Self taxidermy

Just curious if any of you guys have ever messed around with taxidermy! A few years ago me and my dad mounted 2 squirrels just to mess around with it and see what it was like. Fun stuff! Just takes patience and a little time, plus it can get pricey but it's something I'm gonna look to start doing again hopefully

 

I mounted my first buck and my brother's first buck just for fun. Definitely cheaper than having it done but you can also tell that a newbie did it. I learned a lot and would love to mount more in the future just to save on costs but I definitely need practice with sewing the neck and around the skull plate and everything. Here are pics of the two I did.

Mine


Brother's

 

use to do it back in the day when I had time...loved it might get back to it again some day

 

The first one looks good man! Impressive buddy. And yeah it beats paying someone for sure

 

I do all of mine own taxidermy. This is the only pic I have on my phone, this is when I had them in storage. The big one in the middle is the first buck I ever did and I messed it up in a couple place. But when I get a new cape from a buck the same size I'm going to redo it. It takes alot of work but you definitely get better the more you do. I think I have done 5 so far.

 

I would love to learn to do this

 

Thanks and that's funny, I hate the way the first one looks in person lol (mainly because of the straight on pose). The second one looks a lot better in terms of facial expression and body style in my opinion

 

Yeah they both look good! I just liked the first one, not sure why haha

 

Awesome man! Nice work from what I can tell in the picture, awesome deer in the middle too haha

 

Yeah it's cool to learn! It just takes some time and effort

 

Most taxidermy supply sites have a start up kit that comes with the form, clay, ear liners, eyes, etc...you should try it

 

That's what I did on my first one, I bought a kit. It comes with the basic supplies, but you need to get some tools. The instructions sheet is usually really detailed. I also got a few DVD to watch how it's done. Also it's nice if you know a taxidermist that you can call or stop by and pic his brain.

 

I would love to learn how to do taxidermy work! I am not sure if my wife would kill me if I pick up another hobby! lol

 

I've done a lot of taxidermy over the years. I've done animals but I pretty much just do waterfowl now.
The best advice I can give somebody just starting out is to watch some videos of what you're interested in doing. To me nothing beats watching somebody to learn and you can see some of the tricks. Use to be some decent stuff on YouTube.