Field Care Tips - Care of your trophy immediately upon harvest is absolutely critical if you want a quality mount. Over the past 30 years I have found the time and care hunters put into learning about field care of an animal they have harvested has actually decreased. Most hunters and guides as well do not know how to take care of an animal after it is harvested. Please, Please, Please!!! take a few minutes and learn. You owe it to the animal you have harvested, it paid the ultimate price to be in your possession.
First, once the animal is down you need to determine at that time if you are going to mount it or not. That will determine how it is to be skinned. Next, treat the hide like you would a USDA Choice T-Bone steak. The hide needs to be kept cold, out of the sun and not allowed to dry out. Would you throw your Steak in the back of a truck, drive around in the dirt and sun all day then eat it for dinner? If so you have just ruined your mount.
Here in Arizona,improper transportation home results in incredible damage to a mount due to our temperatures and lack of humidity. Make sure your trophy is well protected from the wind as it will dry out the ears making them untannable at best. When a trophy comes in we do our absolute best we can. We are not magicians and errors, even simple ones, such as showing your trophy off on the way home can have a huge negative impact on the final mount.
Skinning Details
Shoulder mounts - Save the skin all the way back to the back of the rib cage. We can always cut the extra off, its hard to replace when its not there. Make all cuts from under the skin, not through the hair. When skinning down the front legs, try to remove the skin like a t-shirt. If you must make cuts on the front legs in order to skin the animal, make them on the rear side of each leg. Do not cut down the inside of one leg, across the brisket and up the other leg. If you do you have just ruined your shoulder mount and will end up with what is commonly called "giraffe neck". This is where the form needed to be shortened in the shoulder due to the skinning error. In effect you have a short shouldered mount which makes the neck appear long like a giraffe.
Most of the time you can get away with making only cuts 2,3 and 4. Elk usually require cut 1 which must be made from the head down to the rear with the grain of the hair. Do not make any cuts on the chest further forward than point A.
Skin the animal up to the base of the head then sever the neck at the last joint with a knife, not a saw. Keep the cape/head cold and get it to the taxidermist ASAP. If you need to freeze the cape be careful! Do not simply roll up the skin and drop it into the freezer. The insulating properties of the fur prevent the hide from freezing actually causing it to spoil before it can freeze. An elk hide may take up to 2 weeks to freeze if it is rolled up tight! They need to be laid out until almost frozen then bagged up to prevent freezer burn. Ears freezer burn fast which often result in unrepairable damage.
Unfortunately in todays society it is the taxidermist that usually gets blamed for these errors by the hunter. We can only work with what we are given. Occasionally even a properly cared for hide will not tan. We are not responsible for errors or lack of information on the hunters behalf. With the difficulty in drawing tags today, ask before your hunt.
Bobcats/foxes -do not skin or gut! freeze whole. We no longer accept either one of these if they are skinned.
Mountain lions - need to be skinned within 30 minutes of harvest. Lions retain a ton of heat especially if hunted over dogs. They spoil faster than any animal I have seen. Please call before your hunt for skinning procedures.
Bears - Arizona bears MUST be skinned where they fall and within 30 minutes of harvest then packed in ice. If you bring it back to camp, eat lunch, skin it then throw it in the back of the truck for the drive home in August please stop by the dump on your way into town (see above)
Birds - freeze whole, do not gut, even turkeys
Fish - wrap in a wet towel and freeze, do not gut them
European mounts - Do not allow them to spoil. Spoiled skulls will not be accepted.
Tagging- Arizona tags now come in 2 parts one part must accompany the trophy and the other goes with the meat. All animals must be legally taken.
Selecting a taxidermist - This is a personal choice many individuals go about incorrectly. Most simply pick up the phone and go by price alone. This can be a terrible mistake. Be sure to visit a few studio's in your area before choosing. Make sure you are dealing with a legitimate business owner. Every year we have a host of new "taxidermists" open up for business often illegally due to zoning restrictions etc. Check to see if they are licensed, insured and how long they have been in business. Every year 100's of mounts are lost to illegal businesses.
Hunters often buy the best rifle or bow, 4X4 truck, top quality optics, spend months scouting then use the cheapest taxidermist. 5 or 6 years down the road the bow is out of date, truck sold and all that is left is a cheap mount that is falling apart. Like most things, taxidermy included, you get what you pay for.
Try to visit studios before your hunt so you are not rushed.
Common Questions by hunters -
(1) My neck on my deer isn't big enough - Very common question often resulting from hunters looking at pictures of their animal after it was harvested. Never use dead animal photo's for reference! Try this, look in a mirror at your neck with your head in a normal upright position. Now droop/relax your head and neck towards your shoulders as if you were dead. Your neck looks much, much thicker! This is what you are seeing looking at a dead animal in a picture. Imagine if your neck was covered in hair like a deer and by sinking your head towards your body. This forces the hair/fur to stand out making the neck appear even larger!
As taxidermists we can only use the measurements off the carcass, not illusions in photo's. Due to the shrinking tendency of leather as it dries we try to have a loose fit on the mannikin. A tight fit or a stretched cape only results in future problems such as the neck skin cracking, pulled seams etc.
(2) Is my mount done yet or can I get a status update? - Unfortunately this is one of the most difficult questions to answer. In a word, no, we will contact you as soon as it is complete. In this business we take in all of our work in a very short period during the winter then it takes the rest of the year to get the work complete. After your trophy is checked in it is prepared for shipping, shipped to our tannery where it sits on a shelf until it is tanned. Next it is shipped back to our studio where it is placed into storage until your number comes up and your mount is completed.
When a client asks for a status update there are only 2 legitimate answers: complete or not complete with no in between. With 60 - 70 status check calls per week we often fall into the trap of guessing completion times as clients often ask for a rough estimate. I apologize on this but it is our best "guess" at that time. After getting off the phone with a client our next animal may be another one not properly cared by the hunter, that may add 1-2 extra days in repair work to complete. Multiply this by 6-8 mounts per week and our schedule is blown. Field care is of utmost importance and not only impacts your mount but those after yours as well.
If at all possible please do not call for "status checks" as this greatly slows us down. On a normal week I spend 2-3 days returning status check calls vs. working which further snowballs the scheduling. My goal is put out the best mounts possible, taking into consideration field care. I would rather have a client be a little upset about time and get back a beautiful mount then rush it and get back a mediocre mount. After all these should last the rest of your life.
(3)My animal was rejected by the tannery? - There are too many variables that affect tanning including the health of the animal prior to harvest, time of year taken, improper field care, transportation home and freezing procedures. All animals are very perishable thus we cannot guarantee tanning. Extra capes are often available, like everything else they are getting expensive.
We used to offer a trade on a cape for an antler panel mount. Due to the vast majority of the capes being improperly cared for we had to discontinue this offer. I will give partial credit on a good cape but it must be in perfect condition or it is of no use.