November 29, 2024 • 22 mins
From flea market fur to Alaskan moose, Brent's talking taxidermy this week. After visiting with his good friend and local taxidermist, Corey Eisenhower, Brent's offering up some tips on proper field care of your trophy. He's got a story from his childhood of how he got his first bobcat hide and later got skinned in a game of Blackjack. Lastly, you'll hear how a mediocre buck can be the most prized possession of all. It's all about taxidermy this week on MeatEater's "This Country Life" podcast.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.
From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I want you to stay a.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
While as I share my experiences and life lessons. This
country Life is presented by Case Knives on Meat Eaters
Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
The airways had off.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate.
I've got some stories to share. Four Bit Bobcats and taxidermy.
Taxidermy is something I've grown up with and is a
part of my culture. It wasn't until I started seeing
(00:48):
other parts of the world and comparing them to mine
that I saw a stark contrast to my own. In
several areas having dead animals in the house being one
of them, going I'm gonna tell you all about it,
but first I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Tell you a story.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
The first mounted animal I ever saw was a moose
in a friend's house when I was in the first grade.
That thing looked big as a dinosaur. It hung over
the mantle of the fireplace, and I couldn't fathom how
big the rest of that joker must have been. I
think back now and I can see it clear as
a bell. It reminds me more of Bullwinkle in the face,
(01:33):
but the antlers seemed massive. And when my friend told
me his dad killed it in Alaska, he might as
well have said he killed it on Mars. How could
anyone go to Alaska from Rise in Arkansas and come
back with a moose? It made me want one of
my own. And if not a moose, a deer or
a squirrel or maybe even a coon. Now, the first
(01:55):
time I actually bought something and possessed something in the
taxidermy space, if you'll allow that stretch, was a bobcat
hide that I bought at a flea market. It was
in Pine Bluff and I couldn't have been more than
six or seven.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
When we walked past.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
The table that had a bunch of stuff I wasn't
interested in until I spied that hide hanging on the
side of the booth. Dad, what is that? I said, Bobcat,
I want it. You ain't got no money? How much
is it? He said, wyon't you ask the man selling it?
I did. The man looked at me. He asked me
(02:31):
how much money I had. I told him I didn't
have any, but my dad might have some. He said, well,
I don't think your daddy is interested in buying it.
That was the same feeling I was getting when I
looked up at him and he wasn't making any attempt
to dig in his pocket for the folding money. I said, well,
(02:52):
how much is it? The man said, oh, I'd probably
take four bits for it?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Four bits? The world was a bit? And where was
I going to find four of them?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Before somebody else came along and recognized the beauty of
this magnificent bobcat hide that I was now holding into
my hands, feeling the soft fur on one side and
the aluminum like texture of the other that had been
dried to the tensil strength of a stretched piano wire.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Needed to act fast. That you got any bits I
can borrow?
Speaker 1 (03:25):
They they both busted out laughing, and then I learned
that four bits was fifty cents. You might be interested
to know that the term originated from the Spanish dollar
that was divided into eight parts or bits. The slang
term was then applied to the US dollar. Mildly interesting
(03:49):
to me now, but at the time not even remotely.
The only language I was interested in was hearing that
man say in English soul to Brent ribs Celine river Fur,
a fisicionado and spender of bits. Well, I handed him
fifty cents that my dad gave me and walked away.
(04:10):
I had that hide hanging on my wall for several years,
and I'd look at it and tell my friends when
they were over at the house, wild stories about how
I had captured it after it attacked me and I'd
killed it with my bare hands and I skinned it out.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I had hung there until.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
I lost it in a game of blackjack to mine
and Tim's middle brother Chuck, a game in which he
was the dealer, and I'm quite sure was rigged from
the start because we only played one hand. He always
wanted that hide and asked for it, but I wouldn't
let him have it. But that day he specifically wanted
(04:49):
to play for that hide since I didn't have any money,
and so I bet my Bobcat hide against two dollars,
just knowing I was gonna win, and he drew a blackjack.
What a coincidence. Tyewatch probably still got it. I was
(05:09):
out a Bobcat hide, but I learned a lesson. If
you gamble, be prepared to lose. If you gamble with
your brother you're gonna lose every time, and that's just
how that happened. Taxidermy has been around for a long
(05:38):
long time. In fact, modern taxidermists can trace their history
back twenty two hundred years before Mary surprised Joseph with
the first Christmas present. Ancient Egyptians were the first known taxidermists,
and they started developing methods of preserving animals. They used
spices and ols ands and other embombing tools to preserve animals.
