Dan Rinehart Taxidermy school

[bowhunterforever]

Have any of you taxidermists or anybody ever heard of Dan Rineharts taxidermy school and have any thoughts about it? I have been looking at taxidery schools and thought i would ask if anybody has heard of this one? Thanks

[bucklucky]

Yes I have heard of it. Youll learn some of the basics Im sure.

[bowhunterforever]

Do you think it would be a school worth going to?

[bucklucky]

PM BLKBEARKLR and ask him about the school he went to 2 years ago. I believe it was in Montana. He can probably put you in the right direction. I am pretty much self taught, so Im no help if you want to go to school.

[furbearer365]

Missoula Valley School of Tax.  Tim Wood is a great teacher, and the area is beautiful.

[gasman]

Rogers taxadermy in Lakewood offers classes.

Roger has done a few things for me and a few friends. Not bd of a little shop.

[Michelle_Nelson]

I have heard that Second Nature School of Taxidermy is a good one.  School is only for the basics.  They will teach you about 2% of what you should know.  The other 98% will come from doing. 

I am pretty much self taught and have never attended a Taxidermy school.  I have seen some good ones and I have seen some really bad ones.  Be careful, take your time, and do the reasurch befor picking a school. 

[WCTaxidermy]

I second what Michelle said.  Excellent advise.  John 

[furbearer365]

Being self taught is fine when you have done it for 20 years but i personally don't believe in "learning the basics" on someones elses trophy.  Watching a pro do it first hand will give you years on anyone who learns from a book.  You owe it to yourself and your customers to give them the best work.  Don't just be another fly by night taxidermist and do it the easy way, spend the money and learn, i am telling you, it will pay of.  All taxidermist develope their own techniques with everything they do, I don't do all the same things i learned in school, i tweeked it all, but i could not imagine mounting a bear or bugling elk without watching with my own two eyes.  That is just my 

[Elkstuffer]

Missoula Valley School of Tax.  Tim Wood is a great teacher, and the area is beautiful.

I went to MVST  as Tim was purchasing the school from Steve Fundum. Tim's a great guy and the area is awesome.

I also agree with Mechelle. You'll learn the basics but the majority is hands on and not being afraid to try new things and ideas.

[fishcrazy]

I would never take my stuff to some fly by night guy who had never gone to school!!! NO WAY!!!! Not willing to let them learn on my trophy.

Hey bucklucky nice job on that white tail you did for me.  

Some guys just have natural talent that can't be learned from a school. 

Kris

[Houndhunter]

ya i was thinkin a class out in maybe skookumchuck or somethin would be perfect

[furbearer365]

Hey fishcrazy, i am sensing some sarcasm.  By no means was i saying that learning on your own was not possible or even probable.  Buck and Michelle are great taxidermists and would let them mount anything i shot, but not knowing someone and their artistic ability, my first thought would be go to school and learn taxidermy hands on, then come home a tweek it to fit your standards.  I guarentee they are the exception and not the rule.  With that said, schooling does not guarantee perfection and books and videos don't mean horrible work, each person is different, but still would have to recommend school to the average joe.  To much goes with taxidermy to just wing it and hope it comes out.  I hope Buck and Michelle that you did not think i meant that anyone who learns on their own are fly by night, believe me your work is outstanding and would recommend you to anyone i know.

[Michelle_Nelson]

I agree school will give you a heads start on doing Taxidermy versus learning by yourself.  Most people couldn't put the time or $$ into taxidermy when they were fisrt starting out like I was able to. 

[BLKBEARKLR]

Have any of you taxidermists or anybody ever heard of Dan Rineharts taxidermy school and have any thoughts about it? I have been looking at taxidery schools and thought i would ask if anybody has heard of this one? Thanks

Now to answer your question, I went to Dennis Rinehart which is the uncle to Dan Rinehart. I can tell you that it was a top notch school and that you got to learn the basics. I have met dan talked to him one on one and he runs his school about the same as Dennis does.

Some of the things that I did not like about Dan's school is he will push all his products on you so you do not get to see what kind of other forms are out there. They will make it easy for you and have you use the eyes right mannequins so you do not have to set eyes. In my opinion that was a bad thing for me to learn I still have to sit and play with the eye to make it look right. They teach the basic 7 colors to paint all fish, to me again bad idea. I have since spent well over a 1000.00 on different paints and scale tippings and learned to tie the paints in scale tip. So like said it is a very basic class but you WILL learn from it. The only thing you have to decide when you get back is do you stick with what they taught you or do you challenge yourself to be better.
I am not in any way bad mouthing the school it is designed to teach you the basics. You gain enough knowledge there to give you the confidence of advancing. When I first got back from school I bought a lot of animals and mounted them myself at my expense to make sure that I did not screw up someone's trophy. As a fellow hunter I know what it is like to bring your trophy to a taxidermist and they do something to it. Or better yet you have to wait over a year to get it back. That is why I started doing this. If you would like to talk one one about it PM and I will give you my home number and we can run through some things with you.
Good Luck in whatever course of action you decide
Joe

[bowhunterforever]

Thanks for the info guys! I did alittle looking around on taxidermy net forum last night and i found a thrend about dan rinehart's school most people who go there say it was a waste of there money. Seems like second nature's school is one of the best schools in the country.

[bucklucky]

I would say your best bet would be to get in with a real good local Taxi if you can, one that actually knows how to run a buisness and does good work. More than likely you'll learn more of everything and get paid to do it. But then again.....the person has to be a good teacher and buisness person.