WILDLIFE RE-CREATIONS TAXIDERMY STUDIO | Ep080 | Off The Clock with B Scott

Joseph Phariss of Wildlife ReCreation Taxidermy Studio breaks down how he hunts 1v1—wind, beds, rub lines, game camera patterns—and why big, old deer almost never stroll into feed. That same discipline shows up at the bench: he tans in-house, flesh-thins hides until a flashlight glows through the nose and lips, turns ears and nose pads inside out, and sets glass eyes with precise lid contact and correct pupil rotation. He installs a realistic septum as standard, adds or restores antler character with epoxy and stain when needed, and matches color with airbrush nuance so the final piece reads as alive from across the room and under close inspection.

We get practical too: how to cape with extra length so pedestal wall mounts stay an option; why clean, client-friendly shops matter; and how communication—photo updates at each step—builds trust. Joseph shares an elk antler repair plan using pinned structure, re-sculpted girth, and careful color blending, then goes beyond the fix to clean, touch up, and present the mount as a complete showcase. From whiskey-barrel pedestals and marble bases to corner placements and euro mounts with creative finishes, he designs for the room, not just the rack, so every trophy fits a home and tells a story.

If you care about quality taxidermy, hunting strategy, and honest timelines, this conversation is for you. Tap play to learn what separates “mounted” from “lifelike,” hear Joseph’s tips for protecting capes and caring for mounts, and see why service-first shops earn lifelong customers. If you enjoy this, subscribe, share it with a buddy who chases big deer, and leave a comment with the detail you notice first—eyes, nose, or antlers?

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Transcript

Meet Joseph Ferris, Taxidermist

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It's five o'clock and you're off the clock with B Scout. Today we have as our guest Joseph Ferris with Wildlife Recreation Taxidermy Studio. Now, this guy makes high quality mounts, okay? Phenomenal. Really pays attention to detail. So he's gonna walk us through how he got started, what got him going in it. He's gonna talk about what makes him different, and that's the attention to detail. So we're gonna go over what different things he does that puts him up a level on everybody else. And we're also gonna talk about hunting. We're gonna talk about what we enjoy about it, what we enjoy about going after big deer, and we're gonna talk a little bit about just basically everything you can do with a deer, what his favorite mount is, what position you can put the ears in. I didn't even know you could turn ears inside out, and he's gonna show us that. So, guys, before we get into it, make sure you leave a like, subscribe, hit the bell for notifications. Let's dive in. Let's so since you're doing taxidermy, I would assume you're a hunter. Okay. Of course. So let's get started from the b from the very beginning. What got you into hunting? What got you down this path basically?

SPEAKER_03 1:09

My belated father did. I killed my first buck when I was four. Oh, yeah. So got you in early. Very early, you know. Um, double barrel side by side 410. And I I had never pulled both triggers at the same time prior to that hunt. That's funny, dude. And I think my dad, and honestly, was kind of smart about it, was, you know, hey, shoot this one and then pull the next one, you know, get two shots. All right. So um this doe comes out and she's just got that deer in the headlight looks, you know, like looking at us, and we're sitting in a little stand that he had kind of rigged up. And um and I was like, Dad, there's a deer, there's deer, there's deer, dad, there's a deer. Oh yeah, you know, I'm a four-year-old kid. And uh shoot the damn thing. And so of course I did, and and right before I I did, you know, and I've got my gut up, and he's pull both triggers at the same time. And we're talking just like this. Pull both triggers at the same time, and she's still sitting there like She knows something's up. Oh, of course. And uh I don't know how I didn't fall on the stand that day. I just double shot. Yeah, a four-year-old, you know, and it's a four ten, it's not a big caliber, anyways, but you're pulling both triggers. It's twice. I I I remember back, you know, almost 40 years ago, that feeling of it kicking me. Oh, yeah. I'd never pulled both triggers before.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Well, anybody that shot shotguns has one memory, one core memory of getting their jaw jagged. Like, oh yeah. Mine was when I was uh, I don't know, I was probably 10 or 11, and I was sitting, we're turkey hunting, and I was shooting at 12 gauge, and I was leaned up off this cypress tree that I was sitting on. I was leaned up to shoot kind of to my left, and when I shot, it just spun me and power dropped me right into the tree. I love it.

SPEAKER_04 2:57

I basically did the same thing with a Mossberg 835 when I was real, real young and a tree climber, and it unlatched the top section of that tree climber, and I fell right down to the bottom, the bottom, so I didn't fall that far. Yeah. But it'll make your heart drop. It's cool though. I mean killed the deer though.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Hey, that's all that matters. So you guys started at a young age, and you know, you so you started just hunting from that point on. You just stayed in it, stayed behind.

SPEAKER_03 3:24

I had a cousin when I was probably six or seven years old. Uh, he was married to my cousin. Uh hey, let's go squirrel hunting. You want to go squirrel hunting? Heck yeah. Yeah, let's go squirrel hunting. Yeah. So I did that for a couple years when I was younger. I haven't been squirrel hunting since. Yeah, but you know, I do it every once in a while. It's not something I've really fish very little. Um, I don't have the patience for it unless I'm catching fish.

SPEAKER_04 3:47

Me too.

Strategy: Target Bucks vs. Waiting

SPEAKER_03 3:47

You know, but there's something about being in the woods. I don't care if I see a deer, if I don't. There's something about being out in God's house. Peaceful. Peace. Being in God's country and just soaking it up. And I love it. I love it. Especially being out there like by yourself, too. Like you just have time to think. The past the past couple years, uh, my best friend Jonathan um has has wanted to kill a big buck, and he hasn't. And the little parcel that I'm hunting in Plaskey County, there's there's some good bucks there, some very good bucks. Um and so I haven't, as his friend and as that person, haven't tried to focus on me. I focused on him. Trying to get him a buck. And so I tried that for the first time last year. I said, Hey, I'm gonna sit with you in this little buddy stand. I mean, it's barely big enough, and we bow hunt. You know, I'm I'm gonna sit with you and I'm not even taking my bow. What? I was like, no, I'm I'm gonna have my phone out. I wanna I want to film you getting something. And his eyes just lit up, you know. And uh it's it's a love, it's a friendship, you know. It's cool. Yeah, absolutely. Um, but no, my my thing is um anybody can kill a deer. I mean, if you can pull a trigger, you know, you can kill a deer. Oh yeah. I don't care if you're four years old or if you're 40 and have never killed male or female or whatever. Um but doing it and doing it the old school way, that's how I hunt. I don't, you know, certain times of year, yeah, put some corn out, put some attracting out and get them in there, but to really hunt wildlife, uh moon phase, wind direction, knowing where they're at, where the bucks are at, where rub lines and scrape lines are, you know, the whole nine yards. One sign more than just a you know bait and attract ins.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

I think the older you get, you you go from easy hunting to you a challenge hunt.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

Well, what's cool about it is it's it's a 1v1, especially if you have game cameras and you see a buck.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

I'm the same way.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

I want to hunt a deer instead of just like sitting there waiting on a deer. Yeah, if you have game cameras and you see a buck, like you get a picture of a buck, you're like, okay, that's my target buck. And then then the season begins. That's your game planning. You're figuring out where he lives, where's his bed, where does he feed, what's his rotation? When's he moving? When's he not moving? And that whole game, cat and mouse game, is what gets you through the season. Then you look, then you look up and you realize, okay, season's almost over. Absolutely. And it's like it flew by. Yeah. It flew by.

SPEAKER_03 6:07

I was a little late preparing this year, gone through a divorce, and um typically all summer, at least every couple weeks, I'm I'm in there doing something. But where I'm hunting is almost urban. Really? So they're they're used to people, they're used to cars, they're used to the dogs out there barking at them. You know, I've got a private little bitty area, and in that six, seven acres, last year, over 15 shooter bucks. Wow. Three or four 150 plus. Dang, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

You know, there's certain places like that, little gyms. Right here in the middle of the little nuggets here and there.

SPEAKER_04 6:45

Most towns actually have them. Most towns have a spot.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

It was not long ago. Okay, there was a giant 150 plus that was killed here in Fordyce Urban.

SPEAKER_04 6:55

Yeah, they they kill them in El Dorado, Magnolia. They almost every town's Camden.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

Camden this year. Camden this year. I've seen a few on Facebook. It's crazy how they get like that, you know. Those urban bucks, a little bit less pressure. You know, they just well, I guess it's higher pressure, but it's less pressure than that. It's not higher hunting pressure. Yeah, they're used to people.

SPEAKER_04 7:13

And talk about not hunting feed. I I'm I don't think you're gonna kill a big buck on feed. I don't think so either. I don't think they're coming to feed. I think you're you might find a big buck.

Urban Deer, Pressure, and Timing

SPEAKER_00 7:21

I think you get lucky every once in a while early season. I'll say I'll make the difference. And you know, in Bachelor's group, you know, maybe though, you know, you know, the the bigger bucks may follow a bunch of other bucks in. But uh I think as a as a you know, a mature buck, of course, I mean you've witnessed this. We witnessed this. A m a big mature buck uh seems they don't travel very far. They got a little home they stay in. Um they usually bed close to their water source and food or whatever, but they don't travel much. Those older those real big bucks, they they just they lock down and they just travel very little. And um unless this is pure rut. Rut, yeah. You know, but rut to me is the hardest time to hunt. I hate to rut. The imp they're unpredictable. Absolutely. I hate to rut. You have a higher chance of catching like a because you sit and wait on deer as a hunting deer. Yep. When you it's like the easy pipeline. So well, but you're waiting for deer. Yeah. So that would be your favorite time to hunt. Um, you know, it just depends on how you hunt. Like, I like going after the deer instead of waiting on him. So uh it's like fishing, you know, you know, when they're on the beds, it's super easy, but when they start going back out and they start changing their routines, um, it's hard to catch them sons of bitches, you know. It's hard to adapt to, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

And it's frustrating, you know. So it's it's like you know, hunting and fishing is almost identical.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

But what I like about hunting more than I like about fishing, as far as that that aspect goes, yeah, is a deer's gonna eat. Yeah. A deer's gonna eat. Sometimes in fish, there's like, I'm just gonna ain't gonna bite. And the whole lake will be like that, you know.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

Yeah, like I've got a pond right next to my house, uh, lightly stocked, and you can go out there and and literally watch your lure come to you, and there'll be a three or four-pound bass right there, and you're you bring the lure right in front of it and it doesn't move. Yep. It doesn't matter what you're throwing out there.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

There's times that they just don't want it. You guys don't want it.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Yeah, we see that on live scope all the time.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Live scope's made it where you know you can see the fish down there. So like you know, like after like the after like the 20th fish you've thrown on, you're like, it's not a great biting bag.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Oh, it's amazing what Live Scope has done to educate us in fishing. Oh, it's amazing. Also, if you think about it, I don't know if you bass fish, you bass fish? Love it. All right. Well, it's amazing when you start comparing bass fishing with deer hunting, it's almost identical. It's like these fish are only in certain areas of the lake, right? And these deer are only in certain areas in the woods, and it's like it don't matter what you do, those deer are gonna go to the same place every year. Yep. They got the same beds, different phases. I mean you know, they have a little comfort zone. They they go and they stay in those little spots, and it's just it's amazing how everything is kind of the same.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

And what what'll really blow your mind too is when you start looking at like topo maps. So, you know, the contours in the lake and the and the contours like when you're deer hunting, it's a lot, it's very similar.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Yes, you find deer, you find fish. Yeah, fat lines where it's fat lines, dude. I I don't hunt anywhere on it unless they're not. You know what? When they're bedding up, I haven't really checked the fat lines in the water. I've looked at them. I've looked at them. You looked at the fat lines on the uh under the water?

