How Long Until You Know Ya Failed?

Taxidermy that is exhibited in climate controlled areas will last for decades. I have mounts that I did myself over 50 years ago.

 

If tanned correctly at the start, 50 to 100 years easily.

 

I still have some of my first mounts from 1978 when I was in six grade and learning from the North Western School of Taxidermy they do not look the best as I was just learning but they are still holding out hide and skin wise

 

Immediately or shortly there after. Your question is too vague, if not properly tanned it might fall apart before it’s even completed. It’s like asking how quick a junky car will break down. There is no definitive answer to your question.

 

You are dealing with a dead perishable item. How long it will take depends entirely on you and how you have taken care of it. I see "tanned" used a lot and that's a BS term at best that taxidermists like to throw around. No one seems to have a standard definition of what that word means. What's a "good tan" versus a "bad tan"? I mounted a squirrel with salt and talcum powder in 1958 that still looked just as bad as the day it was mounted until the house burned down. I have a whitetail that's about 40 years old mounted with DP that has the same qualities as the very last animal of my own I mounted about 5 years ago. If you live in a dry area, mounts tend to stay in a suspended state longer than it humid areas or stored in damp areas where heat and cold vary. I know of one man who was a national champion who mounted a deer hide without any type of preservation method and that mount is going on 40 years know and looks very similar to the matching deer he mounted that was tanned.

 

George is absolutely right! I used the word “tanned” in my answer, at which point the word “preserved” is more accurate. The word “tanned” is too often used as a generality when it is actually very specific.

 

If you have to ask, then you or it failed !

 

When you’re finished with whatever you mount and are ready to let it dry take it outside into the sunlight and look at it.
It can be like looking at a model before and after makeup. Natural light really brings out flaws.
Don’t get too discouraged. I still get upset with things. Most of us never get to the point where we can look at our work and honestly think it’s near perfection.

 

The reason that taxidermy is considered a craft and will never be considered fine art is because taxidermy is perishable at a fairly fast rate. Taxidermy depreciates; fine art appreciates. This might be better if it were not for the fact that so much taxidermy is mounted fast and cheap and so many taxidermists flat out could care less. It is what it is

 

I LOVE that response Jim. It will never be said any better.