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April 23, 2015
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Ive been paging through this site for a few days, and i’m so confused with a lot of it. I been Sort interested in picking up a hobby, joked about doing taxidermy because i want to start trapping and tanning my own catches… well we went to pick up a pheasant we dropped off a few months ago, and we sat with the gentleman watching him work on another pheasant. He was very nice, answering my “why are you doing…..?” Questions… I prolly got annoying at one point with that.. Woops. Lol But it peeked my interested watching him work.
That same guy was also nice enough to offer to let me train with him on weekends starting later this year. So there is kind of my foot in the door with that… But i dont know when, if at all when that’ll start.
And i do plan on going to school for it. I think i found where i want to go to take the class, (If anyone has any good or bad about this school let me know.. Dan Rinehart Taxidermy School WI) been looking into it more to see if its the best for me, and the quality of the class. However i cant afford to take off a whole month for the “total Package” So i will prolly just take the one week deer one. Work with the guy, and go from there once i save enough for other classes…
But thats all i got. Im not doing anything right now, (sucks, cause i wanna dive right in right now) And so when im looking through the pages, people are talking about the tanning, skinning and all that stuff, i just feel lost. I Kinda know, but mostly i have not a clue what anyone is talking about.
I have a coon skin that i did waiting in the freezer cause i want to tan it and make it nice, but im not sure how to make the fur soft, how to tan it with out slipping the fur, or anything. I watched videos, and tried to read reviews, im just afraid im gonna ruin the skin due to not knowing what im doing.
Is there anything i can to do, to become more educated in this field while i wait to start up either school or with that guy? I really want to get involved.
Thanks for your time!
Animals should be as beautiful in death as they were in life.
September 26, 2011
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Hi S.Iker
Welcome to the forum !!
There are a lot of talented taxidermists on this forum who are ready to help . My advice would be to jump in here, ask questions and read as much as you can. I know at the start everything seems overwhelming, but the more you study the clearer it will become. You may want to pick a project( like that raccoon) and just get started on it.
As far as schools go, D. Price is an advertising sponsor on here and offers an excellent one on one whitetail training course. You may have to travel a little , but it is worth it. http://outbacktaxidermy.net/?p…..e_id=257
We also just launched an online training platform called Taxidermy Insider , focusing on online video training you can check out http://www.taxidermyinsider.com .
You came to the right place to get started. We are all on your side !!
Good luck with your taxidermy endeavors.
Aaron
Taxidermy Talk Administrator
Stehling’s Taxidermy LLC http://www.stehlingstaxidermy.com
Taxidermy Insider / Learn Taxidermy Online http://www.taxidermyinsider.com
920.650.5457 a.n.stehling@gmail.com
April 23, 2015
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Thank you so much for your replay. I have been reading the older posts.
Lot of them seem to be old and im not sure how valid it is anymore. Shruggs*
But I will work with that coon sometime soon. jsut need to figure out how to do it.. I’ll prolly search for tanning lessons or something like that.
But does it seem like im on the right path? With what im doing now. Is there anything that you wish you did when you first started out vrs a few years later?
Animals should be as beautiful in death as they were in life.
September 26, 2011
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The older post still have valid information. Taxidermy procedures do not change that rapidly.
As far as your coon, I would recommend not trying to tan it. I would send it out to be commercially tanned. Carolina Fur Dressing is a great choice and is an advertising sponsor on the forum. They also have a skinning and fleshing service if you would prefer not to do that.
I think you are on the right track in that you are trying to seek out good information and training. My best advice would be to choose very carefully where you spend your training money. Training one on one with industry experts is a great way to get on the right track. As suggested, advertising sponsor Outback taxidermy has a great whitetail training program you should check out.
I literally grew up in the taxidermy shop. My father had a very large wholesale operation going before I was born. I grew up around taxidermy and taxidermists in a big way. My start in the taxidermy World was not how most people get into this. However, if I could change anything from when I got started, it would have been to take more notes on the process……keeping a weekly journal of the projects I worked on for reference to future projects.