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Yeah, there's not like you know you know when there's a ledge, right? And then there might be right before the bank, you know. Like you got the bank coming up here, but then there's like the little flat area. If like, you know, you'll find a lot of fish bedding there, you know, just especially if it's like eight to twelve foot water. We found a bunch of fish bedding deeper than you know people say they do.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Oh, they'd be bedding 12 foot of water.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

We'll see them in 12, you know, 14 foot of water beds.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

That's crazy, isn't it? I mean, that's crazy. Difference between you guys and me. I'm I like to fish the pond bank and it's you know 100 yards from the house.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

It's absolutely crazy. It's absolutely crazy to actually bed out there. But but but let's talk more about what you do, though, taxidermists. Uh, how did you get into I mean I mean what made you I mean what is your specialty in your taxidermist? I mean, what makes you different than everybody else? My attention to detail and my quality.

Why Big Bucks Rarely Hit Feed

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Yeah. I mean, hands down. Whenever anybody can learn to do something, whether any trade or whatever, you know, right, such as taxidermy. Um, it's an art form. I'm I'm very artistic. I've always drawn and painted and everything. And um, I met a gentleman, um I was 20 or so, and um he had for a couple years had had a taxidermy shop and he was a painter uh as well, and so he was working at a body shop full time. And uh met him and his wife, and he was like, Hey man, um would you like to learn taxidermy? Sure. Well man, be here Monday morning at eight o'clock. I show up and he's not there, he's at his own job. I call him, I'm like, hey, how do I even, you know, where are you at? How do I get in the the shop and everything? So he told me where the key was at. Go on in. And he's like, you know, I've got a hide setting out for you. Go ahead and flesh that I had no idea what I was doing. Yeah. You know, called him two or three times a day and um He was teaching. Taught myself. Yeah. I mean, truthfully. Well, it gave you the opportunity to learn. I've got my very first buck I ever mounted, and it was one of my own. Uh I did not want to mount a customer's, obviously. Never, never fully round. Right, right, right. I still have that deer, and everybody's like, man, that's a that's not a bad, not a bad little rack, you know. Why don't you remount that? I said, No way. Your first one, special. It's the ugliest thing you've ever seen in your life.

unknown 12:57

Bad.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

Yeah. Compared to what I put out now. Right. Oh, yeah. And I'm all I'm constantly improving, obviously. You've learned over here. You do in your work as well. Yeah. Uh so and you're also, I mean, you aren't cheap. Not at all. Good. But you pay for what you get. That's exactly right. If you want you want cheap toilet paper, go get you cheap toilet paper. That's right. You can spend a little bit. You can get it. You're gonna bust one through it. Yeah, some some that you know, John Wayne toilet paper. You spend a little bit more, it's it's nice, it's comfortable, and you don't have a problem with it. And same with this. I've got a few local taxidermists around me that are they're good guys and and put out good work, but over the past couple years, I've probably one particular, no names mentioned, but I've corrected 30 mounts. People have paid for, picked up, get them home, and they're like, something's not right. Right. Bring it, you know, call me or and I'll say, hey, send me some pictures of it. So do you do a lot of like uh not necessarily like like repair work? Like well, they've been mounted, and you just I do all right. Um you get special jobs like that. I have about a dozen right now that's repair work that have all been mounted in the past two years. Really? By some type of local taxidermist. And you know, and I I go and look at their work and that, and I'm like, well, that does not look like what I have here.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Right.

Hunting vs. Fishing: Patterns and Maps

SPEAKER_02 14:16

You have different you have different methods and um so I'm sensing from you just what you're saying is you just want to make the highest quality, best, you know, just quality that you can. I call it competition work. Right. Competition you want to show each piece.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

Yeah, there's competitions, they have a state competition. Um other states even have like regional competitions, and then you work your way to state. They have uh national competitions and even worlds. So um, like that deer that's on the screen up there right now, uh that's like an average. Um people look at it, something taxidermied, especially a white tail, which is my specialty.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

That's a stud.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

I appreciate that. That's a personal that's a personal. I can't even look at the dealer. So I just gotta ask, what's state? What's Arkansas? Arkansval deer. Oh wow, that's so um pretty good. That uh pretty good. That's a 184. That one scores 184.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Shelly, you would shit your pants and fall out the stand if you've seen that walking through the woods. That is about as basic as I get. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

I mean, it looks good. The eyes look good. The color looks good. That's what's standing out to me. Is like, and I know you you I know you had mentioned it earlier, you know, color. You know, you're talking about taking like uh a uh white horn, a real white antler, making it just pop.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Those horns actually I have modified. They had color added to them. It was really a light yellow, like okay, when you go buy a tube before from the lumber yard. Right. I got you. That color, cardboard box color, real light. It just I didn't like it. It was my personal, so I could do what I wanted to with it. Right. You know, I mean, I could cut them all off if I wanted to.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

The color to me, that that's one thing that stands out on that buck right there. It just looks beautiful, is like the actual antler color.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

I mean, some bucks look good with white, white, and mixed. You know, some you see some that's dark at the base. Yeah, then at the higher they get, they turn into white tips, you know. That's a pretty good, that's a pretty good looking buck.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Are you seeing people getting more and more uh pedestal mounts?

SPEAKER_03 16:23

Like that, you know, white tips, you know. Love, love pedestal mounts. Um, good friend of mine shot a uh a nice velvet buck. That's awesome. Back when Arkansas had their um round of labor day. Right. And uh takes me into his cabin. Hey man, this is where I want to put it. I love being able to see that. I'll have I'll have customers, you know, hey, send me a picture of the room you're wanting to put it in. I'm gonna help you pick out this year's post.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

That's some really good stuff, man. That's awesome. Like I get confused. Like I got taxed generalists now, and I'm being like, people like, which way it wants to look? Do you want to look down? So I don't know what would look good. What's you know, like and I try to think about it, you know, that's awesome when I'm picking them outs, but it's I love to I love to be able to call somebody because I'm not you know, my expertise is like that.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

That's a good example right there the white tips you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes, you know it's a great example.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

You know, for people that's listening, I'm sure they had the same uh issues, but like, you know, I build boats for a living. We all build boats for a living. We are professionals when it comes to building boats, but when it comes to picking out something like this, or you know, it's tougher. It's nice to be able to call somebody and get input and just tell you straight up that no, this will look good in your house.

What Sets His Work Apart

SPEAKER_02 17:34

See, what you did right there with that that pedestal mount. So what I had envisioned was well when I killed my first elk, I was gonna get him pedestal mounted, right? At first. And I wanted to get the back of it like a old school map, like an old school map, and have like an X where I killed him at. Because it was a really crazy place. It was Hell's Mesa, and it was rough terrain. It was a good memory, it was a great hunt. And I wanted like an old school map on the back of it with like an X through, you know, like the pin where I where I killed him. And I thought that would be the coolest thing ever. I ended up not going with it. That's a fantastic idea.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

Fantastic idea. This guy here is up from around the Rogers area by Fayetteville. Yeah. He um he killed that deer up north, I think it was northern Kansas. Um, and he's like, Man, I want a pedestal mount. That's a great bug too, man. You know, I'm sitting here like, okay, I uh I can I can make that happen. I love putting them on whiskey barrels. I I there's just something about me and whiskey.

SPEAKER_05 18:35

And he's like, man, I uh you drink whiskey?

SPEAKER_03 18:39

Fish swim in water. Yeah. So uh no, um okay, yeah. And so his his wife is um she's a doctor, and she's like, if we're gonna put this in the house, it's gotta be feminine, I guess. Gotta fit. Yeah, it's good, you know. So she wanted a nice base that's actually a marble top. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

That's a great uh what do you call it?

SPEAKER_03 19:02

That base alone's about a thousand bucks just for that base because of the marble that's on it and it's high polished and what a compromise, you know. Yeah, what a compromise. Let's put a deer in the house, let's put we want, we want marble, a base. And so he's like, Man, I want a pedestal mount. This is this is what we're doing. Yeah. Perfect decision, man. What do you want on the back of it? Because that's a show pretty small. And he's throwing out all this different stuff, all the I mean, ideas and everything. And he sent me three or four pictures. I wish I was the type most of the time I've hunt alone. Okay. And so I haven't been able to take very many pictures of my personal kills unless they're already finished and they're on the wall. Right. Um, but he was hunting with some friends and they shot that picture. He sends me that picture, you know, and uh I said, Man, I I will figure out something on the back. I promise you you're gonna love it. Well, I got a hold of a company on Etsy, and uh that's actually leather, laser and grape.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

That's what I was thinking. So that's it. I mean, that's that's awesome that you even took the time to help this guy out because most people a lot of people don't even give a shit, man. Like they take your money, they want to get you out the door. Right. You know, so I think it's even I think it's cool that you even care enough to even find something for this guy. I mean, you just don't get that kind of service anymore, you know. So you just take the time to do it. You have to be passionate. It's so much bullshit, it pisses me off. You know, you go out, you pay somebody to help you as a service, and they don't give they don't care. They just want your money, you know. And they kick you out the door, they don't try to help you. I mean, I think that's awesome that you that you're willing to do that for somebody that you don't know. It's a beautiful thing. It's not just about money for you, it's about your work. That's I think that's special. Bringing a 45-year-old man to tears. Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

I mean uh that's a buck of a lifetime for you. Absolutely. It's the biggest thing he's ever got. It'll be passed down through his family, you know, and like the so in the same note, your work is being passed down. Yeah. I mean, you're building something that people are gonna pass down.

Pricing, Repairs, and Quality Control

SPEAKER_00 21:05

So you don't take it lightly. We're the same way when it comes to customer service and and and an experience for somebody that's buying a boat. You know, we want them to get in our boat and be like, man, it's the best boat ever. I can call, I can call them anytime I need help. So I mean, I think that's that I I think your concept of what you go in is is pretty neat. I think it's good stuff. Yes, sir. Thank you. That is sick.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

Like I said, that's that's a whiskey barrel pedestal, double pedestal, um competition work.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

You know, that's all that's so just as a just as an example if you had two if I had two bucks, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Chocolate's like, is that for sale?

