Finished two more of our African Mounts
Contributors to this thread:International
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
Finally had the opportunity to get into some of the taxidermy for our African trophies over the Holidays. I shot this warthog boar in 2006 and had been holding onto its tanned cape since 2007. The impala mount to follow, I did for my buddy who shot two when we were there in 2011. It was my third impala to mount.
It was my first attempt on a Warthog and I must give "BONARO" due credit and so many thanks for the great tips he gave me last year. I have heard from several taxidermist how difficult they can be and I now can appreciate that!! I tried to get this one as close to the reddish mud appearance that mine had when I took him. I'll post some reference pics of that as well.
Learning to do your own taxidermy certainly is a real money saver, but more importantly for me, I create the chance to have a prolonged hands-on with my trophies and get to relive everything about that animal. Plus I create the opportunity for me to "bring it back" the way I remember it, and as artistically as I can. That warthog was a challenge for sure, but what I learned was priceless and forms the basis for a better mounts of them in the future.
I hope to do some of the work on our groups trophies after August's hunt at Limcroma.
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
more
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
another
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
on the wall in my office
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
reference pic of my "fresh" warty
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
another shot of him alive
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
this is the impala I finished for my buddy.
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
more pics
From: Buffalo1
02-Jan-14
Some very nice work. Congrats on a great job and some nice trophies.
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
another
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
lastly
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
lastly (it did not post the first time)
From: AZ~Rich
02-Jan-14
sorry for the duplicate, it was slow to load. Here is one more ref of my red-mud warty.
Also, thanks Buffulo for the compliments.
From: Ken
02-Jan-14
Nice work!
From: Peyton in Fairbanks
03-Jan-14
Looks great Rich!
From: Spinedoc
03-Jan-14
Pretty Darn good
From: Bill in MI
03-Jan-14
Nice job, looks quite nice!
From: Tony
03-Jan-14
Very nice! I wish that I could find the time to learn to do that myself.
From: BO-N-ARO
03-Jan-14
Great work my man!! That is a stud wartie!! Glad I could help. Anytime.
From: Firehuntfish
03-Jan-14
Very impressive work...You could go pro...!
From: standswittaknife
03-Jan-14
amazing....
From: trevore
03-Jan-14
Your work is better than some of the taxidermist I know. Very nice.
From: AZ~Rich
04-Jan-14
Thanks for the kind remarks everyone. Glad you appreciated what i was trying to do. I'm certainly no expert on doing these but I try to put in the time and the love on each to see how far I can take it at this point. Most commercial taxidermists would not want to spend that much time per mount which is understandable if you're in the business and want to remain profitable. There may be a day when I decide to get into doing them on a limited basis for those who are looking for another alternative for their African trophies. In the meantime I should further hone my skills and deepen my understanding of the African game which I love. You never really get to perfect in this endeavor called taxidermy as that will always be only in God's hands. No one can match his perfection in all living creations. We hacks just keep trying to get a little closer. again thanks! My recommendation to those going over soon would be to make sure you bring a tape measure (nose to eye corner, neck circumfirences, nose to each horn tip). Plus take numerous photos of all sorts of details with your animals. (Pre- shot pics of it alive, and various angles of it in hand including: close ups of the eyes, nose, ears, lips, horns, tusks). All I these details will truly help any taxidermist to create a better mount for you. Make it a mandate not to forget them. Plus, talk to your skinners prior....suggest to them that you are very interested in the best quality job possible and are willing to tip on that basis. Sometimes they get overloaded with everyone's downed game and rush the skinning or let sensitive skins like from the spiral horns sit too long in he heat causing unneccesary hair slippage.
From: Bowboy
04-Jan-14
Very nice work! You should do this part-time to build up some hunting funds.
From: drycreek
04-Jan-14
Good job !
From: StickFlicker
06-Jan-14
Rich,
Fantastic work as always! Did you have the warthog skin wet tanned and frozen since 2006? Did you experience any issues with it being frozen that long? I have a warthog and a waterbuck cape wet tanned and frozen now from 2012. I haven't decided whether I'm going to save them for possible use in the future, or just sell them. I wasn't sure how long they would last in the frozen state.
From: AZ~Rich
06-Jan-14
Marvin, thanks. My warthog was dry tanned since mid 2007 and I think it was getting nearing the point of deterioration. It did work out though and I even got a little stretch out of it. The wet tanned capes you have should be fine in the freezer for a good while yet. You might want to check them every so often to see that they are not desiccating in the freezer. If they are then just add some water and refreeze them. I will be in PHX in a couple of weeks on Jan 21-23. maybe we could meet and talk then. Best Rich
From: StickFlicker
07-Jan-14
From: Chief 419
10-Jan-14
AZ~Rich,
Your taxidermy skill are better than most professionals. Great work. I'm not sure if you've hunted with Limcroma before, but you are in for a treat. Top notch operation.
From: Jerry Russell
16-Jan-14
Great work.
From: AZ~Rich
16-Jan-14
Thanks Jerrry and congrats on you and your son's hunt. I hope to get some more practice after this Summer's hunt there.
P.S. very nice video work!
From: Drahthaar
16-Jan-14
Rich, beautiful work. I like to see a person take pride in what they do. was your warthog dry tanned here in the U.S. or in S.A. ? I ask about dry tan in S.A. they said they couldn't do it so you could mount. I no here in the states we can wet tan or dry tan to mount. Forrest
From: Drahthaar
16-Jan-14
Rich, beautiful work. I like to see a person take pride in what they do. was your warthog dry tanned here in the U.S. or in S.A. ? I ask about dry tan in S.A. they said they couldn't do it so you could mount. I no here in the states we can wet tan or dry tan to mount. Forrest
From: Adventurewriter
16-Jan-14
Good Lord those Warthogs are ugly!!!! they captured the Ugly!!!! Cool mount...
From: AZ~Rich
16-Jan-14
Thanks Forrest, from that trip in 2006 I had all of our capes and backskins tanned at Carolina Fur Dressing. All except my Nyala were dry tanned. It was slipping so badly that they decided only wet-tan would prevent even more damage from tumbling. Overall, I was very pleased with their quality. In the future, getting wet-tans here in the US would be my preference, especially with warthogs. Wet tans can be frozen for a long time, however they do take up freeze space. With my warthog cape being dry-tanned and stored in my closet since 2007, I was worried after rehydrating it that I was going to get some acid rot which happens when you keep a dry cape over a long time. In this case my rehydrated warthog cape had little stretch and over a couple of days it had became weaker, (more tendency to tear through when cinching down on the stitches). Storing dry capes too long can be a real problem for mounting as they can actually start to disintegrate from released acidity after rehydration. Alot depends on the type of tan it was too. So for me wet-tanning is a safer, better deal for taxidermy work.
From: Drahthaar
17-Jan-14
thanks Rich, sorry about the double post,computor to slow. Forrest
From: Heat
17-Jan-14
Well done Rich!
