Fox-fire Taxidermy

01/15/2025

Finished a few antler mounts today.

01/09/2025

For any waterfowl taxidermists out there.... I no longer do the ducks and have a stock of bird bodies, heads and eyes I'm going to sell, lots of them. Heads $10 each, eyes $3 a pair and bodies $7 each. Prices for cash at my shop near Pittsboro. 919-545-0338

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12/28/2024

I like a really sharp knife as much as anyone but when you are skinning your deer (or any critter) a just barely sharp enough knife is better.... IF you plan to preserve the skin. Many deer capes are ruined by using too sharp a knife combined with hurrying or just not being sure how to do it. This cape was heavily damaged with cuts through the skin in places that I needed, to do a proper shoulder mount. The buck was a piebald with most of the white markings starting near the brisket area- otherwise I would have suggested replacing the cape. The skin is on the manikin now and the mount is in the early stages of drying. It's not perfect but given how bad it was I feel pretty good about it now. Damage like this impacts the finished mount and causes the taxidermist a few extra hours making repairs. When there is a lot of repair work in obviously visible areas it dictates using a slightly smaller necked form to avoid the shrinkage pulling the extra stitching open as the mount dries. Just a reminder.... if you are planning a shoulder mount on any animal leave extra skin and don't cut into the thin haired area of the brisket. I posted a You Tube video several years ago to help hunters understand how to remove the cape for a shoulder mount. Interested people can find it by searching on You Tube for Fox-fire Taxidermy.

12/23/2024

Merry Christmas to all who visit here, be safe and enjoy the season- Aaron. (photo from one of my trail cameras)

12/10/2024

After a couple of weeks with my phone hardly working and many missed calls... and unanswered messages due to the line cancelling the calls, my shop has a working phone again! I'm very sorry for not responding if you tried to leave a message or simply could not get through. A mowing machine hit a phone pedestal about half a mile from my shop and damaged the cable there... they fixed it today.

11/22/2024

Some of the work that I do is on very old mounts that perhaps were never done very well or have been damaged or just become shabby with age. Some time ago I worked on this alligator for Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs. I cleaned the mount and sculpted repairs where the old skin was missing, replaced the eyes, painted the whole mount and built a base for the mount. Work like this has to be done carefully since old mounts can be quite fragile and this job took a lot of time. I actually enjoy rehabbing old mounts- I like the challenge of putting a hint of life back into something that seems like it's ready for the landfill.

11/09/2024

I've taken some time to hunt and my focus has been on this buck that I started hunting in 2022. He came almost entirely in the dark except for 2 times that my camera caught him in legal hunting light over a 2 year period of time. This morning I took him just 10 minutes into legal hunting time when the light was still very low in the place where I hunted. Getting this buck after so many days/hours of waiting and hoping means a lot to me. He's a very special whitetail for this area and I feel very lucky to have him.

10/24/2024

Finished today in my shop, a velvet whitetail mount for Russell P. This was done with a velvet rack that Russell had from about 20 years ago (a road kill) and an opening day bow killed cape that I had in my freezer from several years ago. This was a dandy 8 point and probably there were hunters hoping to see him back those years ago. It happens too often,,, many die on the highways. Russell wanted a full sneak mount and I think it works well for this deer, I hope he will like his mount.

10/15/2024

Finished this morning... Jonathan P's 2023 Iowa whitetail, mounted on a wall pedestal form.

10/09/2024

As our hunting seasons go forward hunters are taking some of what they are out there for. Photos are a part of the successful hunt but often I see pictures that could have been done much better. Taking time to push a tongue back into the mouth of a deer or wiping away excessive blood can improve that photograph a lot. After the hunt and years beyond, the pictures we take can become valuable reminders of the times we most cherish. Take a bit of time to make a respectful image of that animal. (my photo is my 2018 whitetail that I called Dozer)

09/29/2024

I finished this mount for Jonathan P. -his Missouri whitetail. He supplied the base for the piece which I think was well done. The mount pivots so he will be able to change the angle whenever he wants to. (photos were heavily cropped so to see them complete click on each photo)

09/18/2024

Ed P. took this very mature buck in Chatham County last season. I finished his mount today, hope Ed will like it.

09/18/2024

I finished this fine mature Halifax County whitetail for Mack H today- a real good buck.

09/13/2024

My customer brought the wide antlered buck on the right already mounted by another taxidermist and asked me to mount the other buck (on the left) and build a base for both mounts. I finished the project today. Sid V. took both of these fine central NC whitetails last year with his compound bow- a very fine season for sure! Check out the "blob" of antler at the antler base on that left buck.... wild!!! (to see the complete photos click on the pictures)

09/10/2024

Sometimes people have asked me how I got into doing taxidermy. My first efforts were about 1969, I was a teenager. My father told me about a correspondence course in taxidermy that was advertised in some outdoor magazines and my younger brother and I bought it. I did some very terrible taxidermy as I struggled with it all. I did my first deer head- a neck mount, in 1971 on a paper form using dry preservative. It was truly ugly! In 1985 I started going to taxidermy shows and seminars and after watching some of the best taxidermists in the country make it look easy I got back into it, armed with new knowledge and much better materials and supplies than were available when I first started. I quit my post office job in 1997 to open my shop full time. I have never regretted making a big change in my employment to get to do taxidermy as a profession. I'm in my 27th year with this thing that I call Fox-fire Taxidermy and I still like it much more than any other job that I have had. Over the years I have worked hard to improve my mounts with the goal always being high quality. Taxidermy is not the thing for everyone and doing it as a profession often gets in the way of hunting, fishing and a host of other things that I might like to do, but through it all I find a lot of satisfaction in this work. A big Thank You to all of those who have entrusted me with their preservation needs.

09/03/2024

Matthew L took his first bear in Person County, a pretty nice one. I finished his mount today- hope he will like it a lot.