(06:04):
They'd mummify the pets of Egyptian royalty and bury them
in the tombs when they died. The Egyptians died, not
the animals. The Egyptians preserved techniques were not intended to
make the animals look natural or for exhibition. Instead, they
were meant to satisfy the editions of the time, which
I assume was to look like dead animals. I've seen
(06:27):
pictures of their work from the tombs that have been
opened mission accomplished. All those animals looked like was dead,
nothing like what we have now or are supposed to have.
Sometimes it turns out like that, but if you take
your time and do your due diligence and scoping out
the right taxidermists for what you want should be good
(06:48):
to go. My buddy Corey Eisenhower, on top of being
a Marine Corps veteran and a North Little Rock Fire
Department captain, is an accomplished taxidermist in his own right
and owns Ikes Taxidermy. Corey specializes in deer and ducks.
We were sitting in the shop one day and I
asked him for some pointers to relate to anyone out
(07:09):
there that would like to decorate their homes with dead
animals that, unlike his Egyptian counterparts, work, don't look dead.
Corey was quick on the draw and said, the first
thing you need to do now, This is important now,
but you need to have a plan together before you
pull the trigger, which is a little odd to me
(07:30):
since I never planned for anything now. I used to
train a lot for different events, most of them scary,
but seldom have I ever planned for anything.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
It drives a lections, It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I'm a gold with the flow kind of fella, and
as long as the bullet s ain't flying in my direction,
I feel pretty good by what's taking place. His advice
made sense to me last May when I called him
from Dolphin Manitoba, Canada.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Excited about the bear.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
I just poked a whole in while hunting with crad
Can medal the McCarthy, I said, Corey, I just smashed
a big, color faced black bear. You want to mount
him for me? Cory said, man, that's awesome. Congratulations. No,
I don't, huh. I'm surprised, he.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Said, brother. I like deer and ducks.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Now. I was fifty seven years old when I learned
that not all taxidermists like mounting all games. Now, I
knew there were folks who specialized in certain animals and
amounts and have a knack or a particular skill set
that sets their work apart from others. But but what
I didn't think about was the familiarity that enhances the
(08:39):
animals that they work on. I met Cour several years
ago when I answered the ad that he had on
hunting for him about bear hunting bait, and my brother
Tim told me about it and I gave him a call.
We hit it off immediately. We've been friends ever since.
I've been to a shop countless times and we've hunted together.
(09:00):
He helped me with some logistics from Clay Bow and
I were filming the Mississippi River Expedition FIM. I helped
him drag a deer out of the woods he shot
with his bowl last week. He's my friend and he
just told me no, and for good reason. He don't
work on bears. Could he do it? Absolutely he could,
but bears ain't his thing. He likes to hunt on him,
(09:22):
but he don't like to work on them. I like
to shoot guns, I don't like to work on them.
My brother Tim likes to do both. It's the same thing.
So I asked him to help me with this episode
and shell out some advice for the folks that are
looking to decorate their homes with dead stuff. Let's break
down his first piece of advice. Have a plan why
(09:54):
you can't always have a contingency plan for everything, Like
when you're going to get the trophy you want now
and you can contact the taxidermis prior to your trip
and discuss when you're going, what you're going after, the
style of the mouth that you're looking for, estimated cost
to feel, care of the animal, which is head and
shoulders more important than any other step. According to Corey,
(10:18):
you can have a plan in place. You can have
a deposit ready to put down for what you want mounted.
