I guess I will stir the pot a little. Seems like most/many of the posts from taxidermists are posts of them showing pictures of their mounts. I have seen several recent posts where folks were asking questions about taxidermy or trophy prep and there is a dirth of input from taxidermists. Other forum members have tried to help answer the questions, but not much input from the taxidermists that love to post pictures of their work. Maybe all the taxidermists are off at the shows but it would be sad to see this forum simply become an extension of the taxidermy trade's websites, showing off work. Believe me the work is beautiful and the pictures are welcome -- but it is interesting, ask a gunsmithing question on the gunsmithing forum and several smiths will weigh in with input in no time at all. It is also not that common to have the gunsmiths post examples of their work -- their clients will do so, but not that common for the smiths too.

Jmines
I will answer any question anyone has and ANYONE can call me at my studio anytime with with those questions.
I'll give out my Private cell number to those asking for it.
Please refer me to those posts and I'd be more than happy to contact them personally
Dennis Harris
The Artistry of Wildlife





Producing the Highest Quality Custom Wildlife Mounts with less than 90 Working Day Delivery.
Visit our Studio Online at:
The Artistry of Wildlife
"2009 World Champions"
"Best in World Combined Artists"
World Taxidermy Championships


Email:
info@artistryofwildlife.com

Here are the one's just on page one:

http://forums.accuratereloadin...3421043/m/8491086421

http://forums.accuratereloadin...3421043/m/5271043421

http://forums.accuratereloadin...3421043/m/5011043421

http://forums.accuratereloadin...3421043/m/9271007321

Just answered your first one.
on to the next

Dennis, do not take the comments the wrong way, the trophy pictures are great for planning, ideas, etc. as well as just admiring. I just found the lack of input on some of the posts interesting. I truly mean nothing personal to anyone.

JMINES, It's not taken the wrong way
Just keep me on my toes


We are good

Jmines
Got those 4 send me anymore you see
I'll keep up with it
DENNIS

I do like the photos. Some of them, like "Death from Above" for example, offers a unique idea for ways to display trophies as well as shows mounts that very few of us have room to put in our homes. I just wish we could see the trophy rooms were all these animals are going ...

Death from Above mounts fit in 10 foot ceilig homes and the base is 24 foot by 40 inches
They fit in ANY TROPHY ROOM very nicely.
They can be made to fit 8' ceiling easily and this one worked so the cougar is over a couch.
You can walk into room and sit down and NEVER even come close to hitting the cat above you.
The base is at the end of the coach in this trophy room.
Sevens, I would like to show you those rooms but the privacy of my clients and their personal lives and trophies theirs.

quote:

Originally posted by The Artistry of Wildlife:
Jmines
Got those 4 send me anymore you see
I'll keep up with it
DENNIS

Thanks, much appreciated.

MJines,
Just saw this post and wanted to first off thank Dennis for addressing your concern but secondly wanted to comment on the post itself.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
I guess I will stir the pot a little. Seems like most/many of the posts from taxidermists are posts of them showing pictures of their mounts

I feel compelled to respond to this comment. I have been an AR member for coming on 3 years now and many of my colleagues have been here much longer. The one thing I respect about this site is the openess and helpfullness of the taxi's that post here on a regular basis. I have seen some incredible information given freely by the vast majority that also post their beautiful work here. I feel because no-one answered a question you posted only 5 days ago, you did come on to "stir the pot". Not all of us come on here daily. Many of us may not come on for a week or longer. Most taxidermists are busy in their shops working well past an 8 hour day 6 or more days a week. I guess the point I am trying to make is if you would have been a bit more patient you may have gotten your answer or you could have phoned your taxidermist if you needed it sooner. Also, 2 of the 4 questions you had posted as not being answered by a taxidermist were indeed answered by AR members who are very knowledgeable in the areas of said questions they had answered.(One who was a taxidermist for many years) Don't be mislead by the forum heading Taxidermy, for there are many qualified non-taxidermist members that are capable of answering some of the basic questions posted.
I just wanted to clarify why some questions may not get answered in the time frame that you feel is acceptable. I also wanted to take it upon myself to go to bat for some of the great taxidermists who post their work and also have and continue to help so many on this site.

Kind regards,
Mary

Mary,

Again, not trying to be argumentative, I just find the contrast between this forum and the gunsmithing forum interesting. How often do you see the gunsmiths posting pictures or starting threads to show off their finished rifles? Many will post progress photos to show how things are done, but few post pictures of their finished rifles. It happens, but not often. Most finished rifle pictures are posted by clients. In contrast, if I counted correctly, on page one of this forum, of the 25 posts on the page, almost half, 12, are taxidermists posting pictures of their mounts. Just offering an observation.

