Taxidermist Recommendations

[colonel00]

As part of the planning for this year's trip, it only makes sense to have an option to leave an animal with a taxidermist in Alaska should either my father or I get one we deemed worthy of a full shoulder mount or even keeping it in velvet. I expect it to probably cost a bit more, especially with shipping back down here but this might be my father's only chance at a caribou.

 

[Bambistew]

Where are you flying/hunting out of?

Shipping will cost quite a bit for sure. Not really sure that the taxi work up here is any better than what you can find down south for the most part. IMHO, the vast majority of the taxidermy work I've seen here in AK is pretty average, with a few exceptions. The price you pay will be at least 20-50% more than down south... So with shipping costs you could easily end up paying 2x as much. You could pay top dollar in your location for a high quality taxidermist and be money ahead having it done there, IMO.

I would contact D&C Expediters, they offer "cheap" shipping of antlers/capes. Good guys to work with.

 

[mtnclimber]

The only taxidermy work in alaska that has blown me away is Dave winney from valdez sheep mounts. Ive seen about 30 of his sheep and all of them are beyond incredible. Other than that i can't recommend any consistently amazing taxi work in AK.

For a caribou i would just have it done in the states like Bambi suggested.

 

[colonel00]

Well, for this trip it looks like we are going to fly into Anchorage since that is where I could book free flights with credit card miles. I haven't setup the return trip yet but it is so much cheaper to fly out of Anchorage ($229/person) than out of Fairbanks ($538/person) that it might be worth the $200 for a one-way car rental from Fairbanks. There are cheaper flights out of Fairbanks but they have 2 stops and take forever and I don't want to risk having the meat go bad.

Anyway, it has been suggested to have the hide tanned and the antlers cleaned or preserved up there and then shipped to my preferred taxidermist down here. Thoughts on that?

Mostly I just want to mitigate the risk of having something happen to my father's hide should we run into complications with flights. I will definitely talk with D&C Expeditors as that looks like a good option too.

 

[Bambistew]

Do you have a taxidermist lined up at "home?" If so talk to him and find out how he likes his capes.

Talk to him about velvet preservation. There are a few methods out there and depending on how much time you have between your hunt and when you get back to town willl determine the best method. IMO, sometimes velvet can't be saved if they're close to stripping it. I got lucky a few years back and took a nice bull. I ended up dropping it off at a place that does freeze drying (Fox Taxidermy in Wasilla) The temps were cold, and I worked out as much blood as I could from the velvet. I think I dropped it off 4 days after I shot it. The antlers had to be cut off to put in his freezer. I put them back on a skull and it turned out great.



I killed a bull last year that was half stripped and half in velvet. Once you peel the velvet the antlers are really white and pours. I suggest leaving it on for a while before stripping it. The blood will give them some color, and then stain them with mud and pine pitch from bows. My bull turned out really nice and dark. Ask a taxidermist about this, as this was my first attempt at leaving velvet/blood on antlers. I might have got lucky.

Sorry, no after pic... but the antlers are dark chocolate brown and look pretty natural. I could polish them up a bit more and get the right sheen, but there good enough for me. The top of the white antler was hard to color, as the velvet was stripped by the bull prior to me shooting him, and it was raining so the blood was washed off. I stripped the rest of the velvet on that antler, it looks pink... it turned brown after a couple weeks. The other antler I stripped the next day, it was redish brown as well after being bright red.

For the cape, at a minimum learn how to flesh and turn lips/eyes/nose/ears and salt it. If it salted you can bring it home with you on the plane, otherwise leave it with D&C to finish drying along with your antlers. They also offer fleshing/salting for a nominal fee. I suggest you let them do it if you are only a couple days from the time the animal is dead to its salted. If its cool the cape will be fine for a few days, keep it dry... If you're going to be more than say 3-4 days from getting it to them or to a freezer, or its warm, flesh and salt that puppy.

Good luck on your hunt!

 

[AZinAK]

Jesse at Dahlberg's Taxidermy in Palmer does pretty good caribou. Not sure if he personally can preserve the velvet, but I'm sure if he can't he has someone that does it for him. He's prior military and very helpfull with info pre and post hunt. Always hit your taxidermist up before heading to the field so you know how to proper skin the animal dependant on the mount you want done. They can also give you tips/tricks and a timeline of when you need to try and have it to them so it doesn't turn (hair slip/spoil). I shot a nice bull out of the 40 mile herd in 06' and had the velvet preserved at Knights Taxidermy. That's about as much as I'd have done there though. As far as bears and sheep go, I have to echo mtnclimber in that Dave Winney does AMAZING work with both. I don't doubt that he does great work with anything else, but those two I have seen a lot of and have a black bear done by him and they are all beautifully done. Bears and sheep won't go anywhere else for me.

AZinAK

 

[AZinAK]

Here is the bear of mine that Dave did.



AZinAK