African Mounting

Get reference,,,, ,,, or just guess what they look like. Can you name the ten animals for so someone can give you some tips?

 

BIG DIFFERENCE,
Dermis loss and repairing scars and cuts along with airbrushing, skin rolls and wrinkles, setting ear muscles/butts along with eye sets , lack of variety of forms and sizes, get ready to resize most all of them.
Your finishing skills and expertise at repairs are going to be your BIGGEST TROUBLE. You don't just cut out bullet holes and arrow cuts on African, you sew in patches. Where hair is missing you paint it in.
Ripped and torn ears , re making missing parts, mostly of those ears and the fact some African you not find earliners for.
Unless you have someone to walk you thru your first few Africans, you in for a REAL AWAKEING.
Now find some GOOD REFERENCE and find out how different it WILL BE.

Good Luck. ;D

 

Memory Maker, you better heed * advice, he would not steer you wrong, African work is his fast ball.

 

Dennis is right, African work is night and day compared to North American animals. While I only do about 10-20 pieces of African work a season, most every animal is a challenge, but I always like a good challenge!(LOL) Seriously though, good reference is a must as with anything. Make sure you have a good tannery for them as well.

 

Can anybody recommend some good videos or other resources for mounting African? I will be taking in my first Safari soon. The hunter is actually hunting this week. I have several capes I have purchased to work on and learn between now and the time the hides actually get back to me from the tannery. I don't have anybody to walk me through the work, so I will have to learn it the way i have everything else......the hard way!

 

Start hitting all the photo sites and get as much reference as you can.. Then print them off and stick them where you can see them when mounting.. Worked good for me
Having a friendly helper on speed dial would be awesome too LOL..

 

LOts of good hide paste. If your hunter is hunting this week don't plan on doing them for at least 6 to 12 months lots involved getting them into the country and to the tannery you should have them brokered right to your tannery and then the horns will be shipped to you with skulls factor that into your price along with African forms and tanning costs.

 

You say you have mounted "several" deer & antelope? I take this to mean you dont have a lot of experience. IMO this safari is going to be a major nightmare. Make sure your customer is aware you will be doing a lot of "guessing" on this project. Sometimes its better to say no.

 

if you are using dp method for mounting..........
if you havnt looked into it before....you might wanna look into the preasure washer method to help with the process, will help soften up those hard salt dried skins. Will work wonders for extra stretch.

 

i am new at taxidermy also,have quite a few africans to do also. they are more difficult in regards to fixing holes. you must have good reference and some help from some one that has done many animals when it comes to problems.there are some good reference on e-bay from wiseone he has about 50 exotic animal reference on dvds ,i no he has warthog ,kudu and gemsbock. i bought all of them. get some advice from the taxidermist that have done many of these animals it has helped me and i am still caliing them for advice.good luck