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BAD TAXIDERMY

PEEJAY

PEEJAY

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2019
Messages
2,089
Location
MD
anybody have a mount on their wall that looks a little funny? This guy made my old buck look pretty weird. Gave him a real skinny face/nose and a goofy neck. The pics actually look better than it is. Kinda like when people hold fish out close to the camera.. I'm gonna get it fixed one day. He stretched the cape over the mold and didn't fill anything in i guess, you can feel the seams and ridges. Bothers me everytime I look at it.

My other buddy got a raccoon laying on a log by the same dude and its looks like a cartoon character.Screenshot_20200807-193450_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200807-193459_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200807-193512_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200807-193640_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200807-193314_Gallery.jpg
 
The ear position dosent match the look. The ears are alert. But the rest is a relaxed look. Dosent seem like a look a normal deer would have standing there. Imo it dosent look natural. Like he is in the headlights about to get hit by a car.
 
So here you have good taxidermy. Smooth coat, muscle details beneath the hair, realistic positioning...i look at him too long and I start holding my breath and waiting for an ear to flick.

Screenshot_20200808-105254_Gallery.jpg

That level of taxidermy around here costs about $500. I am extremely happy with it. Here's what cheap ($300) but pretty good taxidermy looks like in my experience:

Screenshot_20200808-105303_Gallery.jpg

Rough hair, particularly around the ears and mouth. Not as much detail under the skin. Mainly because $300 doesn't buy you the same quality form, eyes, and tanning method. This taxidermist self-tanned, and a self-tan in my experience doesn't hold a candle to one done in a commercial tannery. But all-in-all, not bad.

Now for what cheap, bad tqxidermy looks like:

Screenshot_20200808-105314_Gallery.jpg

Let's just leave it at it looks like you made a sock puppet out of a raw deer hide and stored it in the barn for a decade. The nose is smooth. There's foam around the mouth. The eyes have no pupil or white. Just demonic blackness. This is a flattering, non-close-up image, and out of the 3 deer we gave to the guy that year it is the most attractive.

I don't have the money to spend $500 every time I shoot a buck. I like good taxidermy too much to settle for bad stuff anymore. I euro mount a lot of deer. If you can't afford a GOOD taxidermist, go euro.

What indicates a good taxidermist? A good, well-lit showroom first and foremost, and relatively high prices. The showroom is there to justify why he costs more than Bubba John's down the road. You want to be blown away by the showroom, because that is (or should be) some of their best work. The best taxidermist I've used had a small but packed showroom full of mounts with ribbons on them. He also requested to see the birds he was mounting, sat down, looked them over, and had a conversation about how the drake took a pretty solid hit and had some damaged scapula feathers that he could make look OK, but recommended a pose that would de-emphasize that area. This guy does all his work out of a very small house on a rather crappy neighborhood, and has no signage indicating he's a business. But you walk into his basement and there are African big game animals dropped off by the local dentists and lawyers. You won't just drop something off and leave, because he wants to see what and who he's working with before he takes the deposit and starts work.

Basically, he gives a sh!t.
 
I euromount my deer now too. To anyone questioning whether 120-150 is worth it for a euro...it certainly is. If they don't bleach your antlers then its 100% worth it. Very time consuming trying to get all the "stuff out of little nooks n crannies.
Unless I get another "milestone" deer, all of mine are going up euro mounted. I live in a small house and my wife likes em but not much room for another shoulder mount til papa bear starts makin a little more money
 
Nutterbuster said:
So here you have good taxidermy. Smooth coat, muscle details beneath the hair, realistic positioning...i look at him too long and I start holding my breath and waiting for an ear to flick.

View attachment 31791

That level of taxidermy around here costs about $500. I am extremely happy with it. Here's what cheap ($300) but pretty good taxidermy looks like in my experience:

View attachment 31792

Rough hair, particularly around the ears and mouth. Not as much detail under the skin. Mainly because $300 doesn't buy you the same quality form, eyes, and tanning method. This taxidermist self-tanned, and a self-tan in my experience doesn't hold a candle to one done in a commercial tannery. But all-in-all, not bad.

Now for what cheap, bad tqxidermy looks like:

View attachment 31793

Let's just leave it at it looks like you made a sock puppet out of a raw deer hide and stored it in the barn for a decade. The nose is smooth. There's foam around the mouth. The eyes have no pupil or white. Just demonic blackness. This is a flattering, non-close-up image, and out of the 3 deer we gave to the guy that year it is the most attractive.

