# How many of you have tried it???



## Truelife (Feb 6, 2009)

As customers come through my taxidermy shop I've heard a large number of guys say that they tried taxidermy at one point or another. I would be interested to hear comments from those who have tried mounting something even just once and what they thought of it.

Yes.............. I'm bored.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I haven't actually tried taxidermy but I have tried tanning my own hides, both with the hair on and off. I quickly decided that it is a lot easier to just send them off to a tannery that actually knows what they are doing. The ones that I did with the hair on started loosing the hair and the plain ones just were never as soft and plyable as a regular tannery could get them. 

So I'll just stick to capping and skinning and getting them ready for someone that does a lot of them, the price is worth it.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

I have never tried it but have seen a lot and admired those that do a good job.

There are a lot of guys that do taxidermy but some of them are true artists.


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

im going to be trying to do duck skulls this summer.


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## yak4fish (Nov 16, 2007)

I just finished carding my first duck last weekend and it is drying as I type. It looks super goofy after a lot of time and hard work on my part.:sad: But it was fun to try and I will give it another try next duck season.

Allen


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## Truelife (Feb 6, 2009)

yak4fish said:


> I just finished carding my first duck last weekend and it is drying as I type. It looks super goofy after a lot of time and hard work on my part.:sad: But it was fun to try and I will give it another try next duck season.
> 
> Allen


 Don't give up Allen. I'm sure every taxidermist could tell you a good story or two about how their work began.

Reference ........ reference............ reference........

Live ........... dead......... and photos


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## outdoorser (Jan 14, 2013)

When I was maybe 10-11 yrs old I kept a little rainbow trout and was figuring i would turn it into something beautiful to hang on the wall. I quickly realized its harder than I thought

After I read that fish are a lot harder to do than animals, I started looking into getting the supplies and trying a bunny or something. I never got around to it, and haven't messed with it since.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

I cant even draw a stick figure,or sew up a tear in my clothes,so I think my trying to do one would be a nasty mess. I will leave it to the pros.


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## sagebrush (Sep 8, 2007)

I do my own European mounts, and basic antler wall plaques.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

I bought a kit out of an old hunting magazine and mounted a pintail I shot back when I was 17. 16 years later, it hangs from the ceiling in my garage. 

Haven't done any more. I'd like to do my own Euro mount one day.


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## duck jerky (Sep 8, 2007)

I tried a few years ago. The first duck I did looked like I had beat it do death with stick. neck to long legs in wrong position eyes all buggy. I kept trying and started getting a little better but I just couldn't ever get the sewing right and I just didn't have the patience. I still have two of the birds I did out in my shed.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

When I was 14, our scout troop spent a Saturday and mounted one of the pheasants we shot that year. There was about 6 or 7 of us there that day. 
That was 33 years ago and that pheasant still hangs in my Grandfathers family room. 
From that one experience, one of my friends went on to make taxidermy his profession. I went on to mount a little over 20 birds for friends and family in the next couple years. Then one day, I was working on a prize pintail I had shot and I still remember spending all day getting all the blood out of his white feathers, blow drying it and repeating the process several times. I was at the point of pulling the neck and head over the form but it just didn't look "full" enough for me. So I added some filler to the neck area to help it look fuller. When I tried to re-pull the skin over the form, it was really tight. I forced the issue and ended up ripping the head right off at the neck. I was sooo upset about what I had done, I just tossed the bird in the garbage and I have never worked on another bird since that day. I just realized it wasn't fun any more and I didn't need the stress in my life as a 16 year old. 
I sure had a lot to learn about life.lol


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

So far the artistic gene has not made itself manifest in me. It must be recessive as my daughter is an artist. My strengths are more in the mechanical and analytical areas.....so I gladly pay the artists to preserve my memories and appreciate their work everyday.------SS


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## Bucksnbulls08 (Sep 18, 2008)

I paid a lot of money for a pheasant that came back looking like crap. Figured if he can do that so can I. I found a local professional that was willing to show me the tricks of the trade. I have been doing taxidermy for myself and friends for 30 years now. It is tedious, time consuming and requires patience. Anyone can stretch a hide over a manniquin but it is the extra attention to detail that separates the good from the great. As someone else said, references! Having an artistic eye helps also.


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## Truelife (Feb 6, 2009)

Ridgetop that's a funny story! I guess I should say funny for me to listen to. I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time. Really I think the funniest thing for me is that there have been times when I have come very close to putting a work in progress on the floor and jumping up and down on it. Sometimes they go that way. Thankfully not very often.

I had a kid that wanted to learn in my shop one time. He went through all the work getting his duck ready to go. It had been shot in the neck so the structural integrity of the skin right there was compromised. When he pulled the bird out of the tumbler it was headless.

He didn't think that was very funny either but I couldn't keep from laughing.


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Next time I'm over at my Grandpa's house, I'll take a picture of some of the ducks I did for him. I did two Golden Eyes flying together( one common and the other a barrows). Also, did a mallard standing on a log cleaning his wing.


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