Meder has some good stuff... sorta depends on where you're at in the country and what YOUR deer look like. I'd also HIGHLY recommend Joe Coombs's forms... All my whitetails, plus my antelope and elk are on Coombs forms. I won't use anyone else's -- though if I did it would be Meder's.
For those who didn't attend the G2G I'll have some pics of a couple of my bucks I harvested the past couple seasons up soon. Both deer were mounted on Joe meder series forms. The bigger of the two is drying right now and I should have it finished by the weekend or right after the holiday weekend. I'll keep everyone posted!
Thank you so much, Bro ... I have a quick question... do you have to tan a hide to mount it or just flesh it? I watched a guy online and it looked like he went from fleshing to mounting??
Always have to tan it in order to preserve it! After the initial skinning or caping of the hide, the fat and meat left on the hide has to be fleshed off and then salted for a couple days to pull access moisture out of the hide and kill leftover bacteria left on the hide. Their are many directions to go after this, but it is important to turn the ears, split the lips and get any areas that have bunched up fat and meaty areas cleaned before you salt! Once that step is done then you could cleanse the hide, rehydrate it or pickel it, then tan. I could go on and on but I'm giving a quick idea of what I'm talking about. You could always pm me your number and I'll try and answer questions. Thanks Tony.
Thanks Ryan .... PM coming ... tho I am at the very beginning stages of this .... I have watched hours of stuff on it ... I am going to try and mount a buck this year ... whether it deserves it or not! :D
Remember my painting analogy Tony? THIS is where the work comes in taxidermy... Fleshing hides, splitting ears and turning lips and eyebrows is NOT fun work.
PT, I have a couple of friends that do it, and I think it looks interesting to do. I would love to be able to take a deer from the woods all the way through butchering and mounting myself, however after watching them do some and I am pretty sure I wouldn't have the patience for it.
Oh... just thought of this for you too, PT... I get a Van Dyke's catalog in every so often; it's owned by Cabela's and is dedicated to taxidermy supplies. I'm on their mailing list because I buy several skinning/fleshing items for my trapping from them. You may want to go visit their website and request a catalog to drool over... sort of like having a JC Penny Christmas catalog or a Sears Wish book when you were a kid. :D
It's very rewarding to say you harvested that animal and brought it back to life yourself, you have the memory of the hunt and the hardwork of making it look beautiful again. Like greg said you must have patience and it is very time consuming, but the more you stick with it and the more you practice you will get better and quicker at things!
iv never really been into it. but if you do it put in your full effort. i always love the look of a great mount, and i always respect and appreciate the person who does it.
It all depends on what you're looking to do, Tony. If you want to make a career out of it, then you'll need to invest in yourself and put in your time with a great taxidermist. If you're just interested in doing your own homejobs and some "at cost" favors for your buddies, you can dump a few hundred into some basic equipment and videos, and be well on your way. I mounted my first buck almost all by myself, and it came out fairly decent. I got a 1/2 hour video from Van Dyke's and my uncle and I went at it. We did a scrubrack 4x5 as a test-drive, then we worked on my WV 5x5. It's no pageant winner, but it looks as good as any other bargain basement taxi job. No matter if you're self-taught or go to a legitimate taxidermy school, you're going to ruin some hide. Honestly, I put a needle through my finger while sewing up the hide, and I cursed and toiled virtually every other step of the way, and vowed that I'd never mount another animal. My .02 is that, unless you're looking for competition-grade results, taxidermy isn't rocket science. It's just painfully time-consuming, and unless you're pushing some major volume, I wouldn't expect to make any money doing it. Your first mount will probably have some flaws, but after one lap around the track, it gets a little easier. Here's my taxidermy hillbilly tradeshow. Not bad for a bunch of homejobs, eh? I did the buck and all of the euros. I didn't do any of the birds. I leave poultry to the professionals. Actually, nowadays, I leave ALL of my non-euro taxidermy to the professionals. LOL Tony - if I have one piece of advice - get yourself a flesher right from the outset. Either one of those hand-held pneumatic jobs or a full-size Dakota machine. Once you get acquainted with that, you'll save yourself dozens of hours and hundreds of cuts on your fingers.
Fran ... great stuff ... thanks Bro ... We have talked before with the Euro mounts, but I gotta tell ya, that head you did looks ALOT better than other first time mounts I have seen ... heck it just looks good from that shot you posted. I will keep you all posted as I go ... should be interesting :p
