Nice Houserock Buff

Here is a photo of Randy D> with his Houserock buff from a couple of weeks ago. This is what Randy had to say:

After accumulating 15 bonus points, (unsuccessful attempts) to draw an AZ buffalo tag on the Kaibab plateau, I finally got drawn and was fortunate enough to harvest this nice bull to fill my once in a lifetime limit for AZ. We celebrated Preston's 16th birthday in buffalo camp and it was extra special treat for him to be there. I had underestimated how challenging and difficult buffalo hunting on the Kaibab was. It was definitely allot of work from start to finish, (allot of snow, lots of miles hiking, and allot of animal on the ground) and we were thankful to have the assistance of Russ and Jacob Jacoby, Arlis Miller, Kevin Presmyk, and Dean Dunaway. It was great making new friends and they definitely made for a wonderful experience on this once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm not exactly sure what he scores, but there is a chance he may make the B&C 115 minimum. We'll see where he lands after 60 days. Regardless, I am extremely thankful and happy with this trophy.

Congratulations on a great buffalo Randy!

Safari Delivered

I just finished delivering some African pieces to customer Ryan C.  Ryan and his wife went to Africa and collectively harvested these species.  We do a fair amount of African work in the shop and have a master woodworker that can build the cabinetry type of bases like the walnut bases the giraffe and sable are mounted on. 

 

N. AZ Tom Cat

Here is a photo Ben G. with his tom lion and also of the finished mount.  Ben's lion ended up in a culvert and it mortally wounded one dog and put the hurt on a couple of others before he was dispatched.

Cold Weather Hunt up North

Customer Jimmy J. just finished his hunt north of the Arctic Circle.  He was able to harvest a nice Arctic caribou and a muskox.  The muskox make super neat and unusual mounts.  We will post photos when we have his completed.  He flew into a remote village and then had a 70 mile snowmobile ride to reach the hunting grounds.  As you can see it was very cold even this early in the fall.  Put on your heated socks and underwear for this hunt!

Hannah's first big game animal

Sorry I haven't posted more photos of the coues deer taken on our Mexico hunt;  I will get those up in the next couple of days.  I have to share some photos of my daughter and her Javelina she harvested this morning.  She was very excited to say the least.  We have been hunting the past couple of days with no Javelina sightings until this morning and we were able to get within range so she could get one.  We did find a dead Javelina Yesterday morning that had died sometime during the night because it was still limber when we found it.  I couldn't find any visible signs of trauma, so it must have been sick.  If I start foaming at the mouth in the next few days I had better go get some rabies shots after handling it.  Anyway I posted a photo of that pig as we found it and also a couple of a happy Hannah with here nice Javelina from this morning.

A happy Hannah and her Javelina

Hannah, her Javelina and  a proud dad

Hannah and the dead javelina we found yesterday

New Mexico Ibex

Friends Dick, Tanner and Shelley Henry just returned from New Mexico where Dick had an Ibex tag.  Here is what tanner writes about the hunt:
Dad, Shelley and I just returned from my dad's Persian Ibex hunt in the Florida Mountains of southern New Mexico. For those of you unfamiliar with the state, the Florida Mountains, (pronounced Flooreeda) are extremely steep, jagged, inhospitable desert mountains, just south of the town of Deming near the Mexico border. Dad was one of 15 successful applicants to draw the coveted "once in a lifetime" tag to hunt Ibex. Dad spent a significant amount of time researching the hunt early this fall and requested the help of Shawn Choat from Animas in southern New Mexico. Shawn made many trips to the Florida Mountains while Dad and I were on other local hunts and a Whitetail deer hunt in Missouri. Shelley, Dad and I arrived the day after Thanksgiving (last Friday for our Canadian friends :) ) and set up camp. We spent the evening checking on some Ibex that Dad's research had led Shawn to locate. We luckily found the Ibex we were after. Let me tell you, I have never seen a more courageous, perhaps mentally disturbