How you got your start?

I hated getting up in the morning, and punching a clock , eating when they said I could, resting when they said I could, going home when they said I could.
So I fixed the problem, taxidermy ;D ;D

 

40 years ago when I was 12 years old I cashed in some aluminum cans and the money was burning a hole in my pocket. Went to a sporting goods store to see what I could buy and found this.

 

Nice glass eye,for me it was walking into the gun shop when i was 9 or 10 seeing the ducks on the wall. about 10 years later when i started working i approached a taxidermist to see if i could watch,help for free with no luck this was b4 the world wide web of course no luck finding any books over here.the timing was right about 12months ago and here i am loving it I'm hooked.

 

The infamous Professor J. W. Elwood got me started with Northwestern School of Taxidermy lessons in 1970.

 

I was just a country kid who liked to do anything but milk cows (my dad was a dairyman). I hunted, fished, trapped, collected Indian artifacts, and was active in Boy Scouts. An ad in "Boys Life" for taxidermy lessons sparked my interest. For $1 per lesson, I could learn taxidermy via correspondence. The lesson books were produced sometime in the Middle Ages, about the time Gutenberg introduced the printing press. The "Professor" was no more a taxidermist than I was a brain surgeon. He was the "P. T. Barnham" of correspondence lesson sales. A local part time taxidermist took me under his wing. Had it not been for him, taxidermy would have never been more than a blink in my existence.

 

Same as Glass Eye, I obtained the same book as a 11 year old here in New Zealand.

 

LOL Breck I also started with that book

 

When I was ten years old in 1970 I went on a Canadian fishing trip with my dad and brothers. I seen a huge mounted pike on a bait shop wall and told my dad I wanted to learn how to do that. When I got home I went to the county library and checked out some old taxidermy book. I then went out and caught a bluegill and tried to mount it. I'll never forget all my brothers laughing at me because I used an aspirin for the eye. They still tease me to this day about that. I then went down to the local river that fall and with my wrist rocket slingshot I shot a drake mallard duck. I tried mounting it and couldn't figure out how to skin the skull out of the head. So I just left it in there after I cut the neck off at the bottom of the skull. Of course it just rotted. I did however win first place in the seventh grade art and science fair at the Catholic school. That was the beginning for me. I've mounted thousands of fish since then and have had the opportunity to work with Frank newmyer. For a couple of years. As of earlier this year I don't do any taxidermy other than maybe a couple of fish.

 

I am cheap. Never got anything mounted becuase I couldnt afford it. Figured "if I do it myself I can save money." Now, I cant afford to mount my own stuff becuase I dont get paid for it. Isnt life ironic sometimes.

 

High school .............

High school at Northwestern High School in Wayne County, OH (1974). Taxidermy was offered as a science course. I believe our teacher's name was Mr. Penn. First thing I mounted was a pigeon.



And I got my first Federal Migratory Bird Permit in 1976.





Kerby...

 

Kerby, the one thing we have most in common is...we never throw away anything, LOL!!! Great stuff, thanks for posting!

 

My earliest memories were of my dad cleaning wood ducks. I was about 3 or 4. I got the head and the feathers and took them to my room. Eventually my mom would find them. He also had a shrimp trawl and would catch strange ribbon fish and blow fish in the Gulf. I wanted to mount it so we would leave it on the porch to dry out at the beach cabin. The raccoons would get them though. At 11, my mom bought me the $11 Northwest School of Taxidermy School lessons. The rest is history.

 

I love this thread, and I love reading all of your post's. I have had a fascination with bird's as long as I can remember. I loved, watching them, and hunting them. When I was in 4th grade my Dad saw an advertisement for taxidermy lessons at a local school. Him, and two of my brother's, and I took the class. My first bird was a Varied Thrush. I am the only one in my family that continued.

 

The man that taught that class is now a customer of mine at Mayer's Custom Meats. I am not a professional taxidermist. I am a meat cutter. Taxidermy is something that I enjoy on the sidelines.