Eastern Screech Owl Mount for River Bend Nature Center

Finished Screech Owl Mount 

Garry recently mounted a Grey Phase Eastern Screech Owl for the River Bend Nature Center in Racine, Wisconsin.  The owl had flown into a window and was given to the nature center. Birds of prey are federally protected and cannot be possessed by private individuals. A federally licensed taxidermist can mount them for museums, nature centers, schools and other institutions with a federal salvage permit. 

The photos below show the procedure for mounting the owl.

Skinned owl with head inverted. 

Fleshed skin with wings and legs inverted and skull cleaned. Large eyecups are cleaned and left in the skull.  The skin is washed and dried to get it ready to mount. 

Glass eyes set in eye cups.

Mounted Screech Owl with pins and cards to hold feathers in place. 

Finished Screech Owl mount with habitat. 

Mounting a Life Size Stone Sheep

Here's another completed project. Below, Garry narrates the process for mounting this Stone Sheep from British Columbia. You can see by the many other projects in the shop photos, that he's been very busy! 

Finished Stone Sheep Mount

This Stone Sheep was harvested in British Columbia by a client who is creating a display of life size mounts of his "Grand Slam" of sheep of North America. The "Grand Slam" is a collection of four North American sheep, and includes the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, The Desert Bighorn Sheep, The Stone Sheep from British Columbia and the Dall Sheep from Alaska, Yukon and Northwest Territories. 

This sheep was shot in the neck with the bullet exiting the left side of the face. There was major damage to the skin, which needed to be repaired. The client called me from British Columbia explaining the damage and was worried about having it repaired. I told him that if all the pieces were there, I would probably be able to fit it all together. 

The skin was tanned at  Carolina Fur Dressing and Rick Morgan's crew did a great job of working around the damaged areas. It was like a jigsaw puzzle putting this all together. It took about four hours to arrange the skin in its proper position, trying it on the mannikin and checking hair patterns. I was pleased with the repairs and I have mounted sheep with more damage and scars from fighting. The mannikin and artificial rock were purchased from  McKenzie Taxidermy Supply Company. 

Mannikin attached to artificial rock. 

Damage from bullet exit wound below left eye.

Sewing the damaged face and checking hair patterns. 

Sewing the tanned skin

Repairs completed.

Mannikin didn't need much alteration.

Relief cuts were made in the groin area of the mannikin.
A dorsal cut was used so the skin will be applied to the mannikin on its back. 

Gluing the legs

Skin is positioned and I started to sew the seams. 

Leg seams are sewn and threaded rods will anchor the mount to the rock.
Testicles are carved from styrofoam. 

Glue applied to the mannikin. 

Skin pulled into proper position.

Face skin lowered while eyes are set into position. 

Horns are affixed with Bondo to the skull and the skullcap is affixed to the mannikin with screws and Bondo. 

Eyes are set in clay and nose detail is sculpted in clay. 

Skin is positioned on mannikin and the full length dorsal incision is sewn. 

Pins are put in place in depressions to hold the skin while drying.
Face detail is also pinned.  

After drying, detail work is finished around the face and feet. 

Finished mount showing where damage on the face was repaired. 

The mount, including the artificial rock, was created to be
hung on a wall when complete. 

Dall Sheep from Northwest Territories, for the same client.

Rock Base created by Dale Manning of Habitat Rock, Missoula, Montana

Mounting a Life Size Leopard

Here's what Garry has to say about this project. 

This leopard was collected in Namibia by a client. It was a very large cat, it was not weighed but it was one of the largest cats I've ever worked on. It was bigger than a 165 lb leopard I did a few years ago. I had to alter the largest leopard form I could get, to make it bigger and to fit the artificial tree branch it would be perched on. 

The leopard form was purchased from Research Mannikins Taxidermy Supply in Oregon. This form was sculpted by Bill Lancaster, who does great cats. 

Form before alterations

Fitting the form to the artificial branch. 

The branch was purchased from McKenzieTaxidermy Supply

Form before hip alteration.

I had to cut the form in half to alter the angle of the hips. 

Mounting a Lion-Pedestal Shoulder Mount

Finished Mount

Originally the client wanted this lion to be a life-sized mount. It was collected in Tanzania. After over a year of waiting to have the skin shipped from Tanzania, when it arrived from the tannery, there was a lot of damage to the skin. It's not possible to say where the damage took place. Therefore, we decided to do a pedestal shoulder mount.  

The photos below show the process of creating the mount. 

Artificial jaws are fitted to the manikin.

Jaws reattached and ready to mount.

Rex Visits the Shop

The youngest visitor to the shop & home display area!   

Smile! Show us your teeth! Skull is from a 10 foot alligator,
usually kept on a shelf, not on the sofa. 

 Earlier this month our youngest grandchild, Rex, came to visit with his parents from California. He's not even 2, so we thought he might be afraid of some of the animal mounts, especially the huge caribou head in the living room, but he wasn't. He knows many animals by sight, learned some new ones, and had fun in Grandpa Garry's Museum of Natural History. 

Growling like a bear for Dad & Grandma,

Meeting the Silver Fox - just my size! 

Lion Mount in Progress
We'll post more photos when it is done, and on a base. 

Petting the Mountain Goat
We'll have a full post on the goat mounting process later. 

Happy Grandma, having all 4 kids in the same state for a few days!
Lily, Rex, Sierra and Justin

Warthogs - Cute or Ugly?

Mounting a Warthog

Garry mounted a warthog for a customer who collected the animal in Botswana. Warthogs are found in most areas of the southern two-thirds of Africa. The customer wanted the skull cleaned and finished in an antique copper patina. Garry casted the tusks and put the cast tusks into the shoulder mount and the real tusks are in the finished skull. The tusks should be removed every two years and lightly oiled with mineral oil or they will crack. 

Finished Warthog Mount

Cleaned skull with antique copper finish & real tusks inserted.

Warthog form with tusks fitted to manikin.

Warthog tanned cape ready to be added to the form.

Glass eyes are set in clay and form is covered with glue.

.

Turing the mount over allows Garry to sew the seams. 

Tusks are added back into the manikin.

Glued and pinned.

 Pins hold everything in place while it dries.

After drying, the skin color is restored with paint.

Finished mount