Somewhere back around 2010, Tom Powell and I set out on a huge project, that has finally culminated with this year’s 2022 McKenzie catalog. The idea was to produce several new series of Whitetail deer forms, each targeted at a particular sub-species of whitetail deer found throughout the country. We defined 3 regions (though there …
Sometimes, sewing up the seams on a taxidermy mount can be difficult. From time to time, all taxidermists come across a tanned hide, that for various reasons, can be extra thick and/or extremely tough, almost impossible to push a needle through. A sharp, 3-cornered needle helps, but in addition if you have never tried a Sewing …
A while back I wrote about adding more turn to a form. In that specific case we wanted my wife’s Mule Deer looking our way as we came into the room where it was to hang in a particular “spot”. The idea was to customize the form for the situation. Perhaps you might have a …
The Pronghorn Antelope is known as the only horned animal to actually shed its horns. While this may be an interesting fact, it can be problematic for the taxidermist. With other horned game, since they never shed, their horns fit more snugly to the inner bone core of the skull. Once you remove the horns …
In a recent blog I added more turn to a mule deer form. As you might have noticed the antlers were attached to the form as I did the alteration. I felt this would be best in order to better observe how the finished mount might look. But as I attempted to set the antlers …
So in an earlier blog post I noted that one area that will really increase your value as a taxidermist, is the ability to alter a stock form into whatever position your customer might fancy. Often these are quite simple projects that can take very little time, but will make your customer extremely happy with …
Recently I received a finished production form of the Rusa deer that I sculptured in part 2 of this series. I have since mounted the deer, so without further ado, lets begin part 3 with a look at the finished mount:
Since I am often asked how one knows they have selected the perfect sized form for a mount, I thought this might be a good time to share some thoughts on this subject, so here goes…
A few years ago I was down in Texas collecting whitetail reference and we came across a very interesting deer. He had a decent sized body, big neck, big head and a very nice set of antlers. They figured him to be in the 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 year range. For overall fit, I …
Of the six head alterations that I have claimed taxidermists can’t live without, perhaps lengthening a head, number five in our series, is the most valuable. At least it’s the one you are apt to use most often. As I have mentioned, there are many combinations of form sizes in the world of whitetail taxidermy, but …
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