Should you be successful, you can plan down to the
most minute detail. But if you don't do proper field
care in getting your animal from the kill site to
the shop, you have done hold the wrong rope. Now,
(10:38):
the creatures we pursue are gifts to us, and as
their stewards, it is our responsibility to care form to
the best of our ability. If we choose to have
them immortalized by the artistry of taxidermy, we need to
present to the artists the best items with which to work,
and that starts when the last breath of air leaves
(10:59):
that animal. Now, for deer in the South, for sure,
time and temperature are not usually your friends. I was
deer hunting yesterday morning and at a thirty it was
sixty four degrees, not exactly good conditions to keep an
animal from getting a little spicy if you don't act
fast and using the proper techniques to delay decomposition. Our
(11:24):
friend John Hayes at Hayes Taxidermy in Libby, Montana, who
does a lot of our mounts, doesn't have a lot
of issues with heat this time of year. I actually
just checked the temperature there and if it drops one
more degree. John can make ice cubes on his patio,
but down here it matters. Speaking on large animals, Course
(11:45):
says you need to get the guts out of them
asap if the weather is the least bit warm, and
if possible, get bags of ice placed in the cavity
to speed up to cooling. Now we have severalized chests
at Bear Camp every year packed with ice solely for
the purpose of getting those rascles cooled off as fast
as possible. We're hunting in September and they can get
(12:06):
super hot some years, and we're usually only hunting in
the afternoons. Last light is normally when we shoot one,
so by the time you get that barry located and
drug off the mountain, a significant amount of time can
have transpired. Have an ice in camp has saved us
more than once, especially when we're so far from any
(12:27):
place to run to the store and buy some. Folks
out west where there are hours and hours and miles
and miles further away from the convenience of being close
to a store already have a plan in place where
they should, which is gut, skin and pack out. But
temperature isn't the only thing that matters, how you get
(12:49):
that animal from the kill side to your taxidermist is
just as important. Big deer camps, especially the ones where
I grew up, would have a walk in cooler. Deer
be gutted and hung up before being processed. Now, obviously
not everyone's going to have this luxury, but for the
folks to do, Corey says it's absolutely his preferred way
(13:10):
of receiving an animal that he's going to work on.
I said, frozen. You'd rather have them frozen than fresh?
He said absolutely. He also said that every taxiderms is different,
but he likes them frozen, especially deer, mainly because of ticks.
It's a separate issue that those folks have to deal
with that I hadn't thought about. Now. I know, I've
(13:32):
been skinning deer and coons and squirrels and whatever and
seeing ticks and fleas crawling off of them, But to
have a large number of them brought into my workspace
has never been a problem. I get it, Corey. Now,
even how you drag the animal out as an issue,
Never go against the grain. Always drag the animal head first.
If you can't carry it or use a card or
(13:55):
in my he'll Billy Friend's case, am you as your conveyance.
Using a sled or a drag tart will protect the
side that's being drug from scar or losing hair. If
none of that's available, pick out the side that's not
going to be most prominent in the mouth you're supposed
to have already chosen that, remember.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
And let that side sustain the damage.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Dragging a high the wrong way will have the hair
looking like the head of that singer from the band
Flock of Seagulls.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Trust me, you don't want him to look like that.
Just google it see for yourself.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
There's a ton of how to videos on caping idea
for the taxidermists available to watch at the University of YouTube.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
However, there's more than one way to scare a cat.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
That analogy has never been more fitting, So talk to
your taxidermist first and let him.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Tell you how he wants it done.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Corey says you need to be wary of meat processors
that offer caping your deer in addition to cutting up
your meat. Some are good and others so much. It's
really not on them, he said. They're in the meat.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Processing business, not the taxi dermy business.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Your local taxidermist can help you navigate that if you're
not into processing, you know. On me. Most of the
times I am, but sometimes, especially if I'm doing a
lot of traveling, I'll drop it off and get back
on the road. Just make sure they know how to
properly kpe your animal before getting it done. Measure twice
and cut once.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
It's never been more true.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
And as you may have heard, my brother and I
used to be waterfowl guides. Now we had clients from
all over the country coming to Arkansas every year hunting
ducks and geese, and I guess probably twenty percent of
them wound up want to take something back home to
mount It was standard operating procedure for us to poke
the ducks in the pantyholes, all for that specific purpose
(15:56):
of my dad head tucked under one wing and wrapped
the newspaper, then taped up and frozen. I had always
been told that's the way to do it, and I
told Corey that was what we did, and he goozle
chopped me out of my chair. He didn't actually do that,
but I think he really wanted to. He said, newspaper
(16:17):
sucks all the moisture out of the skin and will
freeze and burn a duck faster than a wren can poop.
Now that's fast, he said. The only reason a newspaper
should be close to a duck is if he wanted
to read it. Pantyhose is good to keep the feathers
in the line, but it's not necessary, and he said
tucking the head under the wing deserved an additional goozle chop.
