Keeping Busy...

Finished a couple of fish...

Took in some Deer...A real nice one for south Florida...

And this monster from Kansas...Being fed-exed here as we speak! All I can say is WOW! Just WoW.

In the mean time...I have this sailfish restoration that is sucking my will to live. I vastly underestimated the amount of work this was going to be...

Mo betta gators....

Biggest one I have ever seen came in today.
Ironically, this one was killed by a skilled taxidermist.
He enlisted the help of myself and Skinning and Grinning to complete the monumental chore of skinning and fleshing it. 12'3" and 800 pounds. The 2000lb crane gave out shortly after this picture.

Choot it Lizbit...we got us a tree-shaka! Alligator Taxidermy

The popularity of "Swamp People" on the history channel has boosted Florida's Alligator hunting sales.
As a result all manner of Yankees are heading down, not for the beaches of West Palm, but the swamps and sloughs in pursuit of one of the world's oldest and greatest predators.
I hadn't given Alligator taxidermy much thought, until the phone started ringing.As I always do things the right way, and never risk a customers hide,I started working weekends for an outfit called "Skinning and Grinning". They skin alligators and prepare the meat for the processor. A top notch outfit in Palm Beach County. In addition to putting a few bucks in my pocket, I was able to obtain some test samples to see if my tan would work on these beasts. My goal is to offer a life like representation of alligators as far removed from the crappy marble eyed novelties seen in souvenir shops as a 1982 yugo is from a 2012 RR phantom.

The tanning experiment worked. We started with the cast off portion if the skin that is typically thrown away when skinned for the leather industry. It was a success to say the least. I think that they make a good trophy in their own right, and hope that more people will want to keep them instead of wasting them in the landfill. A great way to have your cake and eat it too. Process the leather for sale, or goods (purses wallets, boots, motorcycle seats etc...) and still have something that demonstrates the truly impressive size of the animal.

Then the next step was the heads. The Tan worked flawlessly and much like all things in taxidermy a premium (expensive) eye makes a huge difference. This is a work in progress, and I still have to make the throat, tongue and finish the back.