tomgobbler

One of the pair following us .

It took 22 bonus points for my son to draw a Goulds tag- one of my friends had a Rancher that he had helped with some work that had some birds on it that was going to let us hunt - well between the draw and the hunt the ranch sold and new owners wouldn’t let anyone on it. So we were at square one going into the hunt . however after looking at the map and talking to the same friends we found a spot we figured had some birds with public access - and were able to get it done opening day. That was after having a mountain lion trail us down a wash - and seeing the blackest rattle snake I have ever seen . And then on the way home that night seeing the big fire between Eden and Fort Thomas . Another great day spent with some of my boys . 10” beard - 7/8” spurs - typical Gould’s snowy white tips. if anyone can turn pictures lease feel free - I still havnt figured that out .

Thought ide share a “white” buffalo with everyone - not really white per se, but really cool coloring regardless .

Hey chef javelina hair works great for tieing flys - ive got a guy in Wyoming that ties for a big shop , & he contacts me every year to get a left over piece , cause it works so well . txt me your shipping adress if you don’t get what you need , I’ll send ya some stuff.

Yea you’re not the first one to see “Cape buffalo “ - ….. but yea just a “Texas style “ water buffalo …..

Thought ide share a water buffalo -I finished , dont get to see them everyday- Have no idea why pic came sideways - someone feel free to turn them

Just finished up this bull for a client - Ive never seen blonde stripes in velvet before - this was the main one but the same shape and pattern went up the brow time about 4 times , getting fainter and fainter as it went up towards the tip .

Any coues capes in your freezers that your wife is tired of moving around to get to the steak - had a couple clients go to Mexico and not get across the border with their capes .

U can shoot a cow for about $3k at the hunting ranch in woodruff - have a hide - skull and get it processed how you want -

I don’t know how old she is , but if she’s out of school do her a favor and send her to a good taxidermy school ….. I’ll tell ya what a really good thing would be for her if she really wants to get into it - is birds - if you sent her to a good bird course / or personal school - there are some great one on one or small class schools - And if she would specialize in ducks / birds she could stay as busy as she wanted and be very successful- she wouldn’t have to be lifting and dealing with big elk and buffalo forms and heavy hides - she could work on the delicate and very detail oriented birds - with quite a bit less “manual” labor - not saying she can’t do that too - but if she would specialize in birds and get really good at it - a lot of other shops would send their work to her - a lot of them don’t do birds and she wouldn’t be competing with them . And a good bird taxidermist is hard to find around here - I get more and more calls every winter for ducks and geese , people having a hard time finding someone to do them ….. and i take them but would rather not ….. I know she could do pretty well if she would specialize in that …… Just food for thought ……. if you want to bring her down to Taylor some time ide be happy to show her my shop and visit with her and answer any general questions she might have …… I went to an 8 week school in Iowa - between my “regular” college semesters at NAU one summer in 1997 I think it was ….

Good luck to her - women make great taxidermist - but don’t say All companies up here have a 2 year wait - agreed MOST DO, but I’ve been doing it close to 30 years & have maintained a 6 month turn around , with few exceptions . And 80% less than that …..

The main one I use is Wildlife Fur Dressing in ceres CA . They can’t except mountain lions because of Ca no lion hunting laws - so I have several tanneries for different reasons , but I’ve used Wildlife fur for about 30 years ….

How did the taxidermist ruin it ? I baught 5 , coming from Wyoming next week - I haven’t seen them yet to check them out , but would sale ya one of them if they are as good as they are suppose to be . But won’t know tell I get my hands on them - they are wet tanned .

Just a reminder for all the late hunters - check those monitors - when running your heaters in this cold ! I needed an antelope cape for a replacement from one of my clients that ruined his this year - and I’ve got a good friend in Wyoming , that has a good friend that’s a taxidermist there , so I reached out to him this week to have him ask the guy if he had some extras - and he Informed me of the very sad & tragic news that his buddy and another friend had went on a hunt a few weeks ago and went to bed that night and neither one ever woke up …. have fun on your hunts , but most importantly make it back to your families ! Good luck to everyone !