(16:40):
Here's how Corey the Birdman Eisenhower says to do it.
He touchs plastic bags he gets from the grocery store
with him in his blind bag or his pocket. If
he gets a duck or a goose that he wants
to mount, he doesn't let the.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Dog retrieve it.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
He doesn't let it hang on the neck from a lanyard,
and he absolutely don't wring its neck if it hasn't
quite flown over the rainbow bridge. There are several duck
dispatcher tools, he said, that you can hang on your
lanyard or keeping your pocket that won't damage the bird,
and they're easy to use. But most importantly, it's a
very quick and humane way to send them across the river.
(17:25):
Of course, says to hang them upside down for the
group picture, but be careful how they lay against other birds.
Then once the pictures take and lay them head backwards
on their back, place them in a couple of plastic
bags and freeze them.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Why not tuck their heads under the wings.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
He got the goosele chopping look in his eye again
and said, most of the bleeding comes from the head,
and it'll stain the lighter colored feathers normally found under
the wings and on the fell is the birds. Well,
all that would have been good information to have say
about forty years ago. Fish are almost always replica made now,
(18:05):
so if you're going to have one of those done,
it's imperative that you discussed with the taxidermists what photos
and measurements he needs to get you an accurate reproduction
if you catch. People are quick to hate on folks
that don't just catch and release fish. Now, I'm a
strong advocate of catching release, especially when the release is
into peanut ol it's about three hundred and fifty degrees.
(18:27):
Here's a quick way to judge the talents of a
taxi dermist. If you're not as fortunate to have one
as a friend like my buddy Corey, or get acquainted
with him through work like John Hayes's studio in Montana,
or have the good fortune to have a strong reference
for the ones like Authentic Taxidermy in Manitoba, where Patrick
Forkollo and Kenton Wallman are working on my bear. I
(18:51):
can't wait to see that rascal after the first of
the year, when Craig and Melanie bring it down. When
they come visit, ask your friends, do some legwork of
your own, and go visit the shops and see for yourself.
What they're turning out is what you want to hang
on your wall. Now, good taxidermy ain't cheap, and it
shouldn't be, but bad tax germy can be just as expensive.
(19:14):
It pays to do your homework. It's an art form
all its own, and the folks that I know that
are in the business take a lot of pride in
what they're turning out. I look over my right shoulder
at the first deer I ever had mounted. It's a
nine point that would have to turn in a book
report for extra credit to be much more than one
(19:34):
hundred inches. My son Hunter killed it with a bow
when he was fourteen years old. I felmed it from
start to finish, and it's a day that I'll never forget.
I couldn't afford to have it mounted back then, so
I traded out some video work for the for the mountain.
I got a fifty percent discount. I should have gotten
(19:54):
paid because the quality of the video work was far
superior to what's hanging on the wall behind me. However,
when I look at that mount I don't see the
seams that weren't sown correctly, or the polls I specifically
didn't ask for. I see the delight and the wonder
of an aspiring bow hunter who practiced all summer from
(20:17):
a tree in our backyard. I see us checking trail
camera picks week after week, and him helping me decide.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Which tree he wanted to use.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I see all the times he jumped out of bed
when the alarm went off to go hunting, the same
bed that Alexis would have to drag him out of
to go to school. I see his face the morning
he forgot his safety harness and we turned around and
went home because that was an unbreakable rule. I see
the disappointment in his eyes when he went back that
(20:50):
afternoon and checked the camera and there was the buck
that we were after, Just like he dreamed he'd be.
I see the look on his face he made the shot.
A week later, when he turned to me looking for
reassurance that he'd done just what he thought he'd done.
I see the realization that all his efforts had come
(21:12):
to fruition when he laid his hands on the antlers
of his trophy. Mostly, I see my son and a
million moments that we shared in relation to a white
tail that most folks wouldn't give a second thought to.
It's not taxidermy, it's treasure.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I hit the jackpot every time I look at it.
Thanks so much for listening. Check out the second season
of The Mediator Kids podcast. It's now on its own channel,
so you'll go over and subscribe to it to hear it.
(21:54):
It's really good and the young'uns seemed to really enjoy it.
