Flat Creek Furriers and Taxidermy

12/08/2023

If you have a deer that you’d like to see as a European mount, I’ll be boiling only one more time until spring. Get ahold of me before Tuesday next week and I can have it back to you before Christmas!

12/29/2022

The difference in skull size between a fairly large black bear (19 4/16”) and a fairly average polar bear (23 12/16”) is significant, even though their scores don’t reflect it.

12/28/2022

A nice Nunavut ‘bou, ready for imitation velvet.

12/25/2022

Christmas miracles do happen!

30 hours ago, this buck was dropped off, frozen rock solid with the hide still on. It’s a young man’s first deer and the hope was that it could still be a Christmas gift, and on time for Christmas Day. The temperatures didn’t make it easy, but here it is!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

12/23/2022

I like big bucks and I cannot lie, you other hunters can’t deny.

12/20/2022

Sorry, kids. No Christmas this year. Santa had enough of the price of deer-quality hay.

12/20/2022

Here’s a couple of nice Manitoba bulls, ready to head home this week!

12/18/2022

Whether you’re a cowboy, a buckle bunny, or somewhere in between (I’m looking at you, John Michael Klassen!), this is the place to get your Longhorn mounted!

12/17/2022

When we say “snow white skulls”, we mean it!

12/17/2022

If you didn’t fill your 3 mule deer tags this fall, you’ll have another chance starting Monday, December 19th until Sunday, February 5th! We will continue to accept ALL samples (buck and doe) until the end of the season!

The sample is free and you do not need to cut the skull!

Province of Manitoba

12/16/2022

Am I ever excited to mount this set of antlers! They’ve been sitting in a woodshed for 50+ years and the customer wants them converted to a Euro mount.

12/14/2022

This is the biggest 4x4 I’ve ever seen in person. Taken by Cory Braybrook, this buck scores 173 1/8” with only a few inches of nontypical points. Giant!

12/12/2022

If you want a European mount as bright and as white as this one, tomorrow is Virden pick-up and delivery day! I’m cleaning skulls tomorrow and that will probably be the last time until spring, so if you don’t want to wait for your mount, don’t delay! Get in touch with us at (204) 851-5459 to schedule a pick-up time in Virden tomorrow.

We also have gift cards and Skull Ho**er hanging brackets in stock. Small (deer, bear, etc.) in black and brown, and Large (Moose, Elk, Steer, etc.) in black only.

Any skulls that I get before noon tomorrow will be finished before Christmas, as long as they’re thawed out at pick-up time.

12/01/2022

Today is Virden pick-up and delivery day! If you have a CWD sample to submit or want to get a European mount done, get in touch with us at (204) 851-5459 before noon today to schedule a pick-up time in Virden.

If you had a head to submit for CWD testing on Tuesday, it will be delivered back to Virden this morning. We will be in contact with you to arrange delivery.

If you bring your deer to a sample depot at a taxidermy shop, SKULLS DO NOT NEED TO BE CUT APART FOR THE CWD SAMPLE! Please help us get that message out. We appreciate all the samples being submitted and don’t want anyone to hesitate if they think they’ll have to forego a mount to submit the sample. The skull stays intact!

Thank you to everyone who has submitted a deer or elk to sample this season!

11/29/2022

Tomorrow is Virden pick-up and delivery day! If you have a CWD sample to submit or want to get a European mount done, get in touch with us at (204) 851-5459 tonight to schedule a pick-up time in Virden.

If you had a head to submit for CWD testing on Thursday, it will be delivered back to Virden tomorrow morning. We will be in contact with you to arrange delivery.

If you bring your deer to a sample depot at a taxidermy shop, SKULLS DO NOT NEED TO BE CUT APART FOR THE CWD SAMPLE! Please help us get that message out. We appreciate all the samples being submitted and don’t want anyone to hesitate if they think they’ll have to forego a mount to submit the sample. The skull stays intact!

11/24/2022

It’s Virden pick-up and delivery day! If you have a CWD sample to submit or want to get a Euro mount done, get in touch with us at (204) 851-5459 this morning to schedule a pick-up time in Virden.

If you had a head to submit for CWD testing on Tuesday, it will be delivered back to Virden this morning. We will be in contact with you.

Once again, SKULLS DO NOT NEED TO BE CUT FOR THE CWD SAMPLE! Please share this to get that message out. We appreciate all the samples being submitted and don’t want anyone to hesitate if they think they’ll have to forego a Euro mount to submit the sample. The head stays intact!

11/21/2022

If you have any skulls to submit for CWD testing, or that you would like a Euro mount done on, we will be picking up in Virden on Tuesdays and returning the sample-only skulls on Thursdays for the duration of deer season.

Skulls DO NOT need to be cut apart for CWD testing, so you can still get a Euro mount done! If you’ve cut the skull cap off for a shoulder or antler mount and changed your mind, I can fix that and turn it back into a Euro mount.

You can contact me on here or at (204) 851-5459 to arrange pick-ups and returns.

11/03/2022

We are a CWD sampling depot for 2022! The sample is FREE OF CHARGE to hunters. If you need it skinned but are doing your taxidermy elsewhere, the skinning charge is $20 for deer, $40 for elk and $50 for moose. This is ONLY for skinning. If you do not need it skinned, there is NO CHARGE.

