Learning taxidermy

Newsome Road

Ten Pointer
I decided in 2015 that I would try to become a self taught taxidermist as a hobby. I have a full time job, and don't do it for the money, I just thought it was something I would enjoy. I guess I should have seen it coming, but I didn't realize how hard it would be to get people to believe in you. I did my first few projects for free, including eating the cost of materials. I eventually progressed to the point where friends would cover costs of materials to do their mounts. This year I actually made enough money to buy a few beers. I hope to comtinue to progress, but it's a slow process. Thank goodness I didn't quit my day job!

Here are a few pics of my early work. Thankfully, I haven't had to trash anything, even though I still have plenty of room to improve! Most definitely need to learn to take better pictures!

My first coyote
image.jpeg

First deer
image.jpeg

Bobcat skull
image.jpeg

Euro
image.jpeg

First boar. Man this one was a job!
image.jpeg
 

Newsome Road

Ten Pointer
I think they all look great. Like the bobcat display

Thanks! I was leery of building my own habitat scene, until I saw how much supply companies charge for a pre finished base. A quick trip to lowes and hobby lobby saved me about $50 bucks. It's nice to have it around to give people another base option.
 

Nana

Big Ole Nanny
Contributor
I am mostly self taught but also took the Mini Course at Surry Community College two different times. The best advice I can give is gather all the reference photos you can find. Also Taxidermy.net is a great forum for advice. I also had an aha moment when I stopped trying to make my mounts look like they should and started removing and changing the things that KEPT my mounts from looking right. Keep at it! It is addicting. I was out of it for about 4 years and am just getting going again because I missed it.
 

Uwharrieman

Ten Pointer
Nana, a question about getting animals to practice. For deer heads, any suggestions for
does if I don't get lucky during the season? I know it gets to "legal" game regulations when having them in possession.

I can get the birds and small game, but the deer heads are what I would like to know.

Glad you are back in the business.

Thanks.
 

Nana

Big Ole Nanny
Contributor
Make friends with other hunters. Many will let you have tagged animals to mount. We also offered to mount a kid's first deer for the cost of materials when we were learning, with full disclosure that we were learning. That helped build our business and got us some practice mounts. Ear and eye set is most important so don't worry about big racks.
 

Uwharrieman

Ten Pointer
I was mainly interested in using them to practice skinning before getting into anything costly. Good information, thanks.

I was impressed with this thread, especially about being self-taught.
 

Nana

Big Ole Nanny
Contributor
I was mainly interested in using them to practice skinning before getting into anything costly. Good information, thanks.

I was impressed with this thread, especially about being self-taught.

Skinning is the easy part! :)
 

Newsome Road

Ten Pointer
Still love the yote pelt you did for me


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks. I was looking for a picture of it the other night when I made the post but couldn't find one at the time.

Nana, I don't want to know the amount of hours I've spent reading on taxidermy.net! I also purchased Rick Carter's whitetail A-Z video and then I bought his wild boar video before mounting that one because I was pretty overwhelmed when a friend dropped it off. Do you tan in house or use a tannery? I've done all my own tanning so far, but realize that if I start to get more work in I'll either have to start burning vacation time or send them off.
 

TravisLH

Old Mossy Horns
78dd9268d0659fc628bb9423f9b638ad.jpg
52814a3c31e8db1e25cac92256ac7e59.jpg
9b48d0a9a8e665018bb984be4ec0c0fa.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

dlbaile

Ten Pointer
That coyote head looks great to me, would love to have one out of the next one I get ,how much would it cost to get one done like that.
 

Newsome Road

Ten Pointer
That coyote head looks great to me, would love to have one out of the next one I get ,how much would it cost to get one done like that.

Too cheap for me to post on the Internet! A full time taxidermist might shoot me. Seriously, my goal for this "season" was to make $50-75 profit on each piece I did, depending on how much work was involved. For the record, that comes out to about $2-3 an hour :D
 

HuntinCop

Twelve Pointer
Too cheap for me to post on the Internet! A full time taxidermist might shoot me. Seriously, my goal for this "season" was to make $50-75 profit on each piece I did, depending on how much work was involved. For the record, that comes out to about $2-3 an hour :D

Not sure where you are located but I've got some animals in the freezer that you can practice on. Full body male coyote, small buck my dad shot, and a fox squirrel.
 

Newsome Road

Ten Pointer
I definitely need to add my location to my profile. I've gotten several PMs asking my location. I am in Warren County near Lake Gaston. HuntinCop, I'll send you a PM about the practice animals. Thanks!
 

Trappertod

Six Pointer
I have a beaver and a coon I would like to have done, I'm not looking free jobs either. My son could have a mountable buck next season if you want the experience. I know I am a ways from you but I will travel to help out a fellow sportsman. I do not mind sending you what we kill this coming year either. I can cape them and send them just like I normally would for a mount.
 

Newsome Road

Ten Pointer
join the NCTA and talk with other taxidermist. don't lowball your work. get a ton of ref photos.

I've been meaning to join the NCTA, I'll try to do that this afternoon. Before ever mounting anything, I went to that taxidermy conference in Raleigh. That was cool. I need to work on my reference collection, but I'm constantly looking. I have been surfing the net and taking screenshots on my iPad, but I'd rather build my actual photo book a lot better. As for lowballing my work, I'm not sure what else to do. At this point, a good portion of the animals I'm doing are "firsts" or "seconds" for me. I'm always very upfront about that with potential customers. But it feels silly to say "this will be my second coyote" and then charge them the same as a guy that's been doing it 20 years. I'll be increasing my prices a little each year, but I'll be cheaper than the other guys until I get to the point that I don't feel the need to inform everyone how new I am to it all.
 

Newsome Road

Ten Pointer
I have a beaver and a coon I would like to have done, I'm not looking free jobs either. My son could have a mountable buck next season if you want the experience. I know I am a ways from you but I will travel to help out a fellow sportsman. I do not mind sending you what we kill this coming year either. I can cape them and send them just like I normally would for a mount.

Sounds awesome, thanks. I'll PM you so we can discuss details.
 

SUGARTOWNTAXIDERMY

Ten Pointer
There's been a lot of good info posted already. As for the reference materials you can subscribe to several different hunting and fishing magazines, read the articles and then cut out the pictures. Get you a ring binder and some of clear page protectors. You can organize them by species. These pictures are great for anatomy pics, they want help much with up close details but it's a good start. Good luck and keep trying to improve!
 
Top