You'll hear some familiar voices there too. The Big Black
Friday Sale is going on with the Meat Eater online
store and all the Meat Eater brands, some of it
as much as fifty percent off.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
It's going on until Peacember the second.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
I hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and until next week.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
This is Brett Reeves sign it off. Y'all be careful.
Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.
From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I want you to stay a.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
While as I share my experiences and life lessons. This
country Life is presented by Case Knives on Meat Eaters
Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
The airways had off.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate.
I've got some stories to share. Four Bit Bobcats and taxidermy.
Taxidermy is something I've grown up with and is a
part of my culture. It wasn't until I started seeing
(00:48):
other parts of the world and comparing them to mine
that I saw a stark contrast to my own. In
several areas having dead animals in the house being one
of them, going I'm gonna tell you all about it,
but first I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Tell you a story.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
The first mounted animal I ever saw was a moose
in a friend's house when I was in the first grade.
That thing looked big as a dinosaur. It hung over
the mantle of the fireplace, and I couldn't fathom how
big the rest of that joker must have been. I
think back now and I can see it clear as
a bell. It reminds me more of Bullwinkle in the face,
(01:33):
but the antlers seemed massive. And when my friend told
me his dad killed it in Alaska, he might as
well have said he killed it on Mars. How could
anyone go to Alaska from Rise in Arkansas and come
back with a moose? It made me want one of
my own. And if not a moose, a deer or
a squirrel or maybe even a coon. Now, the first
(01:55):
time I actually bought something and possessed something in the
taxidermy space, if you'll allow that stretch, was a bobcat
hide that I bought at a flea market. It was
in Pine Bluff and I couldn't have been more than
six or seven.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
When we walked past.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
The table that had a bunch of stuff I wasn't
interested in until I spied that hide hanging on the
side of the booth. Dad, what is that? I said, Bobcat,
I want it. You ain't got no money? How much
is it? He said, wyon't you ask the man selling it?
I did. The man looked at me. He asked me
(02:31):
how much money I had. I told him I didn't
have any, but my dad might have some. He said, well,
I don't think your daddy is interested in buying it.
That was the same feeling I was getting when I
looked up at him and he wasn't making any attempt
to dig in his pocket for the folding money. I said, well,
(02:52):
how much is it? The man said, oh, I'd probably
take four bits for it?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Four bits? The world was a bit? And where was
I going to find four of them?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Before somebody else came along and recognized the beauty of
this magnificent bobcat hide that I was now holding into
my hands, feeling the soft fur on one side and
the aluminum like texture of the other that had been
dried to the tensil strength of a stretched piano wire.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Needed to act fast. That you got any bits I
can borrow?
Speaker 1 (03:25):
They they both busted out laughing, and then I learned
that four bits was fifty cents. You might be interested
to know that the term originated from the Spanish dollar
that was divided into eight parts or bits. The slang
term was then applied to the US dollar. Mildly interesting
(03:49):
to me now, but at the time not even remotely.
The only language I was interested in was hearing that
man say in English soul to Brent ribs Celine river Fur,
a fisicionado and spender of bits. Well, I handed him
fifty cents that my dad gave me and walked away.
(04:10):
I had that hide hanging on my wall for several years,
and I'd look at it and tell my friends when
they were over at the house, wild stories about how
I had captured it after it attacked me and I'd
killed it with my bare hands and I skinned it out.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I had hung there until.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
I lost it in a game of blackjack to mine
and Tim's middle brother Chuck, a game in which he
was the dealer, and I'm quite sure was rigged from
the start because we only played one hand. He always
wanted that hide and asked for it, but I wouldn't
let him have it. But that day he specifically wanted
(04:49):
to play for that hide since I didn't have any money,
and so I bet my Bobcat hide against two dollars,
just knowing I was gonna win, and he drew a blackjack.
What a coincidence. Tyewatch probably still got it. I was
(05:09):
out a Bobcat hide, but I learned a lesson. If
you gamble, be prepared to lose. If you gamble with
your brother you're gonna lose every time, and that's just
how that happened. Taxidermy has been around for a long
(05:38):
long time. In fact, modern taxidermists can trace their history
back twenty two hundred years before Mary surprised Joseph with
the first Christmas present. Ancient Egyptians were the first known taxidermists,
and they started developing methods of preserving animals. They used
spices and ols ands and other embombing tools to preserve animals.