Mike,

It has not been too many months ago when there was a thread in which many asked the taxidermists to continue to post pictures of their work. This allows us to see various poses, obtain new ideas, and plan for future mounts as well as appreciating the animals and the fine workmanship displayed.

I enjoy the posts too.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Mary,

Again, not trying to be argumentative, I just find the contrast between this forum and the gunsmithing forum interesting. How often do you see the gunsmiths posting pictures or starting threads to show off their finished rifles? Many will post progress photos to show how things are done, but few post pictures of their finished rifles. It happens, but not often. Most finished rifle pictures are posted by clients. In contrast, if I counted correctly, on page one of this forum, of the 25 posts on the page, almost half, 12, are taxidermists posting pictures of their mounts. Just offering an observation.

Funny I thought the same thing.

I am a friend and customer of Frank Zitz,and have been trying to get him to post here for over a year.I also asked him to put up some work in progress pics,which he did.I thought other members would be interested to see how some top quality work comes together.

I see some members have posted pics and have had them ripped by other members and taxidermists...so I can see how finished pieces don't get posted by clients.

But of course thats true to alot of this site,good info one minute and then...well lets just say you better have thick skin.

MJines,

Please do understand I am not trying to be argumentative either. It really doesn't matter to me or I am assuming, many others how things run on the gunsmithing forum. I just read your comment to be very deragatory to the taxidermists on this site because you did not get an immediate answer to your question. I remember a while back this same type of observation/complaint was brought up regarding taxidermists posting pictures of their work and the consensus was for us to PLEASE keep posting them. I myself greatly enjoy seeing pictures of the other taxidermists work and mounts of non-taxidermist AR members as well. I actually remember an occassion going to bat for a member who posted pictures of their mount which was criticized on its quality. I said it then and I will say it now, critiques are unwarranted on this forum unless directly asked for. In my 3 years on this site you are only the second person who has voiced their concern with the amount of pictures posted by taxidermists on the taxidermy forum. I cannot speak for others but I think the finished taxidermy mount is a piece of art which is more enjoyable for members to view than the process pictures and maybe that is because I feel most clients have that knowledge if they have spent any time in their taxidermists studio. JMHO

Kind regards,
Mary

I'm not a taxidermist and it seems that there are a lot of hard won techniques that these guys and gals use. As a chef I'm always amazed by other cooks who won't share their recipes- I gladly share info with others, whether they're pro's or not.

Taxi's are secretive like sheep hunters are-they'll show you their photos but won't generally tell you how the photos came to be. That's just they way they work and it's a valid observation, one that I've noticed too. I'm not offended by it though and I'll still share those recipes. Even with taxidermists

the chef

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Hilliard-Krueger:
I said it then and I will say it now, critiques are unwarranted on this forum unless directly asked for.

Let's just agree to disagree on this point. If folks are only free to express their opinion on this forum so long as it is a positive opinion or they agree, those are not rules I am prepared to play by. I think everyone ought to be prepared to take the bad with the good, or simply stay off the forum. My $0.02.

I agree with Mary on this issue.
W.

Hello Tracy,

I think your observation is a bit antiquated. I agree 25+ years ago taxidermy techniques were guarded with the utmost secrecy by the vast majority. Today is a different era. Our industry has 3 major national and worldwide publications that give step by step instruction to any facet of our industry written by some of the top taxidermists in the world. My husband, myself and several other taxidermists on this forum, have contributed articles on many occassion over the years. Many of us also give seminars at World, Regional, National and State shows, my husband Chris is even a competition judge at many of these shows. Todays taxidermist values the input of his colleague and likewise freely shares his knowledge. Our own AR member Dennis Harris has recently released a phenominal dvd to the taxidermy industry on his "Air Harris" techniques. Chris and I already have a few pieces coming up that will be put together using Dennis' technique.

I feel the start to finish pictures you speak of are not posted on this site simply because who knew there was an interest for it? Also, most taxidermists do not take procedural pictures unless they are writing an article, as it can be time consuming to stop and take quality pictures while you are mounting a specimen. I would hope this makes sense to you. I am sure you understand how time consuming it would be to take pictures step by step of your cooking(lets say for a cookbook)vs just sharing a recipe and I am sure your prep time is a mere fraction of the time spent on putting a mount together. Also there is a plethora of videos on step by step procedures if that is something someone wants to see. I know I have done a few step by step photo explanations of procedures on this site over the years to answer a post and I have seen others do the same.

