Quote Originally Posted by Genny View Post
What does taxidermy mean?
taxidermy is done when a hunter kills a game animal (such as deer, bear, fox etc.) sometimes they will want to have it mounted. What we do is skin the animal, we also have to take the cartilage out of the ears, salt the hide, wash it, flesh it (which is where you use a machine to shave extra skin off and to make it as thin as possible, put it in curring for a few days, neutralize it, wash it again,tan it, wash it and flesh it again, and after all that which takes up to two weeks, we then stretch the cape (skin) out and place it over a mount (which is a plastic or styrofoam material manikin) and then sew it up. We then have to place a plastic ear into where the cartilage used to be, fix the eyes, nose, and mouth the way we want them, and then it sits on a drying stand for about 1 week or so. Every day we have to make adjustments to it and make sure nothing moves because as it dries the cape will shrink some. After it has dried we then use an airbrush to paint in the ears, eyes, nose, and lips. The point is to make the mount look as real and alive as possible which can be increadably hard.

Like I said, I didn't think I would like it, but I grew up with hunters so it is really just a way of life around here. (everyone in my family and Daves hunts and eats deer meat) I used to be against hunting, but deer around here have no natural preditors and there are just too many to handle. I almost hit one every time I drive to my moms house, it is crazy.I just wish that the WV hunting laws could be more like OH. There people are only allowed to kill 1 buck (male deer) per year and in WV I think it is 3. I'm not sure what the number is for Does (the females) or other animals. Working in the shop has really been pritty neat to do and I actually like it.