(06:04):
They'd mummify the pets of Egyptian royalty and bury them
in the tombs when they died. The Egyptians died, not
the animals. The Egyptians preserved techniques were not intended to
make the animals look natural or for exhibition. Instead, they
were meant to satisfy the editions of the time, which
I assume was to look like dead animals. I've seen
(06:27):
pictures of their work from the tombs that have been
opened mission accomplished. All those animals looked like was dead,
nothing like what we have now or are supposed to have.
Sometimes it turns out like that, but if you take
your time and do your due diligence and scoping out
the right taxidermists for what you want should be good
(06:48):
to go. My buddy Corey Eisenhower, on top of being
a Marine Corps veteran and a North Little Rock Fire
Department captain, is an accomplished taxidermist in his own right
and owns Ikes Taxidermy. Corey specializes in deer and ducks.
We were sitting in the shop one day and I
asked him for some pointers to relate to anyone out
(07:09):
there that would like to decorate their homes with dead
animals that, unlike his Egyptian counterparts, work, don't look dead.
Corey was quick on the draw and said, the first
thing you need to do now, This is important now,
but you need to have a plan together before you
pull the trigger, which is a little odd to me
(07:30):
since I never planned for anything now. I used to
train a lot for different events, most of them scary,
but seldom have I ever planned for anything.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
It drives a lections, It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I'm a gold with the flow kind of fella, and
as long as the bullet s ain't flying in my direction,
I feel pretty good by what's taking place. His advice
made sense to me last May when I called him
from Dolphin Manitoba, Canada.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Excited about the bear.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
I just poked a whole in while hunting with crad
Can medal the McCarthy, I said, Corey, I just smashed
a big, color faced black bear. You want to mount
him for me? Cory said, man, that's awesome. Congratulations. No,
I don't, huh. I'm surprised, he.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Said, brother. I like deer and ducks.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Now. I was fifty seven years old when I learned
that not all taxidermists like mounting all games. Now, I
knew there were folks who specialized in certain animals and
amounts and have a knack or a particular skill set
that sets their work apart from others. But but what
I didn't think about was the familiarity that enhances the
(08:39):
animals that they work on. I met Cour several years
ago when I answered the ad that he had on
hunting for him about bear hunting bait, and my brother
Tim told me about it and I gave him a call.
We hit it off immediately. We've been friends ever since.
I've been to a shop countless times and we've hunted together.
(09:00):
He helped me with some logistics from Clay Bow and
I were filming the Mississippi River Expedition FIM. I helped
him drag a deer out of the woods he shot
with his bowl last week. He's my friend and he
just told me no, and for good reason. He don't
work on bears. Could he do it? Absolutely he could,
but bears ain't his thing. He likes to hunt on him,
(09:22):
but he don't like to work on them. I like
to shoot guns, I don't like to work on them.
My brother Tim likes to do both. It's the same thing.
So I asked him to help me with this episode
and shell out some advice for the folks that are
looking to decorate their homes with dead stuff. Let's break
down his first piece of advice. Have a plan why
(09:54):
you can't always have a contingency plan for everything, Like
when you're going to get the trophy you want now
and you can contact the taxidermis prior to your trip
and discuss when you're going, what you're going after, the
style of the mouth that you're looking for, estimated cost
to feel, care of the animal, which is head and
shoulders more important than any other step. According to Corey,
(10:18):
you can have a plan in place. You can have
a deposit ready to put down for what you want mounted.
