Here is a handsome drake wood duck for Stewart W.  I hope to take this bird to a taxidermy competition in May.

Here are a few mounts that I completed today and are ready to be picked up.  The coyote is for David R., the sitting grey fox is for Danielle V., the walking fox is for David M. and the fox standing on the stump is for Teresa S.

Today’s project was a Tundra swan for Rick T.  A swan is one of the most challenging birds to mount due to the size of the bird.  This swan has a 5 and a half foot wing span tip to tip and is 4 and a half feet from tail to bill.  It takes very heavy gauge wires in the wings and neck to support this pose.  Also, it takes a half inch thick steel rod to support the shear weight of such a heavy bird.  All these things insure that the mount will be sturdy and will lessen the risk of damage to the mount during transport.

Today I finished up a coyote that will be going in a local archery shop.  The owner wanted to recreate the moment that he harvested the animal with his bow.  After the mount is dry it will be added to the base and the arrow will be installed.  Each wrinkle on the muzzle of the coyote was sculpted by hand and the eyes were rotated to be focused on the fletching end of the arrow.

Due to family illnesses, I haven’t been able to spend much time in the shop this week.  What little time I was able to find, I used to complete some of the finishing details and habitat construction on some mounts that I did a few weeks ago.  The 2 flushing black ducks are for Jim C. as well as the mallard X black duck hybrid.  The coyote is for David R.

Here are 2 grey foxes that just got mounted.  The fox standing on the stump is for Teresa S. and the one walking on the rock is for David M.

Here are some mounts that have just been completed.  The hooded merganser is for Stewart G. and the mallard is for Robert H.

Somewhere underneath all of the blue tape is a beautiful specimen of a mallard x black duck hybrid for Jim C.  The key features of this type of hybrid is the overall dark body color of the bird, along with the white margins above and below the blue on the bird’s wing.  Another giveaway is a stripe of green feathers behind the eyes that may be hard to see in this photo.

Here are 2 soft tanned raccoon pelts for Matthew H. that I finished up this week.