sure that he has delt with just about every way possible of screwing up a head as you can possibly think of. I know I have!
I always ask for 8-10 inches of neck to be left with the head. I don't need that much, but when I ask for the 3-4 inches I really need I get even less than that. You know how juicy and tender those neck steaks are! Either that or I get the whole front half. It seems like NO ONE actually listens to the instructions that I give them. Instead they will let their drunken brother-in-law, who "knows how to do it", skin it with a dull axe! The result is usually a short cape that you could sein minnows with!
You didn't help matters by wating a week after you killed the deer to call him. You should have called right away and asked if he'd like to do the skinning to make sure it was done right. As a taxidermist, I really appreciate the hunters that care about the mount they are getting and that starts right away. I do the caping on over 50% of the heads I get in, and I don't have the "surprise" repair jobs that I encounter on the capes I don't skin. Repairs always take longer than the 10-15 minutes it takes to cape out a deer!
I don't like frozen capes either. The hunters all claim they are without a hole, but when I thaw them out......Surprise! Surprise! Of course, those holes weren't there when they froze them.
Then there are the frozen heads that come in wraped in the rest of the frozen hide. It takes three days to get the head sufficiently unwreped to even let the head thaw. They never consider that it might take three days for it to even start to freeze wraped in that hide. In my part of the country the deer grow hair enough to keep them warm in -30 weather! Great insulation to keep things frozen or keep them from freezing too!
Sorry, I don't mean to pick on you, but I can sure sympathize with your taxidermist, if he has had some of the experiences that I've had over the years.
I agree and disagree with some of the above. In my opinion, if your taxidermist is a professional he shouldn't treat his customers like that. I agree that I am often thinking some of my customers are idiots, but I would never treat them like that to their face and would not expect repeat business if I did. Is he the only taxidermist in your area or what? Maybe he knows he can treat customers like that because they have no one else to take their work to. I do agree with what he was probably getting at it's just that he took the wrong approach. At the same time, I do know that many taxidermists are not socially blessed. They lack the ability to have a personality. Maybe that's why some of them are taxidermists because they can work alone and not have anyone telling them what to do. No offense to anyone on this forum as I am a taxidermist myself. I also get sick of the taxidermists who think their work is the best and that they can't learn anything from anyone else. They have the answers. Theyve been doing this for X amount of years and they know it all. I know I'm going off on a tangent a bit but if you taxidermist isn't just having a bad day and didn't accidentally just take it out on you and that is just the way he is, well I'd let him know that he just lost a customer and I'd be shopping somewhere else.
And don't be afraid to try doing it yourself. If you think you can do a good job on it go for it. I would maybe try a mount on one that isn't as important to you though so if you do make some mistakes and aren't happy with the way it turned out, you won't have to spend the rest of your life looking at it with disappointment. I know a lot of people that have learned to do taxidermy so they can mount their own stuff. it can save a guy a lot of money if they get a lot of things mounted.
Steve, there's only one way to learn this without going to school, jump right in and do it. You'll probably be suprised at how your deer comes out. I was in the same boat as you a few years ago, got a nice buck, and decided it was time to learn a little taxidermy for myself. It can be done properly without spending a pile of money doing it, but you'll have a lot more time in it because you don't have a fleshing machine and a few other items. I put my head in the freezer, ordered a video off Ebay, bought the Whitetail Breakthrough manual and ordered some supplies to get started. I already had a good fleshing knife and a fleshing beam from my trapping days, bought a skive knife for the detailing fleshing, used a very sharp carpenters draw knife to shave the hide thinner during the pickling and tanning stage, and bought a cheapy airbrush set from Harbour Freight. I spent a lot of time working on the hide to get it thinned properly, but the tanning process is pretty simple if you can follow directions. I used Safety Acid for pickle and EZ100 tanning agent. I ordered all my supplies in smaller quanities. Sure I had lots of questions as I was mounting it, but with a little common sense and some advice from folks on here, my very first deer head came out looking great. I'm gradually working into this, I've spent a whole lot of money since for materials and tools, books, videos and the like. I've mounted a couple more deer since, fish, and birds, and I'm pretty proud of all but the birds. The birds are still kicking my butt. I attended the last couple state conventions and continue to learn and practice.
You mount that buck,and even though its difficult the perfectionist shines through.Next thing you know you decide to try a turkeysquirrelcoonfoxbearpheasanttroutduckbass etc. and after much cussing it too looks pretty darn good.Maybe even better than you hoped it would, and BANG! youre hooked.Next thing you know you cant fit so much as a corndog in the freezer and the Playboys in the shop have been replaced with a big stack of taxidermy catalogs.Its a slippery slope and believe you me bud---there is no twelve step program.
I believe almost any area of the country has at least a couple taxidermists locally. You might wanna get to know another one. For example, I not a bad taxidermist, yet theres many in my area that would not bring work to me, having heard Im a this or that, lol. Yet I still have work sent here from anywhere else. Its simply not always a good match, and none of us are good for everyone. Some customers will like and agree with our methods and opinions, others will not. Thats why we are all busy! Good luck.
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I am definately going to mount this deer, probably wait till after the holidays to get started. My plan is to take the remaining hide from the deer and practice tanning and thinning it. If I feel good about it then I will finish the real cape. If I don't like the results I may just send it to Wildlife Gallery. I'm sure the mount will come out great. I'm quite the perfectionist....as long as I can keep myself from going too fast.
Anyhow, thanks for the feedback. As far as my taxidermist, I'm done giving him more heads for right now. As some mentioned, there are two other excellent taxidermist in my area but their pricing is getting out of hand. ($600 for a shoulder mount.)