Help With a School Project on Taxidermy?

Age - 52
Gender - male
Country/State - USA/Texas
Age Introduced to Taxidermy - around 13 / First mount Completed - rabbit head mounted on a coaster for a plaque (actually looked pretty good)
Do you have any formal knowledge of taxidermy? (History, old reading on the subject) - Took courses on taxidermy by mail, then later as an adult when I took up taxidermy after having left off for many years I did individual research, read books and utilized taxidermy.net as much as possible.
Your thoughts of taxidermy in general. - It is an art form that celebrates the natural form of wildlife and the natural interaction of man and beast (hunting & fishing).

FYI - I have a degree in cross-cultural communication (sociology). I spent 12 years living in Mexico and have interacted with people groups from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds in over 20 countries on four different continents. I am in fact writing this today from Aysen, Chile


Good luck with your project!

 

Age -- 52

Gender -- female

Country/State -- USA / Illinois

Age Introduced to Taxidermy/ First mount Completed -- about 8/9 by my Grandfather in NC when I went with him to bring in some trout he caught and had mounted / a squirrel at age 16

Do you have any formal knowledge of taxidermy? (History, old reading on the subject) -- did ALOT of reading about it - sending away to the Northwestern School of Taxidermy for their courses - but basically being self taught -- learning by trial and error ( Lots of them in the beginning ;D ) and STILL learning - I feel in Taxidermy you should NEVER stop learning..

Your thoughts of taxidermy in general. - I Loved the Art of taxidermy - to take something that was dead and to put life back into it - I always since I was little did alot of drawing and painting and it was always animals. and still do drawing and paintings along with taxidermy - to me they go together Art..

 

as for the cave man its just that simple the taxi stuff has been around for ever try the surch button on brain tanning by american indans , good start there . then ask george good luck , mark c

 

Age 31

Gender Male

Country/State Ohio

Age Introduced to Taxidermy/ First mount Completed 28/ Bluebill duck

Do you have any formal knowledge of taxidermy? (History, old reading on the subject) Knowledge came from books, videos, Taxidermy net, and talking to various local taxidermist.

Your thoughts of taxidermy in general. Taxidermy takes a lot of practice to become good and I feel you never are where you want to be. Also it is very educational because of all the intimate details that need to be studied along with all of the anatomy of the different species. It is very rewarding and enjoyable. (most of the time)

 

Age - 53
Male
MN
Started messing around with taxidermy at the age of 19. Totally self taught for the first 33 years until I attended a seminar this year.

I am a part timer and not sure I would want to do it full time. I have a degree in Biology and work as a bioligist during my day job. I enjoy taxidermy and it has provided the funds to put my two sons through college and pay for some really fun hunting trips.

Bruce

 

Hi
age 54
Tennessee
started fooling around with taxidermy when I was 12 or 13
I got mailed courses a 6 week course and several other bits of courses the rest is trial and error
It can pay the bills
1st class navigation officer but rather do taxidermy

 

Age ----52
Gender -- male
Country/State -- Michigan
Age Introduced to Taxidermy/ First mount Completed -- started and completed first project in 2002
Do you have any formal knowledge of taxidermy? -- Reading, competing and seminars at State shows. private lessons, working for and with other ribbon winning taxidermist.
Your thoughts of taxidermy in general. --- It is what it is, it can be a hobby, or a business, or an overwhelming burden
on your back 24/7.

 

Age-57
gender-male
State-Wyoming
Introduced to taxidermy at about age 12, mouted a red-headed woodpecker.
Northwestern School of Taxidermy, read many books, bought many videos, attended seminars at State shows.
It's a hobby for me, make enough money to make a few hunting trips a year. I have full time job. Don't have the desire or interest in doing it full time.

