To Score or not to Score

Copyright © 2009 Anne Vinnola

Frequently our taxidermy studio resembles an old time feed store, with friendly, excited people hanging around telling their hunting stories, photos and sharing bits of wisdom. Hunters are proud of their animals and love to show them off. Each animal  coming in the door is a trophy to someone , be it the first spike shot by a young hunter, or a three inch trout caught by someone’s granddaughter.   Several times each hunting season an animal is brought in to the shop that stops everyone in their tracks.  The hunter and staff members are pretty sure they have a “trophy book” animal and everyone gathers around to see. 

 As a Master Measurer for Safari Club International, my husband Jerry is asked to score many gorgeous animals.    Saying you have an animal that made a trophy record book is a great reward, but is it necessary?   

To some people, keeping track of scores is only a way for people to boast about their kill, adding proof that “mine is bigger than yours.”  While crowing over a big kill can be a really nice piece of the puzzle, there is much more involved in record keeping and to the clubs in charge of classifying the animals. Trophy record books are used extensively for conservation purposes; a tool used by state and federal wildlife agencies alike.   Herd size, condition, and range and habitat stability over several years can be tracked and managed with the aid of these records.

  Finding out which book your animal qualities for can be more complicated and breaking down the different scoring methods, qualifications and philosophies gets really tricky

Safari Club International, Boone and Crockett, Pope and Young are some of the most recognized trophy record keeping clubs in the United States today.  There are smaller organizations in most states with some of the different clubs such as fishing clubs and turkey clubs.

Safari Club International is an organization dedicated to the protection of hunters and hunting all over the world, their main focus is conservation, and protecting our hunting heritage through hunting legislation, and chapter involvement at the community level. SCI hosts the most comprehensive record keeping system worldwide and recognizes all aspects of an animal stating that size matters as much as or perhaps more than perfection.  SCI recognizes animals taken with a rifle, bow, handgun, or muzzleloader.  There are categories for both free range and estate or high-fence harvested animals.    SCI has two types of measurer; official scorer and master scorer.  For most trophies, official scoring is all that is required. If an animal may potentially be a top ten contender, it has to go through a drying period and be rescored by a master measurer. 

The Boone and Crockett Club was established in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt along with several other influential men of his time and has a rich and fascinating history. Through conservation efforts they saved Yellowstone Park and set fair chase guidelines that are still in practice today. President Roosevelt understood the need to conserve and manage our rapidly vanishing wildlife while at the same time preserving our right to hunt.  The Boone and Crockett trophy record book is dedicated to firearm harvested North American game.  The system places emphasis on the symmetry of a rack and penalizes portions of the rack that are non-symmetrical resulting in  well-matched trophies placing higher than mismatched trophies of comparable size. 

Pope and Young Club was founded in 1961 and named after pioneer bowhunters Dr. Saxton Pope and Arthur Young.  Pope and Young with their scoring patterned after Boone and Crockett is dedicated specifically to the archery enthusiast.

 Animals deemed trophy book animals are those which have made the minimum score to qualify for a particular record keeping organization. These minimum numbers are usually posted online.   A certified measurer for your club will also have this information.  Getting an initial measurement on your own helps you know if you are close to the minimum requirements. Usually there are printable measuring instructions on the club websites.   Contact the organization you wish to be recorded with to have them give you the name of a measurer in your area. 

            Most often you will need to be a member of the organization in question in order to have your animal considered for a trophy record book.  Membership may be included in your registration fee if you are not yet a member.   Most of these organizations have implemented record keeping as a service to their patrons.

The hunter needs to take several good field pictures of the animal and rack from different angles. 

            Remember a trophy is in the eye of the beholder and all harvested animals are important.  Just because it doesn’t “make book” doesn’t mean it is not something to be extremely proud of.   A well worn book of snapshots depicting sensational hunting trips is every bit as important, if not more so than making a record book entry.  Record books change every 3 years or so, but fond memories never do.

Each of the aforementioned organizations recognizes that our best conservation efforts are in the lessons we teach to our children and grandchildren through positive hunting experiences. 

Jerry and Anne Vinnola are the owners of the  Big Timber South Taxidermy Studio  in Canon City, Colorado, and The Colorado Institute of Taxidermy Training, Inc.  Please feel free visit www.Coloradotaxidermyschool.com  call 1-800-733-6936 for information about becoming a professional taxidermist or to have custom taxidermy done.

Our first Bird Class began at the Colorado Institute of Taxidermy Training Inc. This week. What a great bunch of students! I will get some pics of what they are working on, later this week!

Example of Poor Taxidermy

Picking the Right Taxidermist

Copyright© 2009 by Anne Vinnola

A hunter came to us toting a mount he had just picked up from another taxidermist.  The hunter was livid at the taxidermist for ruining his bobcat. He was also angry as much at himself than at the taxidermist he had just left.