SPEAKER_02 21:46

So if you were to put a price on that to make up somebody a piece like that, they had the two bucks and they're like, hey, I want to mount it on a on a barrel, you know, with some corn, whatever, what would that cost them, roughly? You don't have to be an exact number, just ideally.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

Probably about 3,500. Yeah. See, to me, you're getting a one of a kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

To me, you're getting a nice piece right there.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

And here's the deal with those with those two, those are not permanent. You can rotate those out. You can rotate and move both of those mounts however you want, and you can remove them for easy. Okay, say you wanted to move it to another room or even just take it home with you. That's not all one piece. Yeah, because that will be hard transport. Yes. And so to make it to where somebody can actually say, Hey, uh, we're gonna we're gonna close in the garage, make it a game room, and I'm gonna move this from the living room into there. Well, getting it through the house, you could do it by yourself, you know. That's cool. Your wife could do it for you while you, you know, if she wanted to, or if it's her deer, you know. Um take the left one off, and then you take the right one off, and then you've got your barrel. And the barrel's not as heavy as you think it is. That's the heaviest piece on it's the barrel, which helps it with balance. Yeah. It's gotta have a good and with just you know, a little bit of time, you could even find some casters and put it on casters if you want to be able to roll it around somewhere, you know. But to me, 3500 is a good price.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

That is good.

SPEAKER_03 23:12

Well, that's both deer.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

I would have the display and the barrel. Um I was honestly expecting I I was actually expecting a little bit higher than that, to be honest with you, especially being two deer. Well, we don't know what we're looking at. That's all feel a lot of work right there. Yeah, but for us, it's such quality that we we associate high price for it.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

But we also know we also know he's higher than most. Yeah, but I don't know, man. That's a really nice mount. Oh, I mean, it's a super nice mount, for sure. I mean, we we need to kill some deer like that. Okay, for sure. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

When you find when you find when you find some gems.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Like uh the pack mounts, I love them. I like I like that too. Can we can we do something like that with some uh some uh elk? Absolutely. So uh we have three elves.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

I don't know why you couldn't pack mount anything.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

You could pack mount a fox if you wanted to. I don't I mean, I don't know. It's uh well we got three elk we need mounted, something like that, huh? Yeah, I I happen to know a guy.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Yeah, they're they're school mounted. Well not they're they're school capped right now.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

Okay. That would be an issue for for that style amount.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Yeah, we got the capes and everything. We just need a and then okay, so you say if you didn't have the cape.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

It's all right.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um where do you how do you buy capes? Like, walk me through that because you hear I've heard several taxidermists talk about, yeah, I can find you a cape. I can find you a cape. How at being a taxidermist, how do you go about that?

Competition Standards and Antler Color

SPEAKER_03 24:31

Where do you look and like how do you first thing I do is I find out where that animal is harvested? Because you don't want to buy a northern cape, for example, like an Illinois cape or a long hair or something. Yeah, and throw it on an Arkansas rack. That's right. Or a Texas rack. Right. And you don't want to put a Texas hide on an Arkansas deer. Right. You know, unless it's like a nort northeast Texas different. Absolutely different. So find that find the geological aspect of it first. Right. Unless the customer has a preference. I mean, the customer may want it, you know, if they're gonna pay for a cape, yeah, they might want to get them what they're willing to pay for. Yes. That's right. Um and then so you go down the line. Uh a lot of c uh tax dermists will start talking to other local tax dermists, you know, calling somebody up, you know, whether they know them or not, and say, hey man, I'm needing a cape. And that's fine. Yeah, you know, support local business. I'm all for it. Right, right, right. 100%. But I don't. I have somebody that I can call. He's in Kentucky, and Scott can get me anything I want. He's not only does he have a a nice tax derby shop there, but he's also a tannery. And I used to send off to 10. Uh gotcha. There was a place in Oklahoma I'd send my hides to. And um, of course, I tag each one of them. They're sent off, and you know, you're sending 10 to 20 at a time. They send me a customer's bag, and I'm like, this isn't the cape I sent you. So where's it at? That's that's that's hard to swallow whenever. Now don't get me wrong, it's still a cape, and I made it work, but I had to call the customer and say, hey, look, so I I tan all my own stuff now. Everything I do, I flesh by hand. Um you can you can have a fleshing machine, a fleshing wheel. It's a big long circular blade. It's kind of shaped. And when you say fleshing it, you're getting all the membrane, all the meat, the muscle, uh uh, I mean, everything off the hide. You're making it down to just hide. And honestly, the thinner you can get that hide, easier it is to mount. The easier it is to stretch. Yeah, stretch. That makes sense. Less stuff holding it. Say you have an 18-inch neck and that's at the smallest circumference, so just right behind the jaw, right? Right around the deer. Um, if you flesh it correctly, you can probably end up getting a 19 out of it. Right. You know, to make that neck a little bigger. Everybody wants that big swolled up neck, you know, that rut neck. Yeah. Um, so if you've got one that's even bigger, I mean, you can manipulate it. And then whenever I order a form, like so say it it's a 22-inch neck. I'm not ordering a 22-inch form. I'll order a 21. And then I go in and I personally build up all the so you mold it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Unless the customer doesn't want the the look of that big swole neck and you know. How do you build it up? Use clay or something. I use clay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um two-part epoxy is amazing. I got you. But two-part epoxy.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

So you go in there putting muscle mass in there to cut, you know, make them look big and everything. Can you do that to my belly? I need I need some six packs, you know.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Dude, hey, whoa, you need to go down with that. Make me a suit. Yeah. Make you a suit. You'd have a muscle suit.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

I think a silicone suit would work better. No kidding, no kidding. But yeah, that's pretty cool if you actually go in there and you actually build the muscle mass or the group, muscle groups, you know.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

So I guess like other taxidermists that are just trying to run just volume through versus necessarily focusing on quality, they're just getting it for a lip getting that mold.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

You know, they're as many as they can get in, if they can bring in a hundred plus deer a year.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

So the only thing you do as taxidermists, do you do anything else? I do this part-time. Oh, I got you. So this is why you're a competition thing for you.

SPEAKER_03 28:07

If I if I did this full-time, I could still do it at the at what I'm doing. Nothing would change. But with my current full-time job, I have health insurance benefits. You know, I work for a company that's that's union, so I have pension and annuity and everything else. You're my kind of guy then. Uh that's cool. The the other aspect of working for myself, the amount of money that would cost me for my insurance. 800 800, a little over 800 a month to buy my own personal insurance. Well, it gets expensive. You know, and then to say, okay, I need to put back a couple thousand a month for retirement, or I'm gonna work till the day I die.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:47

You know.

Pedestal Mounts, Design, and Display

SPEAKER_02 28:48

It and I think that's what makes it special. That's what makes it special about you, though, is you the reason you got the passion you got for is probably because it's not your I was trying to figure out a way you make I was figuring out a way how he made his living. Yeah, I was thinking about it too. It's like, but the way you're doing it, since you have a full-time job, you're able to stay passionate about it and work on quality and just awesome pieces and not get burnt out on it to the extent that you would just start cutting corners. Not saying you would cut corners, but a lot of times if you're trying to get the numbers out to pay the bills, you're like, okay, we gotta get these things out.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

In today's time, it's hard to find an employee that puts that much quality into something, then you gotta pay them. Then you gotta do enough of it to make a living. So it gets tough.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

And the and you know, the other thing, um doing it full time, okay. Before I put my hands on it, put my time into somebody's amount, I require a half down deposit. If I can if you want to pay me full up front, please. Yeah, just make it a lot of it. But that doesn't give me one penny to my pocket that buys materials. Right. You know? Right. So say I was doing a job full time and uh, you know, I've taken in 100, 150, 200 deer a year. Uh you've got to get to work. Yeah. That's why taxidermists, a lot of them are two, some of them maybe even three years out before you get your amount back.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Yeah, because they're using all those deposits to pay the bills. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:24

And then they and then and then they look up and they're like, you know, I've got to make an order, several thousands of dollars worth of order to get all these forms and eyes and paints and the materials in. And you're like, okay, so I've got to go finish a couple so somebody can come and pick it up, and hopefully they do. You know, you want your mount back fast, but you don't know their personal situation. They may have the money, they may not. Yeah, because to pick it up. Okay, if you call them, hey, I'll have your deer next week, you know. Billy over here is like, yeah, man, I'll be there. You you you call me, I'll be there, come pick it up, blah, blah. And you call Chad over here, and Chad's like, Man, uh I'm not good right now. I'm not good right now. Maybe in a month I'll be able to come pick it up. Right. Which is like, can I send you a hundred bucks now? You know, and things. And so you you can look at that and say, it's a great business to be into. You're working for yourself. Hopefully you're doing what you love. Um but it has its it has its faults too. Yeah, it does. It does. And so um the last probably 80% of what I've taken in over the past year, people have paid up front.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Yeah. I mean and I I love that. I think you've got passion around that. And that's that's what it makes it easier. When you when you work on quality and you work on uh price, uh usually when you get out of the um, you know, the quality and the price of your product, people some people realize what that is and they're comfortable painting up front. Because it's more like respect. Of course. Right. Of course. So uh, you know, uh, we see that in certain models. So you have your cheaper models, you have your more expensive models. The more expensive models the customers are more understandable why paint rubs off what is the you know, what causes their mindset's different. So you could take a so you could take a DBST, uh, which was one of our uh models. You take a one of our expensive models, when something breaks or something wears off, they know what positive they're okay what happened because uh they they're just a different it's just a different mindset. Yeah, it's a different mindset. So you take the uh the the inexpensive model, the cheapest model, and one little thing goes wrong, it's the end of the world. Yeah. It's just like there's two different kinds of people. And you you got those people, then you got these people, and they think different. So it's for me, if I was going to a taxidermist that works just off of quality, and you're you're you're uh you're you said this is my price, I'm thousand dollars higher, but why aren't you a thousand dollars higher? You know, I would feel comfortable giving you that money up front. So it's a different kind of person. Um it it's it's it's weird how it works like that. But it's it's weird.