If one desires information on detailed taxidermy procedures the trade magazines I spoke of are available for any subscriber, taxidermist or not. Plus there is a taxidermy site for beginners, taxidermyforums.net, but I would be cautious posting there as many giving advice are beginners to the industry themselves.

I guess I have not seen any taxidermist be witholding of information on this site, so I am
surprised this thread even exisits. but I guess my perception could be different from a non taxidermists. I have only witnessed a wealth of information shared by the AR taxidermist regulars to the sites posters.

Please do not take this post for anything more than it was intended to be...educational.
All's good!

Kind regards,
Mary

MJines...let me clarify my statement. I was referring to critiques of a members mount that he or she posts to share with other members. By posting such pictures one is sharing not only the finished mount but their whole hunting experience,in a sense, and I believe no one has the right to tarnish that experience unless specifically asked to do so.

Dennis did my full mount Leopard in 2007.

The hunt story was published in SCI's Safari Magazine Sept/Oct. 2007.

I cannot speak highly enough of Dennis, his work, as well as his business practices. I would recommend him to anyone without reservation.

I would post a pic, but I still can't figure it out!

BTW I am not affiliated with Dennis in any way and we have never met.

Beautiful work!!

My 2 cents

quote:

Originally posted by The Artistry of Wildlife:
Jmines
I will answer any question anyone has and ANYONE can call me at my studio anytime with with those questions.
I'll give out my Private cell number to those asking for it.
Please refer me to those posts and I'd be more than happy to contact them personally
Dennis Harris
The Artistry of Wildlife





Producing the Highest Quality Custom Wildlife Mounts with less than 90 Working Day Delivery.
Visit our Studio Online at:
The Artistry of Wildlife
"2009 World Champions"
"Best in World Combined Artists"
World Taxidermy Championships


Email:
info@artistryofwildlife.com

Here you go Frank
Dennis






















Producing the Highest Quality Custom Wildlife Mounts with less than 90 Working Day Delivery.
Visit our Studio Online at:
The Artistry of Wildlife
"2009 World Champions"
"Best in World Combined Artists"
World Taxidermy Championships


Email:
info@artistryofwildlife.com

My pleasure Dennis! If you have it handy, maybe you can post my Leopard.

quote:

MJines...let me clarify my statement. I was referring to critiques of a members mount that he or she posts to share with other members. By posting such pictures one is sharing not only the finished mount but their whole hunting experience,in a sense, and I believe no one has the right to tarnish that experience unless specifically asked to do so.

That's an excellent post and should be the norm...

I think its because were are all a bunch of strange, weird little people who live in dark rooms all day long and play with dead animals.

An old saying about sticking something in a hornets nest seems to come to mind. All I can say is "uncle".

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Huffaker:
I think its because were are all a bunch of strange, weird little people who live in dark rooms all day long and play with dead animals.

Jerry...this thread needed that insightful interjection. Just got in from playing with a few dead zebras!

Thank you all for the dialogue.
The leopard mount is terrific and the photography very clean and thorough.
Do any of you remember back 40 years and more ago when there were only a couple of ways to learn Taxidermy? Apprenticeship and a little mail order course which came once a week or so and consisted of step by step instructions on a 3 or 4 page foldout. I still have mine and although I never really mounted anything larger than a badger a few of my birds and several dozen of my skull mounts are still on display at a couple of community colleges I was attending.
I really appreciate the time and effort you all put forth in your artwork.
I really appreciate you taking your time to share those artworks with us.
I also really appreciate everyone being willing to discuss and disagree without resorting to alley-fighting.
Thank you all,
Frank

Yes Frank, I do remember
I still have my "Northwest School of Taxidermy Diploma" Cica 1969 and all 12 booklets

quote:

Originally posted by dinsdale:

quote:

MJines...let me clarify my statement. I was referring to critiques of a members mount that he or she posts to share with other members. By posting such pictures one is sharing not only the finished mount but their whole hunting experience,in a sense, and I believe no one has the right to tarnish that experience unless specifically asked to do so.

That's an excellent post and should be the norm...

I second this comment.
W.

I totally agree with everything Mary has said. I just wish I could have said it so elequintly(sp?) myself.

So all the taxidermists agree that they should not snipe at or criticize other taxidermists. Professional courtesy I guess.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
So all the taxidermists agree that they should not snipe at or criticize other taxidermists. Professional courtesy I guess.

I don't think that's what is being said....

If you want a get a critique of a taxidermy piece,and ASK for it that's one thing.

But if you post as a CLIENT a piece,that your proud of;then who has the right to bash it;cause it falls short of your expectations.