Taxidermy Talk Administrator
Stehling’s Taxidermy LLC http://www.stehlingstaxidermy.com
Taxidermy Insider / Learn Taxidermy Online http://www.taxidermyinsider.com
920.650.5457 a.n.stehling@gmail.com
April 23, 2015
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Thanks. I will have to go against your advice about sending out the fur vrs doing it myself.
Its been something i wanted to do, and i dont see wasting money on the fur i have. Its not a great skin, tails small… Plus with getting into taxidermy, i would want to tan them myself anyways…
and i wasnt sure how much taxidermy changes with time, so i’ll take the older stuff to heart more.
Animals should be as beautiful in death as they were in life.
April 7, 2013
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Get some supply catalogs. Go to Research Mannikins and Taxidermy Training Unlimited websites and get some DVDs on things that interest you. Go online and buy some books. Check out Taxidermy.net. Subscribe to Taxidermy Today magazine and Breakthrough magazine. These are a few things that you can do.
September 26, 2011
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s.iker said
Thanks. I will have to go against your advice about sending out the fur vrs doing it myself.Its been something i wanted to do, and i dont see wasting money on the fur i have. Its not a great skin, tails small… Plus with getting into taxidermy, i would want to tan them myself anyways…
and i wasnt sure how much taxidermy changes with time, so i’ll take the older stuff to heart more.
Headquarter Taxidermy Supply has a number of tans that we use with great success. While I generally recommend that you send out your tanning, we do some of our own tanning if we are in a pinch and need to get a project done.
Taxidermy Talk Administrator
Stehling’s Taxidermy LLC http://www.stehlingstaxidermy.com
Taxidermy Insider / Learn Taxidermy Online http://www.taxidermyinsider.com
920.650.5457 a.n.stehling@gmail.com
April 23, 2015
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TANGLEWOOD said
Get some supply catalogs. Go to Research Mannikins and Taxidermy Training Unlimited websites and get some DVDs on things that interest you. Go online and buy some books. Check out Taxidermy.net. Subscribe to Taxidermy Today magazine and Breakthrough magazine. These are a few things that you can do.
Thanks! Good ideas. 🙂
Animals should be as beautiful in death as they were in life.
This post is regarding the tanning you want to do. Personally I have never sent anything out to be commercially tanned. But I am only a hobbyist so I have all the time I want to do any project (and tanning is time consuming). This may be an issue for a full time taxidermist operating a busy or large shop and sending their skins out may actually save them money in the end (not to mention the time factor which also translates into money). The only commercially tanned skins I have worked with were ones I purchased. I will admit they are better than I have ever got with home tanning. They were more pliable and shaved thinner. However, these are done by professionals that this is their job; they have to do it better or they will be out of a job
Here is a post I ran across a few years ago about tanning.
http://www.taxidermy.net/forum…..#msg348173
It is using Bruce Rittel’s EZ-100 formula. I have used it and it does work well for mounts. As far as wall hangers or rugs I cannot vouch since I don’t do these. I can’t remember ever having any problems with it. Equally, I have used a number of other tanning products including Headquarters paint on tans and they have done well for me also. Some tans I got great results from, others I lost skins because they did not do the job. This is all learning in progress for you at this point. Once you find something that works we all have a tendency to get into a comfort zone and be very dedicated to that product (I have done this and gotten burned by it!) Don’t corner yourself into one product totally. Experiment with different tans and see which you feel is the best. You can always go back to your favorite. (I am not going to publicly bash a company on here but if you want to know which I had problems with, PM me)
There are videos out there that will help you. The problem is the ones I have seen are basically they are commercials for whatever brand they are trying to sell you. Keep researching and reading. There is a lot of good information and tutorials out there to help you today. Best of luck to you!
Vic
April 23, 2015
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instead of starting a new post, im just gonna ask on here and hope someone comes back to reply…. lol
For my coon skin that im gonna do, should i shave the fur? I saw a video of a big company that did that to beaver- to get to the soft down coat or whatever… Do they do that for every fur they get. if nto what ones to do that and can i jsut take a human clippers with a guard on it or should i not?
Again this is for me to do it at home, not sending it out… for a small project.
Animals should be as beautiful in death as they were in life.
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