I found John Navan’s card at a QDMA banquet that I attended recently. Why his card was there was because he was giving away a free deer mounting as part of some of the prizes that were being raffled off, unfortuneatly I was not the one who won it. I thought that it would be good to hear from a local Taxidermist and contacted John and between his schedule and mine we were finally able to meet last night at his shop.

Let me start by saying that John works where he lives and it took me only a half hour to get there. I drove through some of the nicest deer woods I have seen in the northeast corner of Connecticut. I was greeted in the driveway and headed right for his shop where I met his wife Christine of eleven years who helps John as much as she can.

Rick - First thanks for doing this interview and taking time on a Sunday night for showing me what obviously you love doing. I guess my first question would be What made you decide to get into Taxidermy?

John - Ever since high school I have been interested in Taxidermy. I used to hang out at Hobby Taxidermy in Killingly and have been around hunting all my life.

Rick - How long have you actually been doing Taxidermy?

John - I started working with them 15 yrs ago and stopped after a short time, then began to work with them again a few years ago when I heard they would be retiring. I also took a workshop with Bill Yox who is one of the tops in the industry. I did have referrals from Hobby Taxidermy when I started but this is my real first year on my own and so far I am off to a good start with 1 moose, 1 bear, 2 wild boars and 1 deer not counting all the other stuff I got from Hobby before they left.

Rick - Do you hunt and if so how long have you been hunting?

John - I have been hunting all my life really, even now I go out with my dad every year and hunt state land and private land when we can get it. I love hunting Whitetails and I have hunted Turkey and Moose. I even tried Elk once. I have to say deer is my favorite. I am a fanatic when it comes to deer hunting.

Rick - “Fanatic” now your beginning to sound like me, that’s cool.

Rick - What types of animals have you mounted and what would be your favorite to do?

John - I have worked on mostly North American Game that is available in New England.  I approach every animal with the same attention, with the use of ref. materials I do my best to make it look natural. The customer needs to be happy with the end result and I need to be proud to put my name on it before it leaves my shop. I subscribe to a lot of magazines and they have great photos of live animals in all different positions plus excellent photos are available from suppliers. My best inspection method through out the mounting process and after completion is to have my wife look it over and it is not done until we are both happy with it.  My favorite I would have to say is of course deer.

Rick - What has been the most challenging mounts that you have worked on?

John - I would have to say a full bear mount and a moose had to be the hardest to do mainly because of the size of the animals, it sometimes is tough to work on by yourself.

Rick - Is this a full time profession or a part time thing?

John - Right now it is part time but I have hopes of doing it full time some day. My full time job is being an estimator for a sheet metal aerospace company during the day. I spend at night and weekends doing Taxidermy.

Rick - How is business now compared to when you started a year ago?

John - Pretty good actually for my first year. I have had a gentleman who has come back as a repeat customer which is good and I have had others that were very satisfied and said they would return as well.

Rick - I’m curious what is the biggest Whitetail that you have ever mounted?

John - I would have to say a 205 pound buck that scored approximately 160″

Rick - When you say scored does that mean you measured the antlers?

John - Yes, I am a certified measurer for the Northeast Big Buck Club. I became certified after taking a class that they put on last year.

Rick - That is awesome and good to know that we have a certified measurer in the quiet corner of Connecticut. I have thought about taking that same class myself and as a matter of fact I have a rack that I will bring over for you to score.

Rick - What do you charge for say a full shoulder mount of a whitetail or maybe a antler mount or a european mount?

John - Right now I charge $395.00 for a shoulder mount and for a antler mount it is $125.00 and for a european mount it is $180.00

Rick - For someone who is thinking of have a deer mount done how long would it take before delivery of completion?

John - Right now I would have to say 8 to 12 months before they get their trophy back. I know it seems like a long time but you can’t rush these kinds of things if you want them to come out right.

Rick - Last question and that would be Do you have any tips for someone who might want to become a Taxidermist?

John - There are video’s that you can get that help and there is a website that you can visit called Taxidermy.net but the best thing to do is try and find a Taxidermist that would be willing to teach you. Hands on training is always the best way to learn.

Rick - I want to thank you again John for your time and I also want to thank your wife Christine for the apple cider, it was very delicious. I have to say that if you ever need help on the weekends please do not hesitate to call me. Taxidermy has always been interesting to me and I would consider it a honor to just be able to help.

If you are from the area and wish to have John do some work for you than contact him via email at northeastwhitetail@hotmail.com

First off I want to show what the Quality Deer Management Association is all about.