 A year before the hunter with his bobcat carefully skinned, frozen and anticipating the beautiful table scene he would have made around this cat, called all of his friends to tell them about his prize. Then he sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out his local phone book.  

His next move would ultimately be a costly one. He let his fingers do the walking to a taxidermist whose work he had never seen. He wanted to save a few dollars, and after all aren’t all taxidermists alike? After finding a shop that would do the work he wanted for $25.00 less than ours, he packed up his prize and off he went. Was he wrong to shop for a bargain? Not really, I am all for shopping around for a good deal but let’s count the cost for this particular “bargain.” 

After paying the taxidermist for the animal upon its completion, his excitement turned to disgust at receiving an anatomically incorrect, wild-eyed, fuzzy piece of garbage.

The hunter, by going to his phone book and not personally checking out the work done by the taxidermist, indeed saved $25.00 at first, but received back an animal that he was ashamed to have in his home.  He later asked us to fix his bobcat thus adding time and another $200 to his mount.

It never ceases to amaze me when sportsmen call to tell me for instance of the wonderful African adventure they had. They tell me how they spent months searching for the perfect professional hunter, how they found the best lodge to stay at and what rifle they used. The amount of money spent hunting abroad is staggering, with air fare, passports, guns, time off of work, trophy fees and all the rest. Why compromise on the finished trophy?

Some things to consider when you are visiting a new studio:

 Does the taxidermist show you and your animal respect?

Several years ago, an elderly gentleman brought a tiny trout to us in a sandwich baggie.  He was somewhat defensive upon his arrival and we soon discovered why.  He had been to several other taxidermists in the area and each one had laughed at his fish, as though it was beneath them to take on such a seemingly insignificant project.  What Jerry did because of the respect he has for each person and animal brought into our shop and what he teaches each student in our taxidermy school, brought the elder man to tears of gratitude.  Jerry carefully held the fish in his hand and told the man he would be proud to mount it. The fish obviously meant a lot to him or he wouldn’t have brought it in. This tiny fish was the product of the only fishing trip he would ever be able to take his grandson on, and was the first fish this young boy had ever caught. 

Do you like the look of the mounts in the studio?

Carefully study the mounts in the studio.  Obvious things to look for are nails or nail holes left in finished mounts, cracks around the eyes and noses, crooked skins on the mannequins, hair and skin pulled away from the horns or antlers and such. Stand and look directly at the face of the mounts.  Are the eyes level and are they looking the same direction?

  With fish mounts, do the seams fit on the back or are they stapled leaving a gap? If the back seam does not fit, then the rest of the skin does not really fit either.  Do the fish have both eyes?  This seems obvious, but many taxidermists cut corners with mounted fish saying that the eye closest to the plaque is the “non-show” side.  You took in a whole fish, don’t you want to get your fish back that is the same size, color with all of its parts intact.

How long will it take to get your mount back?

Frustrating as it is to be patient for a mount to be done there are some good reasons for a reasonable wait. Turn around time is another thing hunters judge taxidermists on, but having an understanding of the basic process is helpful in determining how long you might wait. Some things to consider:

1.         Where is your piece in the lineup of work to be done? There are many pieces coming into the shop during the various hunting and fishing seasons.  Yours will go into the lineup and should be finished in the order in which it came in.  Choose a taxidermist who won’t compromise the order things are brought in to make his buddies happy or to customers who want to pay more for faster turn around. If he will do this for them then he doesn’t really value you as a customer. 

2.         How long does the taxidermist have to wait for the cape to be tanned?  Your taxidermist is to some extent at the mercy of the tannery.  It can take months for your taxidermist to receive capes and hides back since there are only a few good tanneries and there are many taxidermists. If he tans them himself, it still takes time to prepare them and do the tanning.

3.         Drying time. After your trophy is mounted, there needs to be time for the clay and other materials to dry. If drying time is rushed, then problems can come up with visible as well as interior parts of the mount. After it is dried, then it can be painted and finished.

  When you take your trophy to your taxidermist he will be able to give you an estimated time of completion. It makes sense to wait a bit longer to get a nicer mount done than to settle for a rush job and a poor piece you are not happy with. 

Is the work guaranteed? You want to do business with an artist who is proud enough of his work to guarantee it.

If there is something wrong with your mount after you take it home then, be sure to call him and work out a solution.

Get to know your taxidermist. Spend some time in his shop if you can. Your taxidermist can give you many field care tips and can help you get the best results for all of your trophies.  He wants to see you succeed and will do his best to help.

There are many things to do when preparing for a hunting or fishing trip.  If you do your homework in finding a wildlife artist whose work you are comfortable with you will have a more relaxed time knowing that your memories are safe with someone you trust.

Jerry and Anne Vinnola own the Colorado Institute of Taxidermy Training Inc., and Big Timber South Taxidermy in Canon City, Colorado. Call 1-800-733-6936 or visit www.coloradotaxidermyschool.com.

 You may e-mail them at cotaxidermy@amigo.net.