Sourcing Capes and Tanning In‑House

SPEAKER_03 33:19

The the other thing, uh if something happens, I back my work up. Yeah. Okay. As long as I'm alive, willing, and able three years down the road, ten years down the road, if if a mount's done correctly, it'll last a lifetime. That's right. I mean, if if especially if it's cleaned and taken care of properly. Right, right. Um and the cleaning process is um a dry rag, wipe it down, wipe it down, or if you got an air, you know, or even like the little compressed airs for like keyboards and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dust offs. Yeah. Easiest way to clean them any mount. I don't care if it's a bird or a fish or anything, light uh a light dusting. Yeah. Keep the dust off of it. Yeah. Um but if you'll um if you got a problem, if you'll come back to me, call me, just like anything else, don't bash me, don't get on social media or anything like that. Call, pick up the phone or show up and say, hey, look, this is happening now. Yeah, I've never had it happen, but we're human, it could. Yeah, you know. I'll I'll fix it. Yeah, we're gonna be. I'm not gonna charge you a dime. Yeah. You know, I don't care if I have to remount the whole thing. Yep, you're exactly right. Yeah, because I don't care if I have to remount it five times. Because you put your name on it, you know, it's darn nerds.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

You put your name on it and you back it up.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

And it's hard, it's hard to get that kind of business mentality nowadays. It's just so hard. Like everybody's about volume, everybody's about price, whatever, and um, you know, you the person gets upset because somebody's not gonna fix something, but that they only made$100 on the job. You might have made six, seven, eight hundred dollars on a job. So you know that. So it's your obligation to make sure that customers are 100% happy. Yep. And that's the difference between that's the difference between a a business built around service or a business built around profit. Correct. And service is a a service will give you profit because it's repeat customers. And service lasts a lifetime. Repeat customers are the ones that gives you the most respect and that will always purchase your product, no matter what. And companies that base their business off of um just new customers all the time, they have the hardest ones to survive. It's terrible. You want to build a reputation and repeat customers, and that's that's that's what it's all about. And that's clearly, I mean, that's obviously what you're doing. Yeah, it's definitely the angle you're doing. Yeah, you have like you have these customers that like, hey, call you on the phone and say, I got these these deer I'm gonna bring it to you. He never calls anybody else. For one, you answer the phone, and for two, you took care of them every time he needs you. Yeah. You know, you know he's gonna fix it. I mean, it's a perfect I love it. I mean, it's absolutely the way you're supposed to run the business, and you know, the quality and and the quality, I mean, eventually you'll figure out how to find the perfect person to to do that believes in what you believe in that will help speed up the process and you know make more money in the future.

SPEAKER_03 36:23

I would love to do that.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

I'd love to have somebody there. Yeah, you know, definitely it's definitely something doable, you know. Um, you know, put your customers first and let the money come in eventually. It's it's the way it's supposed to be. It's good stuff, it's how it's supposed to be done. I think the whole world has gotten backwards. I think social media has ruined people's way of thinking. I think uh it's all about uh what I can screw out of this person and just make it one, you know, just make it every day. And I I just think it's completely freaking wrong. I mean, I think it's it's a bullshit. And uh I think if people would actually I think business owners would put people first and believe in in what they you know doing, I think it'd be a just better world. It would. It would be a better world. It would in any aspect of it. Oh, yeah, you know, through and through. I mean I see I've seen some bad stuff out there, and I'm just like, oh my God, you know.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

Yeah. I have a deer at the house right now that uh a customer brought me, and uh the guy that mounted it lives 20 minutes from me. Don't know him personally. Um so uh I I pick it up and I'm going to re remount it for him. Yeah. And then and what that entitles is um cutting the hide off the form and removing the horns. The form I'm going to use isn't that form. It wasn't even mounted on the correct form. So after I did that, I realized this is a doe form. This isn't even, this isn't even, he had notched it out himself. A doe form doesn't come notched on the top for the antlers to sit.

Form Fit, Muscle Build, and Eyes

SPEAKER_00 37:52

Let me ask you something. When you when you get in a situation like that, do you tell the customer what's wrong with the mount, or do you just say I'll fix the mount?

SPEAKER_03 38:01

No, I he got every every detail. I sent him dozens of pictures. Uh the ears weren't even split out all the way. Yeah. So like the end of the ear was just, you know, you could bend it like this, just floppy. You can use an ear liner, fill it with bondo, any of that. I don't use an ear liner. Um, not unless I'm doing something high competition. Uh I fill them with Bondo and then get them as thin as I can, you know, because the cartilage on a deer's ear or even yours is thin, you know, so you don't want it super thick. Um but no, and so as I'm taking it apart off of the the form, I'm finding pins that he had pushed into the the the form to hold the hold it in place and left them there. Yeah. Painted over them. Some of the some of the It was just an inexperienced taxidermist. He's been doing it 15 years. Yeah. But it was probably one of them.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

He just I don't know the situation. It's it's deposit after deposit living off the deposit. It could be training.

SPEAKER_02 39:09

I mean, it has to be training somebody, and you know, that could be the you know it has to be frustrating to live off of deposits.

SPEAKER_03 39:16

So unfortunately, that customer is paying twice. Right. He paid for it the first time by somebody else, almost double what he paid. He's paying me to completely redo it. And I told him, I said, it's gonna be$200 more than my normal price because I have to buy you a hide. I can't reuse this hide. And uh of course he's okay with it. Hey, whatever it works, this way. Because he wants he's he's tired of he's tired of not getting it taken care of.

SPEAKER_00 39:43

But do you have the reputation right now of people know that that you fix mounts that you that you do company short? It is. I mean, you don't have to completely sell yourself every time, do you? Not usually. Okay. No, because I see I see in the future selling yourself all the time is really hurtful.

SPEAKER_03 40:00

It can be as a business.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

You can be.

SPEAKER_03 40:01

And if you downgrade another, say another taxidermist, you just shot yourself in the foot.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

See, I don't have to, I don't have to sell it. Yeah, I don't have to sell myself, right? And a lot of people, a lot of people say that if you sell yourself, it just makes you sound arrogant and cocky. It does. And you lose, uh you lose, it actually goes backwards, you know. So you want to be careful about that for sure. But uh the you know, you should be building a good reputation, you know, just based off of your quality and your work ethics.

SPEAKER_03 40:35

I just started a Facebook page for Wildlife Recreations Taxidermy Studio um about a month ago. Right. Um, I was afraid if I put it out there too much, yeah, that uh me doing my part-time would go to full time real quick. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm fine with that. It's it's I'm I'm I'm a single man, you know. I've got I've got a little boy, but I mean I can go to I can go to work and come home, and then on the weekends, I mean, I can get a lot done. Right. I can get a lot done. And it's something I love. I mean, I said I would do this full time, but I don't want to give up benefits in retirement. It may come to that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

I mean, it may, it could be it could very easily. Oh, you get enough uh repeat customers. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, you uh, you know, we kill probably 10 or 15 uh malable animals among our people, you know, and it's like, you know, it's just finding a good person to get that business is awesome, you know, and it it's it's really good. But I think the most important deal is is keep doing good quality work, you know, don't sell yourself as much, you know. Um because the way I am, I try not to sell myself because people don't want to be reminded of their bad decisions. You know, I golly, who wants to be who wants their face rubbed in crap, you know? So it's like uh but it it's it's really it's it's just really cool to meet you and talk to you because you know, quality work is hard to find nowadays. It is. That that stands behind it, yeah. You know, that's the thing.

Shop Practice, Turnaround, and Guarantees

SPEAKER_02 42:07

Yeah, you know, and that's and I I do believe a lot of that is because you're passionate about it, and I think what makes it special is you're not doing it full time. So you're every every project you get, everything, you know, it's it's that project. You're not worried about the payroll that you gotta feel, you're not worried about keeping the lights on with that. You're just basically just going crazy with it, doing as high quality as you can.

SPEAKER_03 42:32

What I love to do, I do this with every client. You don't drop your animal off to me, and then you know, two or three months, six months later, sometimes maybe even eight, get it back from me. You're gonna see every step, per step that I take on your animal before you get it back. Yeah. And if you don't want that, that's fine. I'll still do that. And then once you get it, hey man, I'm fixing it. I'm gonna blow your phone up, you're fixing to get like 40 or 50 pictures. Right. That's good though. That is good.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

And you're used to every single step. And that's for me. Have you ever has anybody ever caught something that maybe they didn't like? And they're like, like why you're sending them step by step, they ever say, Whoa, why is his ears like that?

SPEAKER_03 43:18

Are they gonna be like why is that deer's ear split three times? Well, it's typically from a bar bar fence or something, you know? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:24

Have they ever caught anything and had you change it that they might would have not been happy with in the final, you know, product?

SPEAKER_03 43:32

My boss on my full-time job got a he he's got a farm up in Missouri, goes up there and hunts, and um so he, you know, capes it all out, brings it to me, and he's like, hey, uh, d do this for me. You know, this is this is sentimental to me. It's a don't come to work, get this done. Right.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

Yeah, it's one of those little things. That's what the bosses that's what the bosses say. Y'all hey, don't worry about coming in, you just get that mount done. Could you get this done about a week, please?

SPEAKER_03 43:59

Right. He uh special attention. He gets a he gets a text message from me, and the the deer's chin has got a cut on it about this long. And uh he's like, What'd you do to it? Why'd you go? And I said, I guess it's from dragging it, something. He had no idea it was even there. Yeah. And I said, But when I get done with it, you'll never see it. You will never see it. But I'm telling you this now. Just in case you do see it. Yeah, you know, just in case you do see it. Yeah. But you know, there's and um I seen a I seen a post the other day. Um, this guy shot a pretty nice buck. Uh I wish I'd have been able to be the one to get a hold of it. Um so it was gonna be a European mount, which is just the skull and the horns. Yep. And uh the taxidermist caped it out, and the deer had a third eye underneath the skin in the middle of its muzzle. So, like down here in its really a third eye. Oh wow. I mean, so like it had the eye socket and the bone, the eye and everything, but it was underneath the skin. So as he pulls the skin down, that freaked me out. What? That's crazy. I'll I'll pull it up and send it to you. I'll pull it up and send it to you. That's nuts. Yeah. I for I don't know if it was even in Arkansas or if it was another state, but it was it was harvested here the past couple weeks. Um and so there were he would had game and fish look at it and everybody was trying to figure out. I've seen animals and stuff, the extra legs and stuff, you know. Yeah. But never an eye. Or some type of pie ball or something, you know, something like some kind of irregularity, you know, but three balls or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

See, that's one of those situations where since it was under the hide, a European mount is the coolest thing you can do for that deer. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 45:41

Without a doubt. Because if he'd have done a normal mount, nobody would ever known, probably. Or you know, a shoulder mount, you'd never see that. But as a European mount, and it was a as a price thing as far as far as most people that want to do a European mount. And he just it's it's a price thing.

SPEAKER_02 45:55

You know, you're you're like, well, for me, European mounts, it ain't necessarily a price thing. It's like this was a good buck. All right. It ain't all that good. I don't think he's I don't think he's good enough to put on the wall necessarily like full shoulder mount, but he's he's a good buck.

Nose, Lips, Ears: Inside‑Out Craft

SPEAKER_03 46:09

But you don't want him on the side of the barn. Yeah, you know, on a cloth.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

I like European mount because it's less it's a smaller head. But you know, and it makes my horns look bigger.

SPEAKER_03 46:17

Yeah, it makes uh adds a few inches, you know. Well, here's something cool with the European mounts, too, that I like. It don't have to be just a skull. You can you can hydro dip that skull, you can paint it. Um I I started following uh a beautiful young lady that does this on Facebook, and she's very, very talented. Um, I don't know which state she's in, but she does of of all different types of skulls, but she puts one by one individually, puts beads on them. I've seen them. I know what you're talking about, but dazzles them. Yes. Yeah. And believe it or not, like I'm old school, you know, I want it to look like a deer. Yeah. And these do not. I mean, it's the skull and the horns or even an elk.

