I will be entering a whitetail in the Texas competition this June...the judge will be Fred Vandenberg, I am not familiar with this judge. Has anyone ever had him as a judge for there mount? Thanks
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Fred is a World and National champion in his own right and you can expect a thorough and complete critique of your mount.
When doing competitions it would be nice to know a little about the judge. If they felt that a certain form was better than the others, if they had a particular mounting style that they favored, if they like artistic mounts or simple mounts.......
I think you mean Fred Vanderburgh from New York, if so George is correct, get the critique and take notes.
liked the idea of competing that way. I feel you should mount it on whatever form, with whatever technique YOU can produce the best mount with. If the judge is worth his salt, and the mount is accurate, he is not going to judge the mount better just because you used "their" form. I just don't believe in playing games like that, I mount on whatever form I like for the mount I chose to do. Just my 2 cents and no one has to agree.
See ya in Houston Brandon. Are you going to the mini-seminar this weekend in Kerrville? If so, see ya there.
BP
He was our whitetail judge last year and I think Fred is looking at the mount and the anatomical correctness first and foremost. If your gonna get cute with rotated eyes and such, you better know it's right cuz he will. He seems very genuine and knows his stuff, but I don't think he's remotely hung up on the artsy crap. He wants a technically sound and correct head in my opinion. Someone correct me if they disagree.
Thanks for the replies. Becky, I will be at Kerville this weekend so I will see ya there.
Jason, thanks for the info.
He presented the awards at last years NTA Awards Banquet and made a very moving speech about professionalism and love of the art. He remarked that he MAKES every one of his own forms that he uses for competition and then he destroys the mold it was made from. So Fred could care less WHOSE form you use, he's going to judge it against what he sees in the real life deal and not some other artists conception of it. There are not many people that I have more respect for as a judge and as a person than Fred - and he only knows me by contact so I'm not winning any beauty contest by sucking up to him.
Fred Vanderburgh is a class act and one of the best and most consistent WT judges you can find. Fred judges with a nice balance between technical accompishments and artistic merit. Do your homework cause Fred knows his stuff!
Based on the fact the he makes the form for each of his competition mounts....seems like he may be the type of guy to appreciate making something verses buying it, to try to achieve a more realistic mount. On a previous post I posted a question about making a septum. Some suggested I purchase one rather than making it. If the judge creates each form from scratch then maybe making certain pieces wouldn't be a bad idea. Thanks again for the help.
Never think that you can get into someone else's head until you know everything that's in your own.
Thanks for the reply and all the help George, but I didn't understand the last reply. Please clarify. Thanks.
Back in the days when my ego was twice as big as I was, I always tried that "seems like he may be the type of guy to appreciate....." type of position so that I could outwit someone. Most times the only person I ever outwitted was myself. You mount the deer the best that YOU can. Then present YOUR deer for the judge's consideration. Stay out of his mind and perform to the limits of your own. Then the person most responsible for the way the mount turned out will be able to correct any discrepancies in the future.
The United Taxidermists of New York were recently selling a DVD from their convention featuring "Critiquing a WT deer with Fred Vanderburgh". You can see/hear the man for yourself. I got mine from:
Timeless Treasures, 1-607-546-7921, www.savingyourmemories.com.
thanks for the info. I just ordered the one that was listed on the website.....it did not mention Fred Venderburgh critique, but did say it was a 2 disc set of the 2005 convention. Hopefully that was it. Thanks.