The QDMA promotes:

• Safe and ethical hunting.
• Adherence to wildlife and trespass laws.
• Adequate harvests of adult does.
• Restraint in harvesting young bucks.
• Hunter involvement in education and management.
• Cooperation with wildlife biologists and enforcement officers.
• Education of hunters and non-hunters toward a better understanding of wildlife management.
• Stewardship and appreciation of all wildlife.

Rick - Today I had the honor of speaking with the New England/Canada Regional Director of the QDMA Mr. Mathew Ross who lives in the great state of New Hampshire and who graciously took time to answer a few questions even though he was getting ready to leave for Quebec, Canada to do a seminar on Food Plots. I appreciate your time and your willingness to preserve our hunting heritage and promote Quality Deer Management.

Matt - You are very welcome and I am pleased to answer whatever questions that you may have.

Rick - First I would like to ask How long have you been working for the QDMA?

Matt - I started working for the QDMA back in May of 2006

Rick - What would you say is the most favorite part of your job?

Matt - I would have to say meeting new hunters and talking with them about quality deer management, doing what we can to create a healthy balanced deer herd and talking about our environment and what we can do to preserve it.

Rick - That leads me to my next question and that is What type of seminars do you do?

Matt - I travel all over New England doing seminars about wildlife habitat, forestry, food plots, managing what is already in your habitat area. I have four basic categories that I talk about and that is 1.) Habitat Management, 2.) Herd Management, 3.) Herd Monitoring and 4.) Hunter Management. I also like to talk about aging live deer and helping hunters to determine if that deer is old enough to harvest or young enough to leave alone.

Rick - I understand the philosophy that the QDMA lives by and it’s importance of balancing the deer herd. Do you feel the QDMA’s approach is working?

Matt - I feel it is working even on a national scale. The QDMA has over 17 million acres that are practicing Quality Deer Management across the country. That includes working with food plots enriching the existing habitats and deer management, which is having hunters concentrate on harvesting more Doe’s and letting the younger buck’s grow to full maturity.

Rick - I see you are also a Wildlife Biologist and a Licensed Forester, How long have you been doing that?

Matt - For about four years now. Before I came to work for the QDMA I was working as an apprentice for a Forestry and Wildlife company and some of my duties work supervising logging operations, marking timber so as not to destroy or endanger wildlife habitat. All that was working toward my degree.

Rick - I was reading about the “REACH” program and it sounds very interesting. Can you tell me how long that has been in effect and how it has been working?

Matt - It is a brand new program which has taken some time to put together, as a matter of fact the last couple sections of the program which are Certify and Hunt we just implemented to past month. As you know “REACH” stands for,

• Research – Fund whitetail research projects related to Quality Deer Management.
• Educate – Expand educational activities for QDMA members and the general public.
• Advocate – Increase the QDMA’s involvement in whitetail hunting and management issues.
• Certify – The QDMA’s individual and property QDM certification programs.
• Hunt – The QDMA’s National Mentoring and Hunting program.

Rick - Do you have any other programs that you have coming up in the future?

Matt - We have a program that has not started yet but will be soon which iscalled Cyber Deer for hunter education. It will be like shooting in 3 dimensional which can teach shot placement and shot trajectory. More will be mentioned in the days to come.

Rick - What would you say attracts hunters and non-hunters alike to the QDMA?

Matt - I would have to say two things in particular stand out. 1.) This would be that people enjoy the aspect of creating food plots for the deer and wildlife in general. 2.) It is creating a overall healthy and properly managed deer herd.

Rick - Last question I have is as a Wildlife Biologist and Regional Director for the QDMA how would you say the deer population is in New England?

Matt - From what I have seen in all my travels the herd in New England appears to be healthy and on a gradual rise in numbers. It appears to be as good if not better than twenty years ago.

Rick - Well Matt it was nice meeting you and I want to Thank You for taking the time to talk with me and I wish you and the QDMA luck in your adventures.

Matt - It was my pleasure and I hope to meet you in person when I come to Connecticut for a Deer Management seminar on Sunday August 26, 2007 at the Nutmeg State Branch of the QDMA in Oxford, Connecticut.

Disclaimer - The above dialogue is not exact quotes, and is paraphrased by the interviewer.

Rick - First off I would like to say that I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to me and Skinny Moose Media. I would also like to say in my opinion that you and Mark produce the best video’s and television shows on the market and I for one have quite a few and look forward to adding to my library as they come out.