SPEAKER_00 47:03

Don't tell me it's growing on you.

SPEAKER_03 47:04

It is. Oh God. Like I I'm not gonna do it. I would recommend somebody, you know, contact her. Absolutely. Yeah, I'll give her the credit. She's amazing at what she's doing. I've I mean, I've looked at several things. I follow her on her Facebook page, she's got tons of followers, and that's as far as I know, that's all she does. But what she's putting out there is different, and people like that. Yeah, you know, because everybody thinks she's good at it. And I can okay, for example, a normal taxidermist that's just putting out mounts, six to eight hours is about the time they have in a in a mount. I would guess six to eight hours of hands-on time. That's not counting drying stages and this and that. I've got about 18 hands-on hours per just whitetail. Um, there's no telling how many hours she has in doing one of those Europeans. Yeah. If you if you since you know what I'm talking about, look on her. Have you ever priced one? See where she's at on prices?

unknown 47:57

I'm scared too.

SPEAKER_03 47:58

I know I'm definitely scared. There's no telling. I know what I charge. Yeah and but you know, it doesn't, you know, you're getting quality. Yeah. Um, she's got some quality with what she does because it's different too. Um, I'm assuming it's probably pretty pricey. Yeah, I bet. You know, I bet um it looks like it would be. If it was like if I had a significant other and they wanted something like that, I wouldn't wouldn't be scared at all to spend the price on it, though.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

Well you you buy anything from your wife and your your kids, you know. Without a doubt. Nothing, nothing is uh out of reach for that. No.

SPEAKER_02 48:29

So what's your what's your favorite mount style?

SPEAKER_03 48:32

Like what like what style do you like the best? I I I don't do birds and I don't do fish anymore. I like something with a hide. Right. Um I specialize in whitetails, but I mean I've done I helped do at one point, it's not anymore, it's been broken, but I helped do the state record alligator. So I mean, so I've done some crazy things. It is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

Um does that involve a lot of painting? The alligator? Is that what that is?

SPEAKER_03 48:57

Yeah, a lot of a lot of two-part epoxy, a lot of painting. Yeah. Um the uh I've helped do an elephant, you know, an African elephant. That's crazy. Um was it just a head mount or was it shoulder mount, actually? Shoulder. Yeah, so like the front shoulders, like right behind its ears forward. Um that's cool. I've um, you know, African lions and things like that. And um, but whitetails to me is just where it's at. I I I mean, I could I feel like I could do it in my sleep with my eyes closed. I mean, you name it, you know, that old saying. Uh I mean that's what you love to hunt. I love to hunt. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:35

That probably helps you too with like mounting as well. I do you think you could like do you think it'd be possible for taxidermists to do really good work and not hunt? Like, do you think that'd be because you know when you're hunting, you see.

SPEAKER_03 49:50

You could, but I don't see why. That would be like somebody that does paint and body work or there's a technician, but they ride a bicycle to work, they won't drive a car or you know, ride a car. Yeah. Or drive a car. Um I've sent some pictures in be like us, not liking boats.

European Mounts and Creative Finishes

SPEAKER_02 50:05

Like just seeing deer in the like seeing deer in the wild, like just the way they move and the way, you know, the way they, you know, hold ourselves up.

SPEAKER_03 50:12

Like I wish our gaming fish would take it. Does I wish our gaming fish would take this back. You know, used to, you could have a pet deer in Arkansas. Yes. Uh if they could regulate that a little bit and allow it to happen again. And of course, a lot of it is with diseases and things, and I get this. Yeah. But um if a taxidermist had a pet deer, it'd be awesome. You know, and it's a it's literally a pet, no different than a dog. They're tame. Um you uh because I've I've had a few. I mean, it's been years ago. Um you get hands-on with that animal like that, you you can't you can't hardly beat that. Absolutely. You're getting the every little detailed reference. Um, but no, I I I sent in a picture to y'all of it's just an eyeball. All right, so look at the picture here on the screen. Um, this is the right eye of a deer that I just put together. It's not been painted or anything. Look at the detail work in that. You can see my reflection in that in that deer's eye taking the picture. But yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00 51:20

So how do you I mean uh how do you do that? Do you just polish it or what do you do?

SPEAKER_03 51:23

No, I mean it's glass eye. Oh, it's a glass eyeball. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:26

And so, but getting the shape of that deer's eye and all of its eyelashes, it's uh basically where the skin kind of uh wrinkles up right there, right above his eye, eyelashes.

SPEAKER_03 51:39

There shouldn't be a gap anywhere where that hide uh uh or that lining of that deer's eye is touching that glass eyeball. There should be no gaps. Uh it needs to be shaped correctly. Uh so in other words, if you'll look and think about this, if that eyelid was to blink and close, it needs to go down perfectly. The angle of the deer's eyelashes need to be almost at a 45. I gotcha coming down. Um and me personally, a lot of people don't when they they look at a deer on the wall, they're looking at the horns. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 52:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:18

Typically, that makes sense. I'll look at the ice. Yeah. And they they need to match, obviously. And you'd be surprised if you'll look at a deer straight on, a mounted deer straight on, look at the right one, look at the left one, the ones that don't match that people have mounted, it it blows your mind. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 52:38

And and most most deer don't match. I know now that we know that we're gonna be like looking at every single second.

SPEAKER_03 52:43

Every one of them, most deer that are on the wall are up, you know, eight foot or higher on the wall, and you don't ever get up close to them. Right. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 52:51

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 52:52

And that their conversation pieces and their memories and this and that. But if you're gonna pay to have that memory, you want it to look as realistic as possible. Yeah, yeah. And I know y'all are I know y'all are untrained eyes at what you're looking at, but you can't tell me that doesn't look like a real deer sitting there live breathing.

SPEAKER_02 53:12

Yeah, I mean, you wouldn't know. Looking at that, you wouldn't know. And that's your goal, right? Every every type thing look like it's like. So when you when you said put together, you know, not painted, whatnot, when you say put together, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean it's like glued?

SPEAKER_03 53:26

It has a it has a glue, a compound back behind it that is that is holding it. Um so when the eye is set on a styrofoam form, right? Um it can be set many different ways, but that that eye has a pupil in it, and you can you can see it when you're up close to one. Yeah. Uh there's a pupil in it. That pupil has to be set and rotated at the right degree as well. And then I use a clay and adhese it to the form with clay, and then I form the shape of that eye that you were looking at with a two-part epoxy. Right.

Realism: Eye Set, Septum, and Paint

SPEAKER_02 53:59

And then when you put the the, I guess that you put the height on there and you're like shaping the eyes and everything. Do you have is there like a time frame where you got to get it set up before it starts? No.

SPEAKER_03 54:08

So you're able to just I'll even come back in sometimes hours later, um, six, eight hours later. And you can still adjust it. Make adjustments. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:19

Yeah. Make adjustments. So how long does it take for that something like that to cure to be set?

SPEAKER_03 54:24

A week. A week. Well, this is what I like about it though. As long as it's not completely cured, been over a week or two or or whatever. And say I go in to try to make an adjustment three days into it. Right. And okay, hey, it's it's hard. It ain't gonna move. I I get a little squirt bottle with some water because I have already tanned this hide. You know, if leather's hard, if you get it wet, you know how all of a sudden it gets flexible again. Yeah. So I'll sit there and spray it down with with water just around the eye. And sometimes things happen.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:58

You know, and so you look up and say it tried to dry too quick, and so it shrank a little bit. It pulled up, it pulled from the you know, yeah. You know, it the skin pulled just a little bit from that eye, and it's not perfect. And if it ain't perfect, it ain't leaving my hands. So I'll add some water to it. I'll reshape that eye again. Pull the skin out away from the eyeball, put some glue in there, you know, for my form glue and reset it again. Put it back to where it goes. You know, I got it. Um it happens. I don't like to put a pin or anything in that eye, but if you had to, you could put little bitty pins like a needle in it to kind of hold it in place and keep it there for pulling with when it's right. There's so many different techniques, and none of them are are wrong or right. It's all on a different way of doing it. Just a different way to do it. You can even use fans if you if you need to, uh, you know, to help control uh any humidity's right. I think you want, you know, in that environment or the shop or whatever that you're working in. You want to you want to keep a lot of things um low humidity and stuff. And a lot of people don't know this. They get a mount, say they've got a a small place or a big place, um, and they're they're wanting to, hey, let's put it over here by the fireplace. You know, keep it away from the darn fireplace. Oh, yeah. Is it so the heat that dry heat dries that mount out, and you may not you may not see it it being up on the wall, you know. Say you got a big cabin or something, right? And there's a big elk up there on the wall or whatever. But one day somebody's gonna go up there and want to dust it or move it or this and that, and what this thing looks like crude, and it's all cracked out and it ain't got any paint around it hardly, you know. And the heat keep them away, keep them away from fireplaces and things like that. That some taxidermists either don't know or haven't told the customer, you know, hey, don't don't put this around a fireplace, you know. Um it it can it can ruin a mount. Amount needs to last a lifetime. So what is that right there?

SPEAKER_02 56:59

Okay, so what is that? What are we looking at here?

SPEAKER_03 57:01

I'd mentioned earlier I hand flesh everything. Okay. So that is the inside of a deer's nose nose. Obviously, the hide's turned inside out. So it's the inside of a deer's nose. Yes. So if you look on the left and right, that's I see nostrils. Nostrils. That right side, that's me fleshing meat off to one side. Um, and wow, that's the inside of the nose pad on a deer. And the bottom piece, there's a little line right there, right before you get to where my hand is. That's the lips. So the lips have to be turned inside out. Uh the ears have to be turned inside out, the eyes have to be turned inside out. Um the eyes. Eyeballs? Like the eyeballs. Yeah, no, the eyeballs obviously stay with it and stuff. Yeah, the eye skin, you want to flesh that out to where um the way the membrane is uh around a deer's eye. And once you're doing it, it's turning it inside out, or you've got a flap of skin steel.

SPEAKER_02 57:58

How much time does it take to flesh one out like that? To get everything turned inside out, like the nose, the eye, the eyelids, the ears.

Heat, Cleaning, and Mount Care

SPEAKER_03 58:05

It's weird because every deer is different. You would think doing thousands that you know, it would just be what makes it different? Just the skin, just the layer of fat thickness of it. Um I've had some of them I can flesh out um and um split out the ears and the the lips and everything in 30 minutes. And I've had some of them that I'll sit there for two hours. Wow, fleshing that down to nothing. Uh it it's everyone's different.

SPEAKER_02 58:33

I wonder if it's like a regional thing too, because like you go up north where it gets a lot colder.