Should you be successful, you can plan down to the
most minute detail. But if you don't do proper field
care in getting your animal from the kill site to
the shop, you have done hold the wrong rope. Now,
(10:38):
the creatures we pursue are gifts to us, and as
their stewards, it is our responsibility to care form to
the best of our ability. If we choose to have
them immortalized by the artistry of taxidermy, we need to
present to the artists the best items with which to work,
and that starts when the last breath of air leaves
(10:59):
that animal. Now, for deer in the South, for sure,
time and temperature are not usually your friends. I was
deer hunting yesterday morning and at a thirty it was
sixty four degrees, not exactly good conditions to keep an
animal from getting a little spicy if you don't act
fast and using the proper techniques to delay decomposition. Our
(11:24):
friend John Hayes at Hayes Taxidermy in Libby, Montana, who
does a lot of our mounts, doesn't have a lot
of issues with heat this time of year. I actually
just checked the temperature there and if it drops one
more degree. John can make ice cubes on his patio,
but down here it matters. Speaking on large animals, Course
(11:45):
says you need to get the guts out of them
asap if the weather is the least bit warm, and
if possible, get bags of ice placed in the cavity
to speed up to cooling. Now we have severalized chests
at Bear Camp every year packed with ice solely for
the purpose of getting those rascles cooled off as fast
as possible. We're hunting in September and they can get
(12:06):
super hot some years, and we're usually only hunting in
the afternoons. Last light is normally when we shoot one,
so by the time you get that barry located and
drug off the mountain, a significant amount of time can
have transpired. Have an ice in camp has saved us
more than once, especially when we're so far from any
(12:27):
place to run to the store and buy some. Folks
out west where there are hours and hours and miles
and miles further away from the convenience of being close
to a store already have a plan in place where
they should, which is gut, skin and pack out. But
temperature isn't the only thing that matters, how you get
(12:49):
that animal from the kill side to your taxidermist is
just as important. Big deer camps, especially the ones where
I grew up, would have a walk in cooler. Deer
be gutted and hung up before being processed. Now, obviously
not everyone's going to have this luxury, but for the
folks to do, Corey says it's absolutely his preferred way
(13:10):
of receiving an animal that he's going to work on.
I said, frozen. You'd rather have them frozen than fresh?
He said absolutely. He also said that every taxiderms is different,
but he likes them frozen, especially deer, mainly because of ticks.
It's a separate issue that those folks have to deal
with that I hadn't thought about. Now. I know, I've
(13:32):
been skinning deer and coons and squirrels and whatever and
seeing ticks and fleas crawling off of them, But to
have a large number of them brought into my workspace
has never been a problem. I get it, Corey. Now,
even how you drag the animal out as an issue,
Never go against the grain. Always drag the animal head first.
If you can't carry it or use a card or
(13:55):
in my he'll Billy Friend's case, am you as your conveyance.
Using a sled or a drag tart will protect the
side that's being drug from scar or losing hair. If
none of that's available, pick out the side that's not
going to be most prominent in the mouth you're supposed
to have already chosen that, remember.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
And let that side sustain the damage.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Dragging a high the wrong way will have the hair
looking like the head of that singer from the band
Flock of Seagulls.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Trust me, you don't want him to look like that.
Just google it see for yourself.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
There's a ton of how to videos on caping idea
for the taxidermists available to watch at the University of YouTube.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
However, there's more than one way to scare a cat.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
That analogy has never been more fitting, So talk to
your taxidermist first and let him.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Tell you how he wants it done.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Corey says you need to be wary of meat processors
that offer caping your deer in addition to cutting up
your meat. Some are good and others so much. It's
really not on them, he said. They're in the meat.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Processing business, not the taxi dermy business.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Your local taxidermist can help you navigate that if you're
not into processing, you know. On me. Most of the
times I am, but sometimes, especially if I'm doing a
lot of traveling, I'll drop it off and get back
on the road. Just make sure they know how to
properly kpe your animal before getting it done. Measure twice
and cut once.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
It's never been more true.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
And as you may have heard, my brother and I
used to be waterfowl guides. Now we had clients from
all over the country coming to Arkansas every year hunting
ducks and geese, and I guess probably twenty percent of
them wound up want to take something back home to
mount It was standard operating procedure for us to poke
the ducks in the pantyholes, all for that specific purpose
(15:56):
of my dad head tucked under one wing and wrapped
the newspaper, then taped up and frozen. I had always
been told that's the way to do it, and I
told Corey that was what we did, and he goozle
chopped me out of my chair. He didn't actually do that,
but I think he really wanted to. He said, newspaper
(16:17):
sucks all the moisture out of the skin and will
freeze and burn a duck faster than a wren can poop.
Now that's fast, he said. The only reason a newspaper
should be close to a duck is if he wanted
to read it. Pantyhose is good to keep the feathers
in the line, but it's not necessary, and he said
tucking the head under the wing deserved an additional goozle chop.
(16:40):
Here's how Corey the Birdman Eisenhower says to do it.
