Field Care

FIELD CARE

We care about our craftsmanship and the quality of the mounts that we produce for our customers. Taxidermy work is not magic.
In some instances, damages can be so severe that we will recommend not putting your hard earned money into a substandard specimen. While it is possible to make some minor repairs, it only stands to reason that the better condition of the specimen, the better the finished mount will look.

The first step to a quality mount starts with you and how you care for your animal, bird, or fish. Regardless of what you are getting mounted, the sooner you get it to us the better off you will be. We have prepared the following guidelines on how to properly care for your trophy.

REMEMBER, THE FIRST STEP IN A QUALITY MOUNT IS IN YOUR HANDS AND WHAT YOU
DO IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS - THINK BEFORE YOU CUT.

BIRDS

Birds are quite delicate. Care should be taken not to ruffle the
feathers. Keep the bird dry. Body fluids and blood should be
cleaned by blotting with a paper towel or clean cloth.

While there is nothing prettier than a beautiful retrieve from
your canine hunting partner, birds usually sustain some form
of damage from a dog, regardless of how soft a mouth he has.

When examining your birds for a possible specimen to mount
look for the following damage :

Pin Feathers - Immature feathers that have not fully
     developed. The shaft of these feathers looks like it has a
     small plastic sheath around the base. Pin feathers will fall
     out and will result in patchy looking or even bare areas
on a mount. This usually occurs in early season birds.

   Broken/Missing Feathers
     Usually resulting from the shot pattern.

     Broken Bones - Wing bones and leg bones and even skulls.
    Sometimes these can be repaired, depending on the amount
     of damage.

     Soiled Feathers - Blood, mud and other debris can stain
     feathers permanently, especially on birds with white
     plumage.

Keep other birds separate from the one you want to mount.
Place the bird in a cool, clean place as soon as possible.

Try to select the absolute best specimen. It is possible to switch
tails on long tail birds so if you have a good bird with a bad tail,
pick out a good tail from another bird and save it to go with your
mount.

Sliding the bird head first into an old pair of panty hose is perhaps
the best way to carry it until you can get it back to your truck.

Long tailed birds such as pheasants, turkeys, or grouse require
extra care to keep from damaging the tail.  “Sandwich” long tails
between two stiff pieces of cardboard (like a splint) and use paper clips or tape to secure the cardboard in place.

Leave the bird in the hose and place in a plastic garbage bag.

If you are unable to bring your bird immediately to us, follow above instructions and then place bird in your freezer until you can, being careful to keep the tail flat and not bent while freezing.

FISH

Try to keep fish alive, if possible, in a live well, or in a 5-Gallon bucket of water. If the fish is put on a stringer avoid damaging the gills, however, do not carry on a stringer.

Always keep the fish moist, but avoid soaking a dead fish for an extended period. If the fish dies, place it in a plastic bag in a cooler on top of the ice.

When you get the fish home rinse off the slime with clean water. Lightly pat excess moisture off with a paper towel.   Place the fish in a plastic garbage bag keeping it as straight as possible and squeeze out all the air and seal. Freeze on a flat surface.

IMPORTANT .....

* NEVER gut a fish you intend to mount.
* NEVER wrap fish in paper towels, newspaper or foil.
(Foil will damage scales. Paper towels & newspaper are absorbent & will eventually dry out and stick to the scales).

BIG GAME (Shoulder Mounts)

If you plan on going out west on a hunt you will most likely have to completely skin out the whole head.

We have a Caping video available on several western \ game species. Call us for details, before your trip.

The most popular way of mounting a Big Game animal is a
shoulder mount.   Avoid shooting the animal in the head or
neck - a well placed shot through the lungs dispatches an
animal quickly and efficiently and makes a much larger target.

IMPORTANT - Take care when field dressing and getting
your animal out of the field.

    * Never cut an animal's throat - it is almost impossible
     to hide the incision and will spoil the look of your
      mount.
   * Gut the animal stopping at the sternum. You can reach
      up into the chest cavity to sever the lungs, windpipe
      and heart.

    * Never drag the animal, as it can result in drag marks
      that wears the hair off of the skin, or breaks the hair,
      particularly on the shoulder areas, leaving bald spots
      and will ruin the look of your mount.

    * Keep the animal clean and dry.

If you wish to skin the animal yourself.....

    * Hang the animal from its hind legs and make a cut down
       the inside of each rear leg and join these to the incision
       you made to gut the animal.

    * Sever the tail and skin down to about 6-inches behind
      the front leg.

    * Take your knife and make a cut around the knee on
       each front leg. On deer there is a hair pattern that runs
       up the back side of the front leg. Make your cut from
       the knee up the backside hair pattern until you reach
       the body. Angle your cut back and join the gut incision
       where it stops near the sternum. Repeat this step with
       the other front leg.

The biggest mistake we see is the brisket or arm pit area
       being too short. Do not make cuts in the skin
       FORWARD of the  backside of the front leg .

    * The skin can now be taken on down the neck just like
       rolling a sock off of your foot. Stop about four to
       6-inches behind the back of the skull and sever the
       neck meat.

    * The back half of the hide can now be cut off and
       discarded since it is not needed.

    * Keep the head in a cool, dry place until you can get it to
      us. Do not delay in bringing the head and front half of
      the hide to us. Depending on the temperature, the head
      can spoil in as little as one day.

    * If you absolutely can not get the head to us, freeze the
      whole thing.   This is the least desirable but is better
      than letting your cape spoil. It sometimes takes several
      days for a head to thaw out enough for us to be able to
      skin it and it is possible that the cape could still be bad.
      Bringing the head to us while fresh is the best method.

For Life Size mounts on Big Game......
Make the gut incision as short as possible and leave all sex
organs intact. The best way is a cut down the back, called a
dorsal cut.  Please contact us before skinning, and we can
guide you through the process.

If you are hunting in close proximity to our studio, you can
bring the whole animal to us and we will skin it for you.

SMALL GAME (Life Size)

Small Game animals make for beautiful mounts, but several things are crucial in getting the very best mount possible.

The first rule for getting a nice mount is to obtain an animal that is in prime condition. A squirrel taken in October is not nearly as furred up well as one taken in early January. This alone makes a dramatic difference in the outcome of the mount.

Avoid shooting an animal in the head. This is an extremely hard area to repair and some times the damage can be so severe that it cannot be fixed. On most small game a well placed .22 round through the lungs kills quickly and humanely. This also makes for an easy repair that will usually not be visible. Shotgun kills are fine if they are within a reasonable range. 20 to 30 yard shots usually result in very little damage. Any closer usually causes major damage.

Keep the animal clean. Absorb all body fluid and blood by patting down with a paper towel. Do not gut the animal.
Place in a garbage bag, squeeze all of the air out, and then freeze.

______________________________________________________________________