SPEAKER_03 58:37

Yeah, I bet they're thicker. They're thicker, long-haired hogs or hogs and bears obviously have some really thick hides, uh, they're real greasy and fatty.

SPEAKER_02 58:47

Um that right there, I would just looking at that based on what you just said and getting them down thin, is that like a test? Do you put a light under to test?

SPEAKER_03 58:56

Every single one of them, I put a light on it. Okay. Just to test it. And what does that do? So, what I've done is I've just taken a a little cheap Walmart flashlight, set it on a prep table, put the high down on top of it. Right. And if I can't shine a light through it like that, it's not thin enough. It's not thin enough. I got you. Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of times you can tell by feel. Yeah. But thickness, you know, you see, you've ever gone clothes shopping and you find that shirt and you're like, oh yeah, yeah, that's a good thicket shirt.

SPEAKER_02 59:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:27

You put a light on it like that. You can really tell. You can really tell. And then you can also see, okay, well, I need to go, you know, a little more, or hey, uh, I've gone too much. How do you go too deep? Okay, so all those little round circles there are the follicles that hold all the the like the whiskers, the main hairs and stuff on the deer's nose. And so if you go too deep, you'll cut them off. That hair has nothing to hold on to the height anymore. Yeah. And then you you look up, you your deer will be won't have any more whiskers. You know. And what I like about if you want your deer to have some real realistic look to where maybe it's got uh a little moisture on its whiskers, I can use some Modge Podge. You know, it's crafting stuff. Use some Mod Podge, a little little drop here and there. I can put 'em on the whiskers. Uh makes it look wet.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:21

You know? Um but yeah, yeah. Just fleshing it down to where it's as thin as possible. No, that piece on the right you saw, is it that's its ear. It's ears turned out. Oh, yeah. I see it. You're talking about just to the right of the flashlight. Yeah, just to the right of the flashlight, kind of pointed, pointed down to the right side of the screen. Ears turned out. The ears are just turned inside out, like your socks. So whenever I say turned out, that's what you're doing. You're just turning it inside out. That's crazy. Uh you have a lot of patience, don't you? That does. That's a very particular thing. I never have my entire life, even when doing this 20 years ago. But you know, I've got a little boy, he'll be nine on Halloween this year. Uh he that that young man made me have some patience. Oh, I bet. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:06

So it does help. All right, let's talk about my bull in there that I just showed you. So basically, he was broke up. He's missing his uh, I believe his left well tail at the end of it. He broke it off fighting, and there was a tyne on his right side that was uh also had to get put back on. And when we got it back from transport, we didn't realize it because it's wrapped up, you know. But a couple days later we realized when we took the wraps off that it cracked out, chipped off, and this is kind of the situation we're left with. So for you to go in and fix this this set of antlers right here, what would you do? What would you address?

Fixing a Damaged Elk: Plan

SPEAKER_03 1:01:41

Okay, so to correct these antlers, and and first of all, whoever tried to correct them, you know, give me props. He's he he's tried. I've done enough of it. Uh the whell tail that he used on using a natural bone, which is fine. Right. You know, it's it's best to try to do that. He didn't have to. Um he should have found something a little more symmetrical to the other side, something bigger. Uh that one there is a little too small. Um, so if you'd like me to fix this one for you, I will. Um, I would actually just remove that. I don't want to leave it on there because I don't know how he has it adhesed to it. Right. But uh the best way to do it is drill some holes, lined up holes. Um, so I would take that piece off, clean it up, get every bit of whether he's used Bondo or epoxy or or whatever he's used, get it all off back down to raw bone, and then get some fingernail polish, a colored fingernail polish. And on one of the ends of the horns, I'd put three little dabs.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:42

And then find out where it's got to be lined up and connect them. So make to make an exact dot on the other end of the main beam. Um, that's where I know I need to make um a hole at. So, you know, take a small drill bit, drill it in to the base of the horn, uh, put a metal rod in there, and then um bondo it and glue it all back together, uh, line it up. Um, and if you'll see it's got a swoop there at the top, uh where that where right where they start to connect. Um, you're not gonna get rid of that swoop. So you got to add to it. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:19

You're talking about instead of just putting it together and smoothing it off, you'd almost have to just continue from the from the you know, the the bigger side, just continue it straight out to where it wasn't.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:31

It needs a good quarter inch of uh a two-part epoxy added in there. You just call it that swoop out. Yeah. If you look at the bottom and that bottom arch that goes up and around it, the that that's pretty clean. No, that doesn't matter. That's pretty clean. Pretty clean. Um, but the top piece is is really what's throwing everybody off when you look at that. Oh, yeah. Regardless of where it's at in the room hanging up. So that's noticeable from a distance because of the just the line change, you know. Exactly. So go from the right side and just follow it. Uh there's a I think you'd agree with me, there's a good quarter inch that needs to be added to that. At least it doesn't need to go just a, you know, an inch or two on that. It needs to go aways. So that that second to last point there, it needs to go up into it a ways, which would like make the girth of it thicker. But um, and it needs to be done like that all the way around. Yeah, it does. Not just on that spot, you've got to completely float it all the way around the the base of that that beam there. Um, and get back and look at it from 10 feet. Look, you know, in every different angle. Um, once you've built that up, uh, then you've got to match color. Yeah. Whether it's a stain, and and a lot of times you mean you can use just uh an oak stain. Really? An oak stain from Lowe's, Walmart, Home Depot. Uh golden oak is a is a good one. Classic, uh, just a good color stain. Or if you are handy with an airbrush, and most taxidermists need to be because you're airbrushing all kinds of things, um, you can uh you can airbrush color into it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:12

And if you're not, then be a kid again, get you out some different color paints, just paint your different browns, yeah, and brush it and get you, you know, spend time with it. Yeah, it it would take time that way for sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:24

I've done it enough to where I've got it down to another. Where the color changes. Um, right there. Like you can clearly see that there's a color difference here. Yeah. You know, like there's a loss of detail too when you get to the uh that center line. And luckily though, if if it wasn't chipped off and it wasn't as noticeable for this situation where we're gonna put it, you wouldn't notice. If it was just slightly, you know, slightly less noticeable, where it's going in the house, it's going real tall, real high up in the on the wall. And I mean, what do you think, Dad? It's gonna be 16 foot up?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:04

15, 16 foot up, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:06

So, I mean, it'd be way up there.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:08

You wouldn't even probably notice it. I would like to see what you can do with this deer since we have I mean, this elk, since we had this elk here, we just took pictures of it. I like to do another podcast after we get the up. Absolutely. I'd love that. We definitely have uh something that's really jacked up, and this is a perfect situation where somebody would kill an elk of a lifetime, which is which B. Scott did, and you know, it's disappointing to get that back like that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:36

And would be cool too if like as you're doing it step by step, you took a little video just talking about it, you know? Yeah, that way we could bring back in here.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:43

We'll bring it back in, we'll showcase it. You bring the elk back, we showcase it, um, we'll film it, and then you can explain to the you know the viewers how you fix this elk. Right.

Business Model, Service, and Trust

SPEAKER_03 1:06:53

Well, and and and another thing, I wouldn't just fix the horn. Yeah. I'm going to I didn't mount it. But even had I mounted that, I I mean you can nickpick anybody else's. That's right. That's right. I nickpick my own too. That's right. That's what makes it good. Yes. And so I'm going to go in and clean it first. Yeah. Properly do a cleaning on the mount. It needs it. There's there's dust and it there might hopefully not, but there may be a bug or two somewhere crawling around on it. Just completely clean it. Right. And then if there's anything that needs to be touched up, go in, touch it up, clean it up, repaint it if it needs it in certain spots. Spend a little extra time instead of saying, okay, here I just fixed your horn.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:31

Yeah. Could you do a documentary or a video of what you think is wrong with that mount and film it as you do it? Like everything. Like really get nitpicky with it. I mean, you know, do what you want to do, you know. Uh something that we can educate people on. Yeah, just a show. You have a you have a gift of of of what you see, I mean how you do things.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:52

I think I think our viewers would love to see you know how you can take, like, if somebody just like me was in this situation, what you would offer them. Yeah. You know, yeah. That way they would, you know, because then you seeing it step by step like that, you would feel confident being like, okay, you're the man to fix it. Yeah. You're the man I need.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:11

Because this guy's not the only one out there that's that has that. That's had a a moment where it's you know, he well, he wants something to remember.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:19

Oh, yeah. Like right now, that elk should be on the wall. We've had it here for a year. We're gonna have it on the wall soon. It should be on the wall, you know, but it's still here, and it's because I don't want to take it from here because I know I gotta take it somewhere eventually, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:31

But we never really had the right person either. No, but I think we've met the right person.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:35

I think I do too. But I think it'd be a good opportunity to like to see what you do with it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:39

Uh I have a rack at home, okay, that was my very first bow kill. It was on a call buck. So four on one side, eleven on the other. And it was just literally like what? And then and it's still small. I mean, it's not like a huge rack. But eleven on one side, eleven on one side, four on the other. It'd just been a probably say maybe maybe a nine point. Yeah. Had something not occurred in this deer. He probably was wounded at some point. Yeah, and just grew some good stuff. I shot him with the, and this has been 12 years ago or so. Yeah. Shot him with a bow. Uh, I didn't find him for three days. He went off down in a ravine in a holler and could not find this deer. Jumped him, couldn't find him again, jumped him. Anyways, so three days later I found him, and of course, Kyotes had already got a hold of him, buzzards and everything else. But um, so out in the middle of the woods, I mean, you're not gonna eat a deer that's been there for three days and it's already been half eaten on and everything. So um I did what I thought was ethical and just cut cut its head off. And okay, well, I've got my horn, so it's not what I'm hunting. I'm out here to eat, but I'm gonna take the horns back in. Yeah, and at least I know he's dead. Yeah, you know. Um, so I felt like I checked all the boxes. Some point over the years of me just kind of having the rack laying around, he had a drop tying that was on that crazy cold side. I mean, literally it the points are just like this. Um, and it broke. It you can't tell it now at all because the way I fixed it.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:15

But a um so you made like an artificial point or just like.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:19

I used that same point that broke, but I went in and I gotcha. Like I'm gonna do with yours and and really just spent my time on it. But I'm gonna spend as much time on yours like if it would with mine. That's the difference. Yeah. And everything that I touch, you know, it's got my name on it. And it's not even just that, that person has some sentimental value, or they wouldn't be calling it.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:45

It's a perfect time to market yourself because like when you do something for a customer and you make it look like it wasn't broke, that customer's gonna tell that person. Every person they tell that to. Every time. That's what people don't realize. If you do a bad job or you do a really good job, that person's gonna tell the truth.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:08

And that's what's cool about taxidermy, is like everything you send out is an example of your work. You know what I mean? So it's like every piece that you do and you put in somebody's house that they they have buddies that shoot big deer in the future, it's an example of what you can do.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:24

Yep. It doesn't matter if you're building houses, it don't matter if you're building fences, it don't matter what it is. You do a good job and people's gonna know. And uh so so you know, uh, how how can customers find you on the internet? Or or how they contact you?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:39

Like what's your like what socials are you on and and that kind of ordeal? I'm on Instagram. Um I'm on Facebook. On Facebook, it's Wildlife Recreations. Uh what there's a hyphen there. So it's RB. No. Okay. I I plan on it. So wildlife.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:56

All of your work is basically based off of word of mouth. Word of mouth and see that's that's the best business plan. It is, it's the safest one. It is, it is.

