FIELD CARE

A beautiful taxidermy piece starts in the field, with you!

Please read below for proper handling and storage of your animal before bringing it to us.

Any questions, feel free to contact us.

Deer

Where you make your shot is not a huge deal - we are used to sewing up shot and arrow holes!

You will want to be careful when getting your deer out of the woods, dragging them may leave marks on the fur and damage it, making fur shorter in drag spots.

In the Field

Skinning for Taxidermy

If you are caping your deer yourself, please use the image to the right as a reference guide.

You will cut essentially a belt around the middle of the deer, this will ensure you leave enough cape from the back as well as the brisket area. You will then cut around the knee joints, and then connect to the stomach cut up the back on the leg.

To remove the head from the inside of the animal, cut high up on the neck or right at the joint of the neck and skull.

Additional Information

Be aware of excessive blood or meat left on the skin. This can speed up bacteria growth leading to slippage (fur loss).
Do not hang your deer upside down full of ice, this leads to a swollen face of water. This can also lead to bacteria growth which can ruin the hide.
If you are not able to get to your taxidermist within 24 hours, wrap your deer in double thick trash bags and keep in a chest freezer. The longer they sit out the higher the chance of the skin going bad.

Small Game

General Information

Most shot holes via arrows or guns are not a big deal to sew up.
If your animal is road kill (after following local laws for legal possession) I will need to inspect the animal once it is thawed for skinning. I will notify you if there are any major issues which can arise from being left out too long or if it was damaged by a vehicle.
Leave your animal WHOLE - please do not skin or gut the animal. Depending on what we are doing with it, I will skin it for the proper situation. By you skinning it, you are only making more work for your taxidermist.
Get your animal into a freezer ASAP. Certain animals are extremely sensitive to bacteria growth and prone to slippage (fur loss). Foxes are one of these critters that are extremely fragile to bacteria.
Store your specimen in double thick trash bags and keep it in a chest freezer until you are able to get it to the taxidermist. A cooler on ice does not suffice.

Birds

In the Field

Where and how you dispatch your bird is important for a beautiful taxidermy piece.

Things like bird shot can cause many holes in the delicate skin making for a difficult piece.
Ringing of the necks is never a good idea if you are wanting to mount a bird, you will absolutely cause damage to the skin.
Birds are already very delicate - any holes that are small, will become much larger during the taxidermy process.
Keep your eyes open for birds in full plumage - early season birds do not make nice mounts. I can check your bird when it comes in, but sometimes it is hard to tell if it is frozen. Wait for your first beautiful bird, rather than just your first ever!

General Information

Once you have harvested a nice bird that you'd like to mount follow the below steps to ensure a nice piece!

You'll need to get your bird into a freezer as soon as possible.
Wrap the feet and the bill/beak with a damp paper towel. Gently tuck the head to the side of the bird.
Place the bird into double ziploc bags or double thick trash bags if it is large.
Keeping your bird in a chest freezer is ideal - regular freezers in the refrigerator pull moisture out leading to freezer burn - which we would like to avoid.