I don't have the money to spend $500 every time I shoot a buck. I like good taxidermy too much to settle for bad stuff anymore. I euro mount a lot of deer. If you can't afford a GOOD taxidermist, go euro.

What indicates a good taxidermist? A good, well-lit showroom first and foremost, and relatively high prices. The showroom is there to justify why he costs more than Bubba John's down the road. You want to be blown away by the showroom, because that is (or should be) some of their best work. The best taxidermist I've used had a small but packed showroom full of mounts with ribbons on them. He also requested to see the birds he was mounting, sat down, looked them over, and had a conversation about how the drake took a pretty solid hit and had some damaged scapula feathers that he could make look OK, but recommended a pose that would de-emphasize that area. This guy does all his work out of a very small house on a rather crappy neighborhood, and has no signage indicating he's a business. But you walk into his basement and there are African big game animals dropped off by the local dentists and lawyers. You won't just drop something off and leave, because he wants to see what and who he's working with before he takes the deposit and starts work.

Basically, he gives a sh!t.
Click to expand...
I agree totally on the euro mounts just about all mine are euro because like you said I cannot afford good taxidermy on every animal I would like to mount! And I wish we had a guy like you described around here most if not all of our guys are Bubba Johns as you described!
 
if you diy euro mount and mess up the antlers, get you some burt umber acrylic paint and a few q tips and touch em up. Or send it to me i will fix it for ya just pay shipping. Im a painter and can get it perfect again.
 
There is a fish camp up the road from my house that has the largest public collection of taxidermy in the us....next time we go up there I get u guys some pics of bad and good and others that have been damaged due to people not keeping their grubby mitts off.....maybe go ride the bike over tomorrow for some early beers....I think they open? We'll see

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PEEJAY said:
To anyone questioning whether 120-150 is worth it for a euro...it certainly is.
Click to expand...
I kinda disagree. I can have a euro done in an hour or two tops. I wish I made $60 to $150 an hour. A euro isn't any harder or messier than any other part of processing a carcass. I actually do most of them inside on the stove top while the wife is present. If you have a pot and a garden hose, you're in business.

I've paid to have 2 done. Once because I had never done it before and couldn't be bothered, and a 2nd time because my dad "hooked me up" with a deal from a buddy and I couldn't look the guy in the eye and say no.
 
Well I must be doin something wrong then. You do peroxide and everything?
 
I'm a perfectionist and I obsess over getting every little mm clean. Im gonna see how long I take to do one next deer I get. I bet it took me 4 or 5 hrs easily lol
 
I do all mine and it just takes some time. After simmering, I pressure wash while still hot. Re Simmer and wash if needed. Then I brush on 40 Volume creme stabilizer from a hair salon by the quart. Sit in the sun and it will bleach it very white. I also use black tape around antler bases to help keep them naturally colored. Min Wax stain also will return to normal coloring.
 
PEEJAY said:
Well I must be doin something wrong then. You do peroxide and everything?
Click to expand...
I cut the bottom jaw off and skin. Bonus points if you cut the eyes and tongue out and blow some brains out with the hose. Simmer it for about half an hour. Take it outside and blow it off with the water hose. Take it back in and simmer it another half hour or so if necessary and hose it again. By then it should be squeaky clean. Oxyclean or dawn is nice for the boil if you have it. Brains are oily. Get those out and you shouldn't NEED it, but it don't hurt.

I kinda like the natural look, so I usually don't do peroxide. If you do, I have gotten the best results bringing enough peroxide solution to immerse the skull to a simmer, and then turning it off and soaking the hewd in it until you can take it out with your hands. Stick it in the sunshine or put a fan on it and voila.
 
These are all 2020 heads. Alligator got bleached as described. Buck just got boiled. Hog didn't get degreased enough. No smell, but I'll end up having to degrease it again i think.

Maybe a days worth of work all total, and you're looking at probably $500 worth or taxidermy. Doing these myself means I can justify a shoulder mount to the wife once in a while. Paid for my Portland buck and part of my dad's this year, which gave me a warm fuzzy.Screenshot_20200808-191522_Gallery.jpg
 
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