how hard is it to learn?

[mrfishy34]

wondering if its worth my time to learn or leave it to a pro... i would like to learn that way i would have a project i could do. and maybe save some money. how hard is it to learn and what do i need to teach myself? thnks

[M.Magis]

Honestly, you'll save money by taking work to a good taxidermist. It takes a bunch of practice to do quality work, and practice takes money. It's a nice hobby to have, but it ends up being a very expensive one. For about $100 you could get what you need to try a deer mount, including a video. Give it a shot and see how you like it, just don't expect an award winning mount. If you don't like it, your not out much. If you do, you'll get better with each mount as you learn more and use better materials.

[mrfishy34]

well, i have an uncle that has done a deer mount and from what i can tell it turned out realy nice. see im in college right now and i got a big 9 point with the bow last friday and i cant realy afford a taxidermist to do it. we usualy do european mounts our self but this is the biggest buck i got so far and he is a dandy. my uncle said that the one he did he got the materials for about 80 bucks and he would look into it for me. i told him that if he could do it for like 150 i would have it done. but i realy cant afford to have a taxidermist do it for like 250 -300 for as much as gas costs and i like 205 miles from home and go home everyweekend to work on the family farm. well thnks for you input and i think ill jus let my uncle do it since he has alittle experience. i would do it but its a nice buck and i dont wana screw up on him. i guess i should call around to some taxidermists and jus get some prices. couldnt hurt. thnks

[wyomingtrapper]

Good taxidermy is worth every penney it costs, but yeah sometimes we just don't have the cash. Give it a try. If you liked the job your uncle did, do it with him as a project. You both can enjoy it and you can benefit from his experience as well. People blow tons of money on all sorts of things. There are far worse thing to spend money on than hobby taxidermy work.

[wyomingtrapper]

Also.... You can consider a doing a european mount if you don't want to try a shoulder mount. You can always have it mounted at a later date by a pro either way.

[mrfishy34]

yea most definitly i will have him mounted. the last couple of years ive had european mounts on my bucks. my uncle does them. hes good at that too but only done one shoulder mount before. so it depends on if he wants to do it. otherwise it will be a european mount.