It was a large button buck, and I shot it with my bow! To see more pictures and read the full story, click Here!
11.05.04
It's been a month since I updated my journal, so I figured I had better do a quick update!
It's been a busy month for me. I've done all sorts of mounts, including an albino raccoon, a fox rug, and a skunk (that perfumed the shop with skunk smell for a couple weeks!!).
I've already begun working on some of my competition pieces for next year's World Championships, one of which is a lifesize coyote. I've got the skin tanned now and the form ready, so I'll probably mount that within another month or so.
Deer archery season has been in for quite a while and I have not gotten in any deer, surprisingly. But I know they will start coming in fast once gun season starts, in just a week! I have been out to bow hunt about once or twice every week and haven't had any luck with shooting any yet, although I have seen some. I know I'll get lucky one of these days. If I don't get one with a bow, chances are really good that I will get one with my gun, although I'd like to get one with a bow. Maybe I'll do both! I'll gun hunt down at Robby's place once gun season is in. But even during gun season I will hunt with my bow at my place, since there are so many houses close by. I wouldn't feel safe about shooting a high powered rifle that close.
Squirrel season is in, as well (it came in Oct. 18) and I haven't taken the time to go on many hunts but I have shot about a half dozen so far, mostly with the shotgun. The shotgun makes it twice as easy to get squirrels, but I still prefer using the .22 since it's more of a challenge. Hunting loses it's excitement if it's *too* easy!
10.04.04
I spent the weekend running a booth at a local festival called "Midland Magic". I set up a booth with many of my mounts and advertised my services, as well as selling some beaded jewelry and skulls I had finished. It was alot of fun and I hope I will get some more business from the locals as a result. Here's a picture of me at my booth:
Here I am all dressed up in my camo, ready to go hunting!
09.12.04
Robby took me bow hunting for deer for the first time yesterday! I was both lucky and unlucky... We got into the stand about 4PM and waited for about two hours when we heard deer in the woods. I kept quiet and when I finally looked out of the stand, there were two deer right in front of us! It was a spike and a 4-point buck. I slowly stood up and drew my bow and the deer didn't even notice me. I shot at the 4 pointer, but unfortunately I had sighted in the bow at 20 yards and the deer were probably only 12-15 yards from us, so my arrow went too high, above the deer. I was really dissappointed at first, but now I am just excited to try again. I am going to sight in my bow better and practice as much as I can so I will know where to shoot at different distances. And who knows, maybe next time an even better deer will come out! I consider myself lucky to have even seen any deer that day, and I just can't wait till next time!
Archery season is less than a week away and I'm ready to go!
Yes, I got myself a bow! It's a PSE "Spyder" compound bow. I have been practicing with it for the past couple of weeks and I am making pretty good arrow groups at 20 yards. Just a little more practicing and I will feel confident to go hunting for deer! Season opens on saturday (Sept. 11) and Robby and I will be hunting together down at his grandpa's farm. He shot a doe there last year so hopefully we will have some good luck.
I've been having alot of new hunting experiences lately. Last saturday (the 4th), Robby took me dove hunting for the first time. There were alot of doves in the sky but from where we were shooting, not many of them came into close range. We shot three doves total; his brother shot two and I shot one. I actually didn't use my .410 for hunting that day, but used a Remington 12 ga. instead. I thought it would be too much recoil for me, but it wasn't bad at all and worked better for doves since the shot went further. I shot my dove as it flew straight above me and it fell about 40 yards away. It wasn't damaged at all, it looks like only one pellet hit it! It was a very nice plump dove; I brought it home and decided I would try mounting it. This was my first real attempt at a bird, and is no where near perfect, but it means alot to me since it was my first dove. Here it is!:
Here's Robby and I with our shotguns
This has inspired me somewhat to start trying bird taxidermy. It's a busy time for me right now, trying to finish up all my customer work and prepare for the hunting season, but in my spare time I may start trying to do some birds. They're alot different to mount than mammals. The biggest problem I had was aligning the feathers correctly, something I never could get just right on the dove.
08.17.04
Alot has happened since I last updated!
The last week of July, I attended the North Carolina taxidermy show in Salisbury, NC. I took four entries to the show - my squirrel and tiger that I took the NTA, my coyote head I took to piedmont, and a new entry, a mouse. I scored a third on the tiger and seconds on the other three pieces. Despite being a second place, my coyote head was the highest scoring piece in its' category, winning a best of category ribbon! Later at the awards banquet, it got the Noonkester best gamehead award which was a wooden and faux bronze statue of a bobcat head, and $50 gift certificate to Noonkester supply. It also won the Safari Club International "Best Big Game" award, which was a plaque and $50 cash! Here's the coyote with his awards:
Here's several other pictures from the show:
A closer up view of the mouse:
You can't see it well from the pictures, but the mother mouse is going back to her nest which is full of newborn mice. I sculpted them out of pink apoxie sculpt and they look very realistic.
I've gotten in alot of interesting animals to do lately. First, I am mounting "Bandie", a toy poodle. The poodle was 16 years old when it died earlier this year, and his owner sent him to me wanting him preserved. I am going to be doing a carcass cast and mounting it in a sleeping position.
Then earlier this month, a customer brought me an albino coon to be mounted. It is not pure white, but rather a creamy color with tan bands on the tail and pink eyes. I'll be mounting it in a "mantel" pose, which means you can sit it on shelf or mantel and it will look like it's just laying there with it's legs hanging over the side.
I've also been teaching taxidermy lately! First, I taught my seven year old sister, Hannah, mount a rabbit head. I helped her with the skinning so she wouldn't cut herself, but I let her do all the rest. We put the head on an artificial rock and she took it to state show, getting a third place in children's division! Here she is with her rabbit she is so proud of:
I also taught Robby how to mount a squirrel! I skinned, fleshed, and boraxed the skin and then he took it from there. He had already watched my squirrel mounting seminar at the NTA so he knew the basics. In the end the squirrel turned out really great! It's a free-standing squirrel on all fours and he tells me that it's sitting on the mantel in the living room now :)
I have gotten two new guns recently! I just got a Remington 700 25-06 rifle to use for deer hunting this year. Finally, I own a BIG gun! The recoil is a little hard on me but not nearly as bad as a 30-06. I bought it used, but it's in great condition and comes with a Leupold zoom scope. And last month, Robby got me a Mossberg 500 .410 shotgun! I love shooting skeet with it, and can't wait to use it on squirrel and rabbit this fall! One of my sister's friends gave me a nice gun cabinet to put them all in, and here are my guns...
From left to right - Ruger .22, Mossberg .410 shotgun, Remington 25-06, Crosman air rifle. And a Beeman P3 air pistol on top.
I've been doing alot more oil paintings recently. My most recent and one of my favorites is a painting of my shotgun, with some shells and a skeet. Take a look:
This is one I did of my house:
And here's a painting I did which depicts something I hope to do one day. That's me in the right corner, shooting at a pheasant while a beagle (which I want to get one day) chases it out...