Caping Right and Choosing Forms

SPEAKER_03 1:12:05

And and like I said, and being part-time, it keeps me from just being fully assumed with it. Being at work doing my full-time job. And now, of course, you know, my my my boss is is is comfortable with me grabbing uh grabbing the phone as long as I'm continuous working. And I'll I'll send a text like, hey, you can't talk right now. Something like that. It's respectful. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:25

Um but it also allows you to name your price too, because you're that kind of guy that's gonna do the best work. Once you go on the website, you get all these tired kickers and you open yourself up for people to say, hey, this guy's too expensive to go, whatever, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But if you keep it private like that and build your customer base, it's it's the best. It is. It's the best.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:48

I had a I had a gentleman message me on my on my uh, not my personal, but my uh my taxonomy business um messenger on Facebook the other day. And very first thing he said was, How much does it cost for a white tail shoulder mount? Well, to me, some people will say, Well, if you gotta ask how much it costs, you can't afford it. Right. That's not true. Somebody just wants to know what it costs, man. Right. Yeah, just to know. Yeah, yeah. And so, I mean, that's that's the world we live in now. But anyways, um, so I didn't hesitate and I threw it out there. And uh anyways, and he says, uh, so I I seen one of your flyers, and then I I happened to find you on on Facebook. Um and I said, Man, I give 10% off to any any military or first responder. And he says, I am. I said, Okay, well there's there's ten percent off instantly. You know, and and I'm I'm probably gonna change something up too. If some people may lie about it, but it's no big deal. But if it's I don't care if you're five years old or if you're 50, man or a woman, if it's your first kill, it's 10% off too. Yeah. So why I mean, why not? Right. You know? Yeah, it's cool. I mean, it's that's another aspect that makes you a little bit goes a long ways. Helps people. Absolutely. I like that. I need the help. Yeah, bring it to me and I'll help you. Uh if you gotta make payments, you gotta make payments. I get it. You know, nothing's nothing's nothing's cheap. I mean a hundred bucks does not go where it used to. No, not at all. Not at all.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:19

It's only getting worse. Take it$100 at Walmart and see what you come out with. Total paper and Q-tipped. I I don't notice it as bad until we get to until we get to like deer season when I'm buying like batteries, double-A batteries and stuff. It's ridiculous. Because every time I go to Walmart, I gotta buy a couple of sets of batteries. So it don't matter what I'm grabbing. I come out with just carrying two bags and I spend 120 bucks. I'm like, it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:44

Yeah, no kidding. So for customers trying to get a hold of you, uh will will you share your your phone number? Yeah, absolutely. So so what is your phone number?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:54

It's area code 501 Central Arkansas. So 501-339-1698. Okay. So 339-1698. Wildlife Recreations, Taxidermy Studio.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:07

Awesome. And and you expect you you basically you answer questions through your uh your messenger.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:13

I can do messenger, phone number, text, uh, phone number, text, call me. If you want to FaceTime me, I don't, I mean, I don't care. I'm I'm I'm an open book, I'm up front, I'm honest. So if you've got a question, uh hit me with it.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:26

And if you've got a particular mount that you guys are like haven't seen be done, you seem like the guy that can probably bring that to life.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:33

That and you know, if you've got an idea, I'm I'm game for constantly learning and growing. Tell me about it. You know, look, let's try to do this together. Let's make make yours different than everybody else's, even though some people, hey, it's just a deer mount.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:48

So what I really like to do too is I might even order mainly on my own stuff because it would be a little pricey, but I order from a couple different suppliers and then start cutting forms up. People like cutting forms up, cut your cut them forms up, make my own form, different position, have the deer's head you know, completely turned around like an owl, like it's looking behind him. Just stuff that you can't order. I mean, whatever.

Pedestal Wall Mounts and Corners

SPEAKER_02 1:16:15

Because there is standard, there's standard mounts, you know. Like people just go, all right, I want this form, this form, this form, or this form. They give you options. Like a lot of taxonomists just give you options. Right. And like you can't get an exact maybe what you're trying to get.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:28

You know, my goal is in three years to have my place set up to where when you come in, you don't have to look at a catalog. You can pick it off the wall. Right. It'd be cool. Like you just walked into a miniature bash pro shop. Yeah, that's that's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:48

It's easy to it's good, it's good for the person that does not know or they're indecisive. You know, because we call, we're like, all right, what would look cool? And we we look on the internet, we see different mounts. We don't not only do we not know what that mount's called, you know, we're trying to reference all photos off Google, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:04

So it's like it's a you know it's a communication issue. A 5,900 series, this and that, da-da-da. And tax numbers will speak that lingo and just you don't know. No, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:15

I need to see something and be like, yes. Brochure or something.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:18

I can I can see Tim dropping something off and be like, ah, surprise me. Yeah, I mean that's he would do that. And truthfully, it happens all the time.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:25

And if I'm gonna surprise you, yeah, I'm gonna surprise you with some type of pedestal mount. And it don't have to be a pedestal that you have on the floor. So you like pedestal mounts. I love I I love it. You like them more than shoulder mounts? Yeah, so a pedestal mount can also be a pedestal wall mount. Yes, that's what's cool about it. And so example of that. I mean, I think we have a picture of one that I've I've I've sent in. Um, and it's a pedestal mount that's a pedestal wall mount. And we'll see if we can find this up here. That's a pedestal wall mount as well, but it's it's on a pedestal. So that deer could actually be just like that, minus the pedestal, but on the wall. Yes. And you need a little bit more back to it. So when you cape that deer out, do not cut it short. That was one you just passed. I seen it when you're going through. Yeah, the that one, actually, there's that one finished. That one's actually just after it's put together. It's not dried, not done anything. Go, go keep going. But that same deer at the customer's house.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:26

Uh, let's see here. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Oh, that was one. That was one. Go back one. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:42

That that's a pedestal wall mount. Yeah. But you see how much cape you gotta have? Yes, you've got to have a lot more. If you're worried about it, bring me the whole hide. Yeah. Or or start mid-belly. Matter of fact, I'd rather you start just mid-belly and give me four or five inches on both front legs.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:00

Okay. If you if you've cut it, that's fine. I can sew it. Don't cut it out of it. I don't know. I can't sew up a uh, you know, a where you a softball-size hole that's cut out of a deer.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:09

So the best thing when somebody capes at a deer, I think this is a good topic for uh our viewers. So when you when you cape out a deer, you basically gotta turn that deer inside out from right past his shoulders. And if you're speaking And you gotta get the legs out of it, the front legs out of it, which is the hardest. But but can they just cut all the way around the deer, like at their belly? Bin belly, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:30

Okay, then start and then just start pulling it towards the front and then do the front legs that yeah, and then pull the legs out.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:38

Pull the legs out. But how high off the knee do you need the front legs?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:42

I'd go mid leg. Mid leg? Just in case. Because you may you may have in your mind, okay, I'm gonna get this deer mounted, I'm gonna call Joseph, okay? This is what we're gonna do. But then it's come down to it. Say you've already given me your deposit. You you changed your mind. You found something online or a buddy that has or more seen a you've seen a TikTok or reel or whatever, and you're wanting something different now. But you didn't do that when you caped it out, not me, but when you caped it out or had a friend do it because you didn't know how, because that happens a lot. Yeah, you'd be the surprise those that hunt and can't even, you know, can't skin a deer. Right. It's it's fine. You're still out there doing what you love. A lot of people don't like doing the nasty way. No, no, no. But it's it is nasty. I'm sorry. But it is.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:31

That's a typical, that's what you would consider a pedestal.

Clean Shop, Customer Comfort

SPEAKER_03 1:20:34

That's a pedestal. But a pedestal wall mount could even be very just like that, but it's on the wall. Right. So there's just a there's a little place. Which I like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:40

I think it's you know, it's different than a shoulder mount. It adds like a little bit more depth to it, I think. You know, like you see the shoulder mount.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:47

I'd see something like that on my wall because I'm I'm more old school. Get you a good one this year, and we'll do you one. Yeah. I would have to see it on the wall. Uh we have a lot of wall space, but we don't have a lot of floor space in our house.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:58

Yeah, but on the wall, that I'm telling you, those pedestal mounts on the wall look good. Like with the base and everything. No, no, you don't put the base on the wall. You just put that deer on the wall.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:05

No, no, no. That looks good, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:07

Because it adds just a little bit of body to it. I thought we was putting a whole better angle, I feel like. That deer's been hot springs. So that's pretty mount, too. Good gracious. There's uh Oh, I like the corner wall mount. Yep. The corner one. The cool the corner mount's cool. Is that one of that deer's sheds right there? Or is that just another shed?

SPEAKER_03 1:21:27

I don't know what he I don't know what he or she did uh with that one. Um I think it's just kind of a display. All I did was the the the shoulder mount and then they send me, you know, a couple months later.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:38

I've never seen a corner wall mount. That's pretty good. That's where they put most pedestal mounts at, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:43

Yeah, yeah. Uh like uh the whiskey barrel you were talking about earlier would go great right there.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:48

I've I've got a customer that's doing uh who's out of Greenbrier, uh Chad Coney, and I'm I'm gonna end up doing him and his wife's uh both on a whiskey barrel, I believe. We've we've talked about it back and forth this uh and he's changed his mind, and that's fine. But if you if you change your mind, you want to have more how you want to have more cape. So I don't I really like that corner mount. If you uh if you don't, then A, you're not gonna have your cape. You're gonna end up paying for a cape. I'm not gonna provide one for you. I can't eat eat that. You know, I can't eat a couple hundred bucks to get you a cape. If I mess up the cape, of course I'm gonna eat it. Right. But every time you change a cape, all deer are different, just like me and you. Okay, we're completely different. We don't wear the same size shirt, probably. And if we do, yours may fit you different. Okay, well, that deer's antler base, its eye eye distance from its antlers to its eyes and from its eyes to its nose are all just slightly off. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:48

Which makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:49

And so you say you get a new cape and you're putting it on, it's not going to be perfect. You have to adjust. Yep, that one's actually a Texas deer and it's it's done in Texas.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:01

Um, but uh But you can tell that the the cape on that deer right there. That's a Texas deer.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:06

I mean, yeah, it looks like Texas deer real thin, real, real, real thin, short haired. Uh that's a high fence deer. But that's a hell of a deer. Yeah. I'd uh I'd love to have something with an 18-inch G2. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:23

I know, like, to be honest with you, I gotta like squat down, even see the top of its tines. Yeah, that's that's crazy. Well, man, I think this was great. I think that uh we talked about a lot of good stuff. I'm really excited to see what you do with the elk.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:36

Yeah, I think we should I think we should get the elk fix and have another podcast because that'd be a prime example of what you're good at.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:42

Yes, it will show it which it would be a perfect showcase of it.