Terry - You are more than welcome and I thank you for the compliment.

Rick - When did you and your brother Mark start producing video’s?

Terry - We starting back in 1988 and it has just grown from there.

Rick - With all the series you have started how many hunting teams would you say you have working right now?

Terry - From North to South and East to West we have anywhere from 25 to 30 teams working at one time. We cover the whole continental U.S.

Rick - How much time would you say you spend on the road?

Terry - Between hunting, shed hunting, scouting with the wildlife eye’s, planting food plots, and doing shows I would say anywhere from 7 to 8 months out of the year I am on the road.

Rick - How does your family cope with you being gone so much?

Terry - My wife Willa has grown up with hunting and the kids are older now so they are very accustomed to it. We do spend time as much as possible. Willa and I live about an hour South of St. Louis which is where are main office is and brother Mark live in St. Louis where our distribution office is, that is where we do all our editing and shipping and receiving.

Rick - Out of all the states you have hunted in do you have a favorite?

Terry - We started hunting in Iowa which is full of sparse fields and small blocks of timber with some agricultural crops and CRP fields. So to answer your question I would have to say Iowa, that state will always hold a special place on both our hearts.

Rick - What type of weapon do you prefer to hunt with?

Terry - I would have to say Bow. It is more challenging to try and harvest a mature whitetail with a bow because they have to be so close and to try and outwit them with their keen senses can be difficult.

Rick - I know you and Mark are very busy but, how often do you get to hunt together?

Terry - Not as often as we would like. Years ago we use to hunt together all the time but as the busy grew and the demands got bigger we sort of had to split up to take care of things. We still do hunt together but not as much. Sometimes we only see each other back in camp. Sometimes we will get the chance in maybe Iowa, Missouri or Illinois.

Rick - What would you say is the biggest challenge in producing these types of video’s?

Terry - I would have to say “continuing to improve” is the hardest part. There are so many factors that go into making a video especially hunting. We have to constantly watch the weather for fronts coming in as well as high pressure systems. Watching the barometer, whether it is falling or rising and also the moon phase plays a huge part so you try to get all those factors to fall into place and keep the level of quality that everyone expects keeps us continuing to improve.

Rick - Hunting across the country like you do how would you say the deer population is?

Terry - I feel that possibly the doe’s are not being harvested as much as they should. It can be so hard on deer when there is more mouths to feed than there is food. That is why it is so important to try and manage the deer herds in your area. If hunters can practice game management and take some doe’s and let the younger buck’s grow to maturity than the deer density will only improve.

Rick - I totally agree with you. By watching your series 100% wild 100% fairchase vol.2 which is called Upper End Management I started this process last year by passing up a 2 1/2 year old 8 point and I believe I saw him this year just last week and he is now 3 1/2 years old and has 10 points, and his body mass has grown considerably.

Terry - I surely hope it pays off for you this year.

Rick - You have branched out into television with the “Dream Season” and “Wildlife Obsession” shows which Ive seen on the Outdoor Channel. Do you have anything new coming out for the future?

Terry - Actually Yes we do. Next season starting in July we will have 3 shows, the two that are showing now plus one more. I am sorry but, I am not able to tell you more about it at this time.

Rick - I understand and will surely keep an eye out for it next year.

Terry - I hope you do.

Rick - I want to thank you again for taking the time to answer a few questions and I look forward to seeing more of your productions.

Terry - You are very welcome and Good luck to you.

I have been a member of the Northeast Big Buck Club since February of 2007. I just want to say that for a club that is an all volunteer and not-for-profit organization that they sure seem to have the heart beat of the deer hunting enthusiasts in the northeast. I was able to see this first hand when I attended my first Annual Awards Banquet of the NBBC this year. I will be posting an article about that in the near future so be sure you come back to visit but, for now I would like to share an interview I was honored to have with the VP/Awards Chairman of the Northeast Big Buck Club Mr. Paul Chapdelaine.

Rick - First I want to say thank you for taking time out of your Sunday to answer a few questions and I also wanted to say that the club put on a very nice awards banquet, everyone put a lot of time and hard work into it and it showed. I had a wonderful time and I appreciate you taking the time to have this picture taken with me.

Paul - You are very welcome and I’m glad you were able to come and enjoy what has become our most favorite event of the year.

Rick - I would like to start by asking you how long you have been with the NBBC?