If your skull is brought here or to another manned sample depot, the skull will NOT need to be cut apart for sampling. Please call ahead to make arrangements.

You can find more info here:

Manitoba has had proactive programming in place for prevention and surveillance of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in wild cervids (deer, moose, elk and caribou) since 1997. The program includes CWD surveillance, prohibitions to prevent potentially CWD-positive animals and material from entering Manit...

09/24/2022

I’ve had some people express concern that the skull needs to be cut up in order to take a sample. That’s not true! It only needs to be caped or rough skinned, no bone cutting is necessary, not even for species where a brain stem sample is required. If someone cuts your skull apart to take a CWD sample, they simply don’t know what they’re doing.

Manitoba has had proactive programming in place for prevention and surveillance of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in wild cervids (deer, moose, elk and caribou) since 1997. The program includes CWD surveillance, prohibitions to prevent potentially CWD-positive animals and material from entering Manit...

09/21/2022

We are a CWD sampling depot for 2022! If you have harvested a deer, elk, or moose in one off the GHA’s with mandatory sampling, you can bring it here. If you’re getting a Euro mount done here, the sample is free of charge. If you will be getting it mounted elsewhere and need it skinned, the sample will be $20. Sampling is required within 48 hours of harvest, so if the head is rotten, the skinning fee will increase to $100.

You can find more info here:

https://www.gov.mb.ca/nrnd/fish-wildlife/wildlife/cwd.html

The sample drop-off depots listed on the link aren’t current, but they’re supposed to be updating that list.

Manitoba has had proactive programming in place for prevention and surveillance of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in wild cervids (deer, moose, elk and caribou) since 1997. The program includes CWD surveillance, prohibitions to prevent potentially CWD-positive animals and material from entering Manit...

06/24/2022

Boilin’ and toilin’, getting a few dozen bear skulls cleaned up on this nice, cool day!

03/24/2022

For sale: beetle cleaned skulls. They’re only cleaned currently, but they can be degreased and whitened, if that’s your preference. No missing teeth.

Least weasel x 2 - $25 each, as is. $35 if degreased and whitened.

Marten x 2 - $45 each, as is. $55 if degreased and whitened.

Fisher x 1 - $100, as is. $120 if degreased and whitened.

Coyote x 3 - $100 each, as is. $110 if degreased and whitened.

03/20/2022

With spring finally here and the weather warming up, that deer head from last fall that you forgot about in the garage or backyard might be starting to smell fairly soon. If you’re in that situation, I can pick up in Virden and area later this week!

02/01/2022

If you’re hunting coyotes with the intention of any kind of marketing or tanning, I do not recommend taking head shots, and here’s why.

With the typical coyote bullet (small, light and frangible), if you hit any bone, besides maybe a rib bone, your bullet is going to basically turn into a mini gr***de and make a heck of a mess of the hide. With a head shot, you’re virtually guaranteed to hit bone. Compounding that is the fact that the hair on the face is very short, and the backside of the face is exposed, making it extremely difficult to hide the stitches used to repair it.

In this case, the bullet basically opened up the face from the eye to the ear, and mangled the ear so badly that it had to be removed. I’m not the greatest at sewing, but even for someone who is an expert sewer, it would be impossible to hide this from the fur graders at an auction, and it would make a poor tanned hide for personal use. Either way, you’re greatly detracting from the potential value of your final product.

If you’re presented with a situation where you may be tempted to take a facing headshot, lower your crosshairs to the base of the throat, directly between the front legs. You have a much larger margin for error, and a bone-free entry point into the body cavity. You’re likely going to have the same outcome as a headshot (coyote drops on the spot), or a very short blood trail, and without all the mess of a headshot.

01/26/2022

Fur Harvesters Auction in Winnipeg extended the delivery deadline for their March auction to the end of January. If you have some that you’d like me to take when I go in this week, send me a message or give me a call or a text at (204)851-5459.

01/21/2022

I went a little overboard and got my wife a fur coat* for her birthday this year.

*some assembly required

01/07/2022

Don’t believe everything you read on the internet, especially when it comes to taxidermy. There’s a lot of misinformation out there, and it can sometimes ruin an otherwise great hunting experience.

This buck was a young hunters first deer, and it was brought to me for repair after a failed boiling attempt. The bone was in bad shape when I received it, and it was still very greasy. I re-boiled to clean it properly, hoping I could still save the original skull. Unfortunately, the bone continued to deteriorate to the point where it became clear that I’d have to put the skull plate and antlers on a different skull. By the time I got to that a few days later, most of the muzzle had crumbled and flaked off, and the rest of the skull was getting soft. In the end, I had to remove the antlers and match their spacing and angles to a donor skull, then start the painstaking task of sculpting and finishing the seams and skull.

In the end, both the customer and myself were very pleased with the finished product, and a young hunter had himself a great memory to cherish!

01/05/2022

If anyone is looking to get their coyotes put up, I’m currently taking on more custom skinning clients. It’s $20 a coyote for a fast turnaround time and high quality work.

If you’d rather get paid fast and not have to deal with hauling them in to the auction house in Winnipeg, I’m also buying whole coyotes. Price will vary widely depending on fur quality.