Look at Jack D Bolds sheep mount thread;he posts a sheep he's proud of,and is excited to have done quickly;and get some crap from some taxidermists here,because they don't like the fact Wildlife Gallery has ownership in a tannery they also use.Then they even took the argument to their Taxidermy.net forum and critised it more.

So here is a hunter that just wanted to post some cool pics,why should he catch shit for it?

quote:

Originally posted by dinsdale:

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
So all the taxidermists agree that they should not snipe at or criticize other taxidermists. Professional courtesy I guess.

I don't think that's what is being said....

If you want a get a critique of a taxidermy piece,and ASK for it that's one thing.

But if you post as a CLIENT a piece,that your proud of;then who has the right to bash it;cause it falls short of your expectations.

Thank you, dinsdale, for understanding the point being made.

MJines...it's not professional courtesy but common courtesy.

Pictures do not always do a mount justice, therefore very unfair to critique off of even if ASKED. If one truely wants a critique there are venues to do so under qualified judges. Many would agree our best judges are our pleased returning clientele.

Pictures on this site, by members, are pure and simply posted to enjoy the fruits of the labor of not only the taxidermist but most importantly to view the preservation of an incredible hunt memory. I for one enjoy seeing each and every taxidermy mount, diorama and trophy room picture posted and I love to read the hunt reports that go with them. That is why I do what I do. I would think that is why we are all here.

Kind regards,
Mary

Keep the pics and advice coming folks. It is very much enjoyed and appreciated.

Things are getting a bit tense here...what do you all think of my Leopard mount??

Honest opions only!

quote:

Originally posted by The Artistry of Wildlife:
Here you go Frank
Dennis






















Producing the Highest Quality Custom Wildlife Mounts with less than 90 Working Day Delivery.
Visit our Studio Online at:
The Artistry of Wildlife
"2009 World Champions"
"Best in World Combined Artists"
World Taxidermy Championships


Email:
info@artistryofwildlife.com

Leopardtrack,

No problems here...all's good. That's what I dislike about computors, without verbal intonations things can be taken as tense when it's merely a good discussion.

Here's Chris' latest bobcat for all to enjoy!





Krueger's Creations Taxidermy
Chris Krueger
Phoenix, Arizona
halflingrugger@cox.net

Nice bobcat!! I really like the way its "walking" on the rocks.

And thanks again to Mary for some help and advce on how to get the mane on my zebra rug into a upright position from the it got flattened thru shipping process. Her ideas worked out great and it really helped my zebra rug look better once I had it hung on the wall. I posted some pics awhile back here on AR that showed how it came out.

Thanks again MAry!!

Mary,
Thats Bobcat mount is awesome. It looks so alive.
W.

Well, I guess it's time for me to stick my oar in the water here.

I've been around AR for nearly 10 years now, and have been having critters mounted for about 50 years. So this section is one of my favorite hangouts. I enjoy seeing the photos of mounts -- both good and bad -- because they give me ideas for my own mounts. I also appreciate good artwork, which many of them are.

And I have watched as several of the REAL taxidermists that post here have provided lots of help and advice to anyone who asked. Even the unnamed one who needs to read 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' often provides good advice.

So a short little story:

I have used the same taxidermist for about last 20 years or so. In fact, my 2nd trophy room is affectionately known as the Marc Plunkett Room because he mounted every animal in it, about 18 in all. He has also done others that are mixed with the work of two other taxidermists in my older trophy room. Unfortunately, he recently moved to another town about 80 miles away. So it's become a bit inconvenient to use him.

When I first joined AR, I had no idea Mary Krueger or Krueger Creations even existed, much less being in Phoenix only a few miles from me.

But after seeing Chris Krueger's work on AR and watching Mary deal with people, I recently contacted them to do some work for me.

Chris now has a scimitar oryx and two whitetail bucks, all of which I recently killed in Texas. The bucks will be mounted very similar to a pedestal mount of two mule deer he had done for another client. Why? Because Mary posted a photo of it here a few weeks ago.

And after visiting his shop and seeing the bobcat above (looks even better in person!), he now has a bobcat and 5' D-back rattlesnake of mine. I'm having him do a life-size diorama that will sit atop my entertainment center. It will have the bobcat recoiling from the striking, stretched out snake. We're still vacillating over the exact pose for the 'cat. It might be on just one or two rear legs or it might be completely airborne. Actually, I'm leaving it to Chris to do his magic.

I can't wait to see it. I will also guess you folks will be seeing them all before I do when Chris is done with them. Right, Mary?



P.S. -

RE: mounts shown here

I normally only comment on the good ones and keep quiet on those *I* don't like or are just plain bad -- unless the poster of said mounts asks for comments -- good or bad.