get some books read them from front to back and back to front. buy a live trap and use tuna fish or sardines for bait. catch raccoons in live trap and practice on them. you can get books videos and any taxidermy supplies you will need threw vandykes or wasco. both componies sell excellent products. use raccoons becouse they are easy to catch and there are tons of them everywhere. about 5 years ago when i was just learning i trapped 32 in 1 year. got plenty of practice fleshing and tanning hides. i stuffed about 10 of them before i started doing deer and other animals. i think everyone in the family has a raccoon mount in there home.