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Taxidermy
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Since having my first deer mounted in 1987 taxidermy has intrigued me. The way that the taxidermist was able to take that hide and return it to a lifelike appearance was amazing. I had always thought that it would be neat if you could have all of your deer mounted, since being a whitetail hunting nut each deer has a story and memories of the hunt that a mounted deer brings vividly back to life. The one drawback to this was of course the cost. At 250 to 300 plus dollars to have a deer head mounted it was cost prohibitive to have every deer mounted. One other factor was the passing of the taxidermist that did my first two deer. He was excellent at bringing a deer back to a lifelike appearance and made it hard for anyone to match his work, thus other taxidermists that I used afterward had a high bar to reach.
Seeing deer head mounting kits in a Cabelas catalog made me wonder if I could actually mount one myself, after all the kit only cost about 80 dollars. After kicking the idea around for a couple of years I decided to give it a try when my son shot his first deer and I thought that it would be nice to try to mount the deer for him. Off to the internet I went searching for information. There I found Taxidermy.net, an internet site ran by Wildlife Artist Supply Co. This site is a portal to many other taxidermy websites and most importantly has an open forum. Through two books, a two tape video set and the forum I was able to mount the spike buck that my son shot in 2002. It definitely looks like a first time mount but it still looks like a deer at about one fourth of the price. More importantly it was fun to do and gives you a great feeling of accomplishment.
So far this year I have mounted two deer, a doe that I shot with my bow and a 5-point buck that my brother-in-law shot in rifle season. I think that these two mounts turned out respectable for my second and third deer. I have learned a lot doing these three deer and get a kick out of seeing that animal come back to life when you slip the hide onto the form.
Taxidermy Experiments
I have experimented with a couple different tanning and preserving agents. Since these deer are just to hang in my basement I can try different things without worrying about what happens. I have also tried to do this on a rather low budget and do most things by hand. There are products out there, in particular fleshing machines, that can reduce the time that it takes to prepare a hide for mounting. I could also send the hides out to be tanned but that is not something that I have tried yet. So far I have tried dry preservative from WASCO, Ben Mears Spray Tan and Krowtann. I can’t really tell much difference on the mounted deer that I have done, but I did use these products on three pieces of hide and the Krowtann seemed to leave the best hide with the Spray Tanned hide close behind. The dry preserved hide did not look that great, but I’ve read that many taxidermists still use dry preserve with great results. In terms of mounting the hide, the Spray Tanned hide seemed to be a little easier to work with and it required less finishing work.
Should You Try Taxidermy?
The drawback about doing your own taxidermy work is that it is not a project that you can work on a little bit at a time in the evenings. Once you take a hide out of the freezer the clock is running and the hide is deteriorating. The longer it takes you to get the hide prepared and on the form, the more likely it is that the hair may begin to slip (fall out). You have to follow through and mount the hide. I figure that for each of the two mounts that I have done this year I have spent about 15 hours over a two day period from the time the hide has thawed to having the hide on the form, sewed and the face tucked and positioned. This time does not include the time to prep the form and antlers beforehand and the finishing time done after the mount dries out. Total work time for me totals about 20 hours but remember I am a novice and still feeling my way through this.
If you are interested in trying taxidermy definitely take a look at Taxidermy.net. They will link you to the supply companies that provide books and tapes and the taxidermists on the forum know what they’re talking about, you can learn a lot by searching the archives of the forum. Give it a try.
This doe is the second deer that I mounted.
This 5 Point is the third deer I mounted.
Take a look at our 2005 whitetail taxidermy mount.
Leave Taxidermy and visit the Caping A Deer Head Page.
Visit the 2008 Nine Point Deer Mount Page.
To learn more about taxidermy and visit a helpful forum visit Taxidermy.net.