 

age 58 pro taxi for 5 years , useing it a s are tirement in neer future , learned from trial and error the art of taxidermy to me is not just mounting but making the critters live again , ive had an intrest in it sence the comic book days , if any of you all remeber the adds in the back of the books . learn taxidermy for 10.00 send today. started trapping and salt dryig pelts when i was 9 years old . lost my way and came back in 2000 started as a hobbie then went pro , love the stuff wont ever stop again. state of florida mark c

 

Age 22 -- in fact I am the youngest professional taxidermist in my state.


Gender Female


Country/State Florida


Age Introduced to Taxidermy/ First mount Completed I was introduced to taxidermy around age 7 when I saw some mounted animals in a museum my mom took us to (My siblings and I were homeschooled) I was facinated by the taxidermy and wanted to try it myself. I read some taxidermy books we checked out of the library, but I did not actually get to try my hand at it until age 12. My mom bought me a cheap mink skin on Ebay and I literally "stuffed" it and made a head out of aluminum foil. Looked pretty bad, but that was my first mount!

Do you have any formal knowledge of taxidermy? (History, old reading on the subject) I read a ton of taxidermy books when I was first starting out. Plus I apprenticed with a local "garage taxidermist" for a few years, starting when I was 16. Then later I apprenticed with another, much more professional taxidermist, and I learned most of what I know today from working with her. In fact she was the one who got me started in taxidermy competitions, and I've been attending the Florida State Taxidermy competition for 4 years now.

Your thoughts of taxidermy in general. I just love taxidermy! I plan on doing it full time after college. I enjoy the art of it, the entire process of making an animal look alive again. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it, it's just facinating to me and always has been.

 

Age: 26
Gender: Male
Country/State: USA, NH
Age Introduced to Taxidermy/ First mount Completed: 2009 introduced, no mount completed yet
Do you have any formal knowledge of taxidermy?- I self-taught myself through roadkill, and know basics of maceration, salting & methods of skinning animals, cleaning pelts & cleaning bones
Your thoughts of taxidermy in general- first and foremost I view it as a spiritual experience every time I come across an animal on the roads that someone was callous enough to leave on the road after hitting it (regardless of whether or not it was intentional). I believe strongly in totemism and have learned life lessons through working at the animals and studying how they lived (ex: my first roadkill, a fisher, had a fused spine and lost her tail somehow in her life, and wore her teeth down quite well). I appreciate life and death cycles and put a lot of my roadkill parts to spiritual use- ex, dove wings & tails into smudge fans for incense usage, leather for pouches, pelts for headdresses & other uses, skulls for painting & paws/teeth/claws/etc for jewelry. (Some of which is apparently 'disgusting' by one middle-aged woman's viewpoint at my first craft fair yesterday) I love to see how detached people are from the cycle of life and death and perceive hunters and trappers to more closely be connected as compared to regular grocery store consumers whose only experiences with death and the animal kingdom are their cat or dogs. I like to push people's boundaries of what's acceptable to them or not and make them think on -why-.

I also love it because there's a moment of magic and connection when your heart pounds as you find something and pull over and you grasp the dead animal and experience it one-on-one as you work on it. Most people see photos of an animal but will never know how amazing its fur feels, how sharp its teeth are, how the muscles are put together and how nature equipped it for survival. It's been exponentially helpful in my artwork to know the muscular and skeletal structures of these creatures, too.

Yep... I talk a lot, sorry. But I have a passion for nature and the more I learn, the more awestruck I am. Every critter I work on is an adventure in and of itself. hope this helps!

 

Age 22
Gender F
Country/State USA / MA
Age Introduced to Taxidermy/ First mount Completed: Started taxidermy this year, First mount was an Ermine sleeping.

Do you have any formal knowledge of taxidermy? (History, old reading on the subject) : Everything I know I've learned here, on youtube, and a little from my part time job at the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Your thoughts of taxidermy in general: An excellent educational tool and means to understand the animal more deeply. I feel an intimate connection to every animal I skin and mount. For me it is also a tool to gain a more comprehensive understanding of animal anatomy as I am also an Illustrator. The firsthand experience is invaluable and far more useful than a book.