He touchs plastic bags he gets from the grocery store
with him in his blind bag or his pocket. If
he gets a duck or a goose that he wants
to mount, he doesn't let the.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Dog retrieve it.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
He doesn't let it hang on the neck from a lanyard,
and he absolutely don't wring its neck if it hasn't
quite flown over the rainbow bridge. There are several duck
dispatcher tools, he said, that you can hang on your
lanyard or keeping your pocket that won't damage the bird,
and they're easy to use. But most importantly, it's a
very quick and humane way to send them across the river.
(17:25):
Of course, says to hang them upside down for the
group picture, but be careful how they lay against other birds.
Then once the pictures take and lay them head backwards
on their back, place them in a couple of plastic
bags and freeze them.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Why not tuck their heads under the wings.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
He got the goosele chopping look in his eye again
and said, most of the bleeding comes from the head,
and it'll stain the lighter colored feathers normally found under
the wings and on the fell is the birds. Well,
all that would have been good information to have say
about forty years ago. Fish are almost always replica made now,
(18:05):
so if you're going to have one of those done,
it's imperative that you discussed with the taxidermists what photos
and measurements he needs to get you an accurate reproduction
if you catch. People are quick to hate on folks
that don't just catch and release fish. Now, I'm a
strong advocate of catching release, especially when the release is
into peanut ol it's about three hundred and fifty degrees.
(18:27):
Here's a quick way to judge the talents of a
taxi dermist. If you're not as fortunate to have one
as a friend like my buddy Corey, or get acquainted
with him through work like John Hayes's studio in Montana,
or have the good fortune to have a strong reference
for the ones like Authentic Taxidermy in Manitoba, where Patrick
Forkollo and Kenton Wallman are working on my bear. I
(18:51):
can't wait to see that rascal after the first of
the year, when Craig and Melanie bring it down. When
they come visit, ask your friends, do some legwork of
your own, and go visit the shops and see for yourself.
What they're turning out is what you want to hang
on your wall. Now, good taxidermy ain't cheap, and it
shouldn't be, but bad tax germy can be just as expensive.
(19:14):
It pays to do your homework. It's an art form
all its own, and the folks that I know that
are in the business take a lot of pride in
what they're turning out. I look over my right shoulder
at the first deer I ever had mounted. It's a
nine point that would have to turn in a book
report for extra credit to be much more than one
(19:34):
hundred inches. My son Hunter killed it with a bow
when he was fourteen years old. I felmed it from
start to finish, and it's a day that I'll never forget.
I couldn't afford to have it mounted back then, so
I traded out some video work for the for the mountain.
I got a fifty percent discount. I should have gotten
(19:54):
paid because the quality of the video work was far
superior to what's hanging on the wall behind me. However,
when I look at that mount I don't see the
seams that weren't sown correctly, or the polls I specifically
didn't ask for. I see the delight and the wonder
of an aspiring bow hunter who practiced all summer from
(20:17):
a tree in our backyard. I see us checking trail
camera picks week after week, and him helping me decide.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Which tree he wanted to use.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I see all the times he jumped out of bed
when the alarm went off to go hunting, the same
bed that Alexis would have to drag him out of
to go to school. I see his face the morning
he forgot his safety harness and we turned around and
went home because that was an unbreakable rule. I see
the disappointment in his eyes when he went back that
(20:50):
afternoon and checked the camera and there was the buck
that we were after, Just like he dreamed he'd be.
I see the look on his face he made the shot.
A week later, when he turned to me looking for
reassurance that he'd done just what he thought he'd done.
I see the realization that all his efforts had come
(21:12):
to fruition when he laid his hands on the antlers
of his trophy. Mostly, I see my son and a
million moments that we shared in relation to a white
tail that most folks wouldn't give a second thought to.
It's not taxidermy, it's treasure.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Now.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
I hit the jackpot every time I look at it.
Thanks so much for listening. Check out the second season
of The Mediator Kids podcast. It's now on its own channel,
so you'll go over and subscribe to it to hear it.
(21:54):
It's really good and the young'uns seemed to really enjoy it.
You'll hear some familiar voices there too. The Big Black
Friday Sale is going on with the Meat Eater online
store and all the Meat Eater brands, some of it
as much as fifty percent off.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
It's going on until Peacember the second.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
I hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and until next week.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
This is Brett Reeves sign it off. Y'all be careful.
Host
Clay Newcomb
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