Taxidermy/Butchering

[finfeathr]

Just reminding everyone that I own Fins to Feathers Taxidermy in Farmingdale. We are a full service studio covering all aspects of mounting including:

North American Big Game

African

Small Game

Upland Birds

Waterfowl

Tanning

Fish

We also offer Butchering service for Deer and Bear...all regular cuts:

Roasts,shanks,stew,fillets,backstraps,ribs,steaks, and chops..skinned,freezer wrapped and labelled...Deer $80...bear $100 and up, depending on size.

We fully tan all of our mounts, and pride ourselves with returning a realistic mount for a fair price to all of our customers.

Our work can be viewed on the web at: www.alllongislandtaxidermy.com 

You may also stop by DICKS Sporting goods in either Melville, or Lake Grove, the mounts on display there are our work.

Feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions, or want to stop by the shop...

Wishing everyone a prosperous and safe season....

Rich

[Geno C]

Rich hopefully i get somthing good knocked down this year to bring over to you. i did have the pleasure of meeting you i belive at the hunting and fishing expo ealrier in the year. i think my younger brother took a hunter safety course from you?

[finfeathr]

He was probably at papabear's safety course...he helps me out at all of the shows..

[Geno C]

you are probably right.

[Geno C]

Rich, do you also do summer sausage and kielbasi as well?? if so whats the rates?

[finfeathr]

Nope..just regular butchering..no chopmeat..I usually don't have enough scraps left after I cut a deer to make it. I salvage every edible piece into a regular cut or stew.

When you get lots of chopmeat back from a deer processor, it's because they mixed ALL the scraps from ALL the deer they did that day together and then divvied it out equally. I can't understand where all the meat comes from when these guys offer sausage,kielbasa,pepperoni...my guess is it's mostly pork mixed with venison from lots of other people's deer..there simply isn't that much meat on a deer to get any amount of sausage, unless the entire deer was boned out and run through the grinder.

Of couse, some unscrupulous butchers have been known to take advantage of the deer donation program to satisfy thier customer's sausage requests.....

[Geno C]

you can ask specifically for it instead of having the deer butchered into steaks, roasts and so on...

but then yes, it would not surprise me that a butcher would use a donated deer for sausage or chop meat, ect... there are hunter such as myself who do butcher there own deer and on a second or 3rd deer would rather turn the whole deer into sausage, chop meat or kielbasi.

[wztirem]

Just reminding everyone that I own Fins to Feathers Taxidermy in Farmingdale. We are a full service studio covering all aspects of mounting including:

North American Big Game

African

Small Game

Upland Birds

Waterfowl

Tanning

Fish

We also offer Butchering service for Deer and Bear...all regular cuts:

Roasts,shanks,stew,fillets,backstraps,ribs,steaks, and chops..skinned,freezer wrapped and labelled...Deer $80...bear $100 and up, depending on size.

We fully tan all of our mounts, and pride ourselves with returning a realistic mount for a fair price to all of our customers.

Our work can be viewed on the web at: www.alllongislandtaxidermy.com 

You may also stop by DICKS Sporting goods in either Melville, or Lake Grove, the mounts on display there are our work.

Feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions, or want to stop by the shop...

Wishing everyone a prosperous and safe season....

Rich

How about a discount for the members of this Forum.

OOPS, Sorry "Had a Doc moment"!

[finfeathr]

you will find that my prices are already very affordable....thx, Rich

[finfeathr]

you can ask specifically for it instead of having the deer butchered into steaks, roasts and so on...

but then yes, it would not surprise me that a butcher would use a donated deer for sausage or chop meat, ect... there are hunter such as myself who do butcher there own deer and on a second or 3rd deer would rather turn the whole deer into sausage, chop meat or kielbasi.

Yeah, but it would require boning out the entire animal, and I simply don't have time for it..I butcher about 200 deer a year, as well as cape and flesh all the heads myself...

[wztirem]

you will find that my prices are already very affordable....thx, Rich

Only kidding! Your prices are competitive. Hope to see you.

[Geno C]

you can ask specifically for it instead of having the deer butchered into steaks, roasts and so on...

but then yes, it would not surprise me that a butcher would use a donated deer for sausage or chop meat, ect... there are hunter such as myself who do butcher there own deer and on a second or 3rd deer would rather turn the whole deer into sausage, chop meat or kielbasi.

Yeah, but it would require boning out the entire animal, and I simply don't have time for it..I butcher about 200 deer a year, as well as cape and flesh all the heads myself...

No i hear you... i was simply responding to your statement about how other butchers could have meat left over for summer sausage / chop and stuff like that. i said it is becasue the hunter may specifically ask for it, like i would if it was my 2nd or 3rd deer.... but i can only emagine how busiy you get!

[NYDeer]

That HUGE bear in Lake Grove is one intimidating mount!

Do you do skin fish mounts? A friend's brother took a 49" 48# striper 2 years ago, wound up going upstate to get the mount done..

Everyone he tried only offered painted bodies..

[finfeathr]

That HUGE bear in Lake Grove is one intimidating mount!

Do you do skin fish mounts? A friend's brother took a 49" 48# striper 2 years ago, wound up going upstate to get the mount done..

Everyone he tried only offered painted bodies..

I do skin mounts on some fish..not a big striper. The reason that he couldn't find someone locally to skin mount a bass that size is, it has way too high an oil content in the skin, and especially the head. I don't care who mounted it, or what they used, but it WILL  leach grease eventually. When it does, he may as well throw the fish away, as there really isn't anything that can be done about it..it will just turn yellow, get sticky, and all airbrushing will fall off. The other problem is the shrinkage on the head..it never really looks right.

I have been in taxidermy for 30 years, and I have to tell you, fiberglass mounts were started in this industry for a reason...some species do not ,or cannot mount using the skin. Most saltwater species fit in this category. They are too oily, or are prone to scale lifting.

Replicas are the way to go for saltwater critters.

There is alot more work that goes into a replica than just "painting a body". I laugh every time I hear that. It's like telling a drywall guy he's just slapping spackle around, or an electrician is just stuffing wires in a wall and connecting them.

Custom molding can be done on any fish, as long as it's in good condition.

Sorry to go on and on, but the bottom line is, skin mounts are really not conducive to a quality saltwater fish mount. There are exceptions, but as a rule, just look at any skin mount sailfish in a seafood restaurant..it will invariably be yellow/orange tinted, pieces falling off, and paint flaking everywhere....

Rich

[NYDeer]

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'd rather know the real reasons why the skin mounts were so difficult for him to find than by what he went through..

He was just told, "No, we don't do them.", end of conversation.. I'll pass this info on to them..

Personally, I'd rather photo the fish, get a glass repro, and enjoy a few good meals!