Time, Life, and Staying Professional

SPEAKER_03 1:23:45

I appreciate it. Uh appreciate you giving me the opportunity. Oh, it'd be awesome. I didn't speak of this, but I will. So uh it aired January 5th, I think was our first air date 2012. Um had a TV show on Animal Planet called uh American Stuffers about taxidermy. Really? I'd love to get in to do something like that again. Yeah, I may go full time if I do that, you know, instead of having to uh to juggle what I love and and what I need for my future. Right. Um but I would love to to get back in and and and have another TV show at some point. Um, but you guys keep it up here. You're you're you're great. I I've watched you for a while and thank you for having me on.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:25

Oh, it's it's an absolute blast. We enjoy it a lot. We enjoy meeting new people and especially people with gifts like you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:32

I mean, I would say it's you know, you're not a normal, you're not your normal everyday taxidermy. You know, you're doing you're doing it a little bit different.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:39

Well, I mean, people are tired of the the norm. Here's here's here's what really really sets me off uh from everybody that I know that does taxidermy here in the state of Arkansas. It's not just a ordering a form, it's not just getting some glue and and and it's not just mounting it. I even do a septum nose. So I cut the nose off that and put a fake nose on it. You can shine a flashlight whenever you get your deer back from me, you can shine a flashlight in its nostrils, see all the veins, everything. You can see the what they call the septum in that deer's nose. It's$150. But that comes with it. Yeah. So whenever I charge you for a shoulder mount, you're getting that with it. Start call around. If you've got a friend or a buddy or an a tax dramatic you used a few years ago, call them and ask them if they're putting a septum in their nose. They're gonna tell you no. So you're just doing every single one of them. Pay attention to the details.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:34

He's just I'm talking about everything you can.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:38

As realistic as it setting there, other than having a heartbeat on your wall. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, I get it 100%. I get it. I think it's awesome. It's awesome. You don't have to feed it, you don't have to water it, you know? Yeah, but it's gonna look as real as it can be. And it's art. Why wouldn't you want the most realistic amount of if it's your buck of your lifetime?

SPEAKER_00 1:25:57

Why wouldn't you do it? The best. And that's what that's what people just don't people just don't know there's an option for that. You know? I mean, they just don't. And it's it's sad, but this is definitely a good opportunity for somebody to learn something. It is. It is. I'll it it's cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:14

And if somebody wants to learn and learn how I do it, I'd be glad to teach them if they you know, like kind of like an apprenticeship.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:20

Well, we can get into that another day. Yeah, you have to have you gotta find the special person that has that drive, like you can't.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:25

Because that's that's gonna be a thing for you. If you were to if you were to expand, do more, and uh say bring somebody in, you know, finding somebody that's passionate enough and willing to learn enough to be able to meet your standards, your quality standards, that that could be difficult. Very difficult.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:46

It's tough for any business, it's tough for my business, it's tough for everything. It's like, you know, nobody's gonna care as much as you do. You do. That's true. And it's so hard to find that. It's so hard to find that. And when you do find that, you know, that person, it's it's special. It's a special, it's a special bond. More likely you become friends, and you know, it just it just goes a lot further than that. Right. You know, just it's just a special person.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:13

The uh the taxidermy thing freaks a lot of people out. You gotta have the stomach for it too, I think, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:27:21

I mean I mean, does all taxidermist stink or just no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:26

Okay, so here's here's the deal. What stinks about a dead animal is obviously anything decaying. Okay, so I've got it way before it ever decays.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:34

You know, um every taxidermist I ever stepped into, it's just I feel like I don't I don't know if it's been too much.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:39

I feel like I gotta take a damn bath and bleach or something. Yeah, I try to I try to like walk around on like tippy toes so less my shoes actually touch it.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:46

I walked in one and my floors, my my crocs are sticking to the floor.

Discounts, Contact, and Next Steps

SPEAKER_03 1:27:50

Oh, dude, I'm gonna throw uh here's what sets me different from somebody else too. Uh so when you you get to my place, you don't see that stuff. Yeah. That is separate. Keep it separate. Yeah. Okay, so say you you or even your your girlfriend or your wife or your daughter has a weak stomach. Okay. And they, you know, they come with you or they've got something their self and they don't want to walk in. They don't the first thing they don't want to smell something nasty. Right. Especially gut-wrenching nasty. I know it. Or see blood all over the floor.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:24

Like you saying that takes me back to when you said earlier with that one mount that had marble, like a marble, you know. Oh, yeah, no, there's no way she would have marble she would have ever walked into it. If she walked into a tax nervous like that, he wouldn't have even been able to compromise with her. You know, she'd have been hurling outside. Yeah, she would have been like, there's no way we're putting or been mortified and been like, we're not doing this everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:45

It's a good business practice, man, because you know, we try to keep our trucks clean, try to keep our place clean. We our plants are swept, our grass is cut, and we try to keep our appearance super, super clean because when customers walk into the building, that they're comfortable.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:58

You will never see uh something like I say uh I'm not to be corny, but this is just the figure of speech. Like you walked into Bass Pro Shop, you don't walk into Bass Pro Shop and see all the nasty and gross and stuff, you know? Everything has to be clean. I get it. Yeah, the when you when you drop off your deer, that's the last time you've seen that deer in that state of it being dead, and then whenever you pick it back up, it's alive again, you know, so to say, but you don't ever see any of that. I keep that separate. And the shop that I learned in, it's it's stunk. There was fly strips everywhere. Um you know, sometimes you may come in and do a cleaning, and there's not to be any certain way, but if this is life, there's maggots and stuff. And nine out of ten places are like that. Some places are a little cleaner, but you guys aren't the cleanest. I mean, come on. You know, I am, you know, uh of a very clean neat freak. Well, I keep my shop that way. And this is why, like I said, I'd I I don't want you to bring and it's and not picking on females. There's a lot of female hunters, you know, especially now compared to what there used to be. But females don't want to come in because this like I said, there's times and if that stuff sets there, especially overnight, it's stinking the next day. Stinking. Yeah. And it don't take much to stink up the whole place. Yes. That's the thing about the thing. It still stinks for a while. You've got to air that place out. You've got to clean it. I mean, clean it.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:29

If I walked in your if I walked in your place and your place was spotless and clean, I didn't get a bad smell, I would you would get my business. Yeah. Because I knew that if you took time, because it costs money to keep your shop clean. Okay. So that's what people don't understand. You walk into a place and it's super clean, it costs you money to keep that shop clean. Either you can clean your shop or you can be stuffing animals, whatever you want to do, but it's going to cost you money no matter what you do. It's going to cost time. So to me, if you took time out of your schedule to clean your place, that would tell me that you're getting money, you know, I'm giving you my business. But a good hour a day. Absolutely. It costs you money.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:08

And it's not just at the end of the day. When you get there and you start working, whether it's, you know, sometimes for me, seven o'clock of at night, you know, say I'm going to go work until midnight, I'll spend the first 10 minutes making sure all my stuff is organized from the last time I did anything, clean up, you know, anything that I may have overlooked. You got to get in the habit of doing certain things to do it, in my opinion, correctly. So the last bit of the you it ain't just, I don't care how tired you are. I just want to take a shower and go to bed. Clean your place. Yeah, yeah. You're not going to clean it up. And then you didn't just go out there and go mud riding with your buddies and then come home and get in bed. Yeah. Yeah. You took a shower.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:51

Hopefully you didn't walk through the plant and that plant's not clean, we're shutting down production. Absolutely. It's getting cleaned. And the the guys will totally fit. I mean, look, we're not walking through this plant. It's not going to get dirty. You're going to throw your trash away. You're going to take care of your stuff. And it's going to look clean. Or we're not building boats until it's clean. Right. You know, so it goes a long way. It goes a long ways. But man, this has been an awesome podcast. It has, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:15

I'm totally glad we linked up and I'm excited to see what you do with the elk. And I mean, we got we definitely got to come back and do it again for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:21

So we got we got the elk and we got three uh uh we got elk we need fixed and we got three elk we need amount.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:28

All right.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:28

Here's something else. And not just because if you bring me more than one item, you start getting discounts. Yeah. So yeah, it makes sense. You know.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:36

Oh yeah. We we work. Steady we work on that.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:40

That ain't just for you guys. That's for that's for anybody. I don't care if it's my neighbor, I don't care if it's a buddy, I don't care if I don't know you. Right. You know, the more you bring me.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:48

Yep.

Closing and Upcoming Elk Showcase

SPEAKER_03 1:32:48

Um, but things are also in a timely manner. And so I've strived on that. I've gone through a divorce this year and unexpected things in life happen, unfortunately. So I've I've I've gotten to where I'm sitting here like, hey, I've got I've got about 10 whites that need to get back. Yeah. And they even been a year, right, you know. But uh they they gotta get back. Or they could have took them to somewhere else. That's right. I gotta remember that. That's right. They could have took them to somewhere else. Some of these some of these guys have got stuff that's paid for in full. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:24

Yeah. Or they all have a deposit at least. Right. And so, hey, I've got to keep the wolves away. It's gonna get done. But other than this happening in my life, usually my turnaround's about six, six months, maybe eight. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:37

That's good. That's a lot quicker than some. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:39

Some of them are two or three years. And I get that, but I don't. And if you'll look at their stuff or you call them or you'll show up over there, they're only working three or four days a week. You know. Most of them are hunting. Most of them are hunting season.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:52

That's that's the thing about taxes.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:54

And that that gets in that gets into interference. I get that. Yeah. Go hunt that morning, get off the stand or decide to hunt that afternoon, whatever. But if you'll put in a half day's work, anyways. Yeah. That's better as work.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:06

Nothing.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:06

Yeah. Uh seven days a week if you have to. If you if you're one of them that wants to work on the Lord's Day, do it. If you're not, then you know, take your Sunday off, work six days a week. You can still go to your kids' ball games. You can still have family time. Or if you're single, you know, you can still do you. I get that. But go to work. And if you would go to work, I don't care if you're a one-man show or you got four people in Taxi Temer Shop, you should never be past 12 months ever. I don't care how much you take out.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:34

Yeah, don't take uh more work in, you can get out.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:36

That's that's true too, you know. For sure. I greatly appreciate it, guys. I appreciate you coming.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:41

Yeah, well that wraps this up, guys. Leave a like, subscribe, hit the bell for notifications, and look out for more in the future. It's gonna be good. We're gonna get the elk back, and hopefully we got a step by step video of it, and we'll we'll discuss it and show you what he can do. We appreciate you guys, and uh catch you on the next one.