Paul - Well, It was back in 1998 when I attended a sportsmen show and came across a booth that the NBBC had and I watched them as they were scoring antlers. I thought that was really interesting and as I thought about it I thought I would join. I have been an avid hunter for years.

Rick - Did you join the club as a VP/Awards Chairman?

Paul - No, I joined as a regular member and shortly after that I was trained and certified as a qualified scorer. I spent the next couple of years going to shows and events helping to score some of the most amazing racks I have ever seen.

Rick - How did you become the VP/Awards Chairman?

Paul - It was around 2000 I had arranged to have a game dinner and I invited some of the new friends that I had made when I joined the NBBC. It was a great time and dinner all around. That is when I was approached by the club officers and said this is something that the club needs and that is someone who can get events such as this scheduled and running. They offered me the position. I did not have a lot of experience in what I was about to take on but, I gave it a try. I spent a lot of time going to events such as these and mostly learned what not to do. The more you try the more you learn.

Rick - What do you feel is the best part of your job?

Paul - I would have to say the best part of my job is the people I meet and hearing their stories about their successful hunts and the unsuccessful ones. Being the Awards Chairman keeps me very busy but I still like to get my hands on a nice buck’s rack so I am still a scorer.

Rick - What type of hunting do you like to do?

Paul - I started out gun hunting and I still do but, I really don’t like the noise part of it. I would say 95% of the time you will find a bow in my hand. That has got to be the most exciting type of hunting. I like the challenge of bow hunting. I tend you hit what I am aiming at better with a bow than with a gun. It tends to rattle me when I am sitting out there and all of a sudden on the next ridge someone fires off a gun and the next thing you know you have jump off your seat. I like the quiet when nobody knows your there, even the deer. I have shot at deer with a bow before and missed but, being so quiet they were not spooked and came back where I was able to get a second shot. If that was a gun and I missed than everything in the neighbor hood would disappear.

Rick - Do you have a favorite place to hunt?

Paul - I have a bow hunting only area up in New York that I like to go to. I also enjoy going to the mid west. I didn’t like the mid west at first being so open and flat but I got used to it. I figured using deer decoys works very well out there, it helps take the attention off of you and puts it on the decoy. That with a little grunting and a little rattling and you can generally get them to come right in.

Rick - You really like to use decoys?

Paul - I very much recommend them. They are another tool you can use to attract those educated bucks to come in closer when you ordinarily would not be able to. I have even been known to do seminars from time to time on bow hunting and the use of decoys.

Rick - What states does the NBBC actually cover?

Paul - When the NBBC started out they covered Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Now we cover New York and all of New England. We would like to branch out and next year we hope to set up in Pennsylvania.

Rick - I wanted to ask you this and it is probably a stupid question but why does the NBBC measure Whitetails only?

Paul - Basically that is a simple question, There is only Whitetails in the northeast. Some of us can measure like say Moose and others but we tend to stick with just Whitetails.

Rick - Do you feel deer hunting in general in the northeast is stable, declining or expanding?

Paul - I feel that deer hunting as far as the quantity of deer is expanding due to the fact that people are slowly thinking more of antlers than freezer so they are letting a lot walk, that and the numbers of hunters are declining. That is why we are trying to preserve our hunting tradition and trying to keep people interested and more involved more. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing better than putting meat in the freezer but hunter today are also interested in letting the smaller ones go so they have time to grow and reach to their potential.

Rick - How long is the training process for someone who is interested in becoming a certified scorer for the NBBC?

Paul - Typically these types of classes can be like four days long but being we only measure whitetails that we hold one day classes which can be intense and last about eight hors long. We try to keep the size of the class to twenty or less.

Rick - How many classes do you have?

Paul - We try to hold two classes a year and we move the classes around so as to be assessable to everyone. The last class we had was in Rhode Island and the next class which is in August will be held in Pennsylvania.

Rick - What else can you tell us about becoming a scorer?

Paul - New scorers will learn both the Boone & Crockett and the Pope & Young scoring methods but, we only use the B & C standard. When you become a scorer we usually start you out by helping at shows and events. We do require that you score so many racks a year to keep your certification up to date but, we also realize that everyone does have a life and other responsibilities so we try not to be to demanding.

Rick - Well Paul I just want to say you are very knowledgeable and care very much for what you do and I want to say thanks again for your time.

Paul - We at the NBBC care about the preservation of our hunting traditions for us and generations to come. We also care a lot about the scoring part of our club that is why we recognize the gross score and not the net score. We feel that the Whitetail Buck deserves full credit for everything he grew without deductions to his rack.