Since a very early age I had always been facinated with taxidermy and the procedures used to permanetly preserve trophies, but no one was very willing to talk about this "secretive" craft back then.

I assume my facination with taxidermy is not limited to just me, so I decided to put together a brief thread explaining the basics of a pronghorn mount I did this week. I hope you will find this interesting. Enjoy:

The pronghorn's horns have been separated from the cores, preserved, and reattached to the skull plate. Then they are attached to the mannikin and paper mache is sculpted over the bone to recreate the natural eye orbits and head shape.




The glass eyes are set in clay and upper and lower eyelids are sculpted in. On a pronghorn buck, the cheek gland also needs to be sculpted onto the manninkin.



Hide Paste (taxidermy glue) is spread onto the manninkin so the tanned hide will adhere and hold detail.



The hide is placed over the mannikin.



Nose and Muzzle details are roughed in.



The hide is sewn back together down the mane, leaving an invisible seam.



Eye skin is tucked and shaped over the clay and shaped to reflect anotomical accuracy. Ears are shaped to reflect animal's mood and client's wishes.



Eyes and ears after initial tucking and shaping.



Hide is stapled to the backboard and hair patterns are arranged for accuracy and symetry. Mount will dry for several days until ready for final finishing.



Ready for finish work and paint.



Painted, finished, and ready to be shipped.

Very nice work Bob. Looks like a "Oregon-heavy face manikin from Research, sculpted by Mike Frazier. Not sure if that is correct but I like those.

I know antelope are different just like deer. I prefer all of the lower lipline to be tucked up as that is how I've seen most of the antelope I've killed. Regardless, you did a nice job on that one....I also like the striking color contrast on that buck. Good deep colors on that cape.

Thanks for sharing. How much to do a remount on one of mine? Need a cape (preferably 15-16") and shipping/crate to Ohio, and turnaround time??

Hi Doc,
It seems that we as taxidermists struggle with trying to please our clients and at the same time maintain anatomical correctness with our work. You are absolutely correct that deer, pronghorn, elk, moose, etc., show varying degrees of the lower lip, and often none is visible at all. As all of the aforementioned presentations are anatomically possible, we then go for what our clients find aesthetically pleasing and do it that way.

As a general rule, I usually show a little bit of the lower lip in the front, but have done many with no lip exposed as well. Sometimes our clients have seen one mounted or in the wild and will ask us to mount it a certain way, and we will, if anatomically correct and possible, comply with those preferences. No glowing red eyes in bear mounts or snakes in the snow, but let's not get too silly

To answer your question, the remount would run $460 plus whatever the replacement cape cost would be. That variable mostly depends on avalability and cape condition, but a good quality pronghorn cape is not too difficult to find. Your shipping/crating shouldn't be more than $45-$50-turnaround if I find a tanned cape would be 2-3 months, if not 6-8 months. Thanks

Wow! Looks great Bob.

Well, did I guess right on the manikin?

Excellent work, I'm sure all of your clients are very pleased.

I believe it IS a Frazier mannikin from Research, Doc. I only use theirs and McKenzie's for pronghorn, so you are right.

Very nice, i just did a dall sheep after 10 years or so of not messing around with this and it took me a long time to get it together. I'd forgotten how many details you have to remember. All of the turning and thinning and sewing up little holes and staring at the dang thing for hours trying to get the eyes right, fixing the bald spots on the face where he took a tumble,... I also tanned it myself so had to mess with all that stuff and bleaching. If not for the quick turnaround it wouldn't have been worth the effort.Hats off to those who can do it well!