Sorry Guys Ive been fricken swamped. Well the bad about these types of courses is you need to take about 10 of them to really figure out what your doing. Its a quick course that you really see the basics.
The Thing is you need to learn how to be good at doing the prep first . Taxidermy is 75% prep, all you are doing is prep, it sucks
Its all the prep that needs to be Taught , learned and masterd first to even think of doing descent work. Learning how to properly take care of a skin is the first step in taxidermy . Master this first and you are on your way. Next is tanning, its a whole nother school to learn this properly , find a good reputible tannery (Im on my 3rd one and finally found a good one) or learn the propper ways to tan , there is more to it than throwing the cape in a tub of alum and salt , dont shortcut the tanning if you want mounts that will last and look good. Quality Tanning / shaving is key to great taxidermy. You cant learn this stuff in 10 days .
Next would be learning how to properly measure your capes to order forms that fit correctly , easier said than done. I take measurements off of the raw animals for referance, take key measurememnts off the antlers to get the corect angle on the antlers when I pur them on the form.
Prepping a tanned cape , doing this properly is a MUST . I have plenty of people doing there own stuff stop buy for advice and 99% is improperly prepping the tanned cape or even the raw cape.
Next would be form prep , not doing this correctly and making needed changes your mount will not look good. Alot of my time is spent on the forms .
There is much much more ,Im just trying to make a point. Its doing this with repetition is where you will earn how to properly do things correctly . Having an instructor by your side showing the correct ways of doing this over and over is key . Just showing how to do it once or twice wont suffice.
The School I reccommended to him is The Pennsylvania Institute of Taxidemy , a 27 week course that will run you through erything from starting a buisness , pricing you work to succeed, to putting out quality work without the struggle. It will teach you how to do things correctly and the instructors can go into greater detail with more time , and you learn with REPETITION . Your not going to mount 1 thing , you will mount many things with the instructor there teaching you how to correctly do things, helping you along the way , showing you techniques and making sure you understand how to do them . This is a True Taxidermy School .
In hind sight , I wish I would have went this route instead of learning on my own . The struggles I have gone through figuring out how to manage money , run a buisness, be organised, just learning the buisness aspect of the whole thing. For 90% of taxidermists they struggle with the buisness part thats why so many fail. I fully beleive that this is one of the few schools that make it a point to actually teach the buisness end of taxidermy.
Of course With any Taxidermy course you will learn something , but from the people I have talked to over the many years in Taxidermy that have went to taxidermy "school" , most have said it was a waist of time and money. If a guy is seriouse about getting into taxidermy to actually start a buisness, this Reinhart class is not the class to go to. There are definately better schools to look into . This one is just a quick run through of basics.
I recommend The Pennsylvania Institute of Taxidermy Inc. but it is not for everyone. You have to have the time , money, and mindset to go. Trust me I understand this part completely because I seriousely thought about going myself after being a taxidermist for 14 years , really only been full time since September of 2007. Its just not going to happen . I was hoping to be able to just take the buisness end of the taxidermy course but its not split up ..
Hope that helps a little to maybee understand . I had alot of advice from really good taxidermists when I was getting into taxidermy That I did not take and wish I would have . I discarded a bunch of crap from other atxidermists that arent in buisness anymore also. Advice is advice , use what you can or dont use it . I just didnt want people to think I reccommended that Reinhart School. Ther are quite a few other schools out there, Montana School of Taxidermy is one I have had mixed reveiws from past students on, good and bad. I have seen work from guys that have gone there and the work that they did in school looked good but the work they do now doesnt look nearly as good. I think that with more time and repetition with a good instructor they would do better work. Some people just have a good eye and natural talent for taxidermy, others do not. Taxidermy is art, not everyone is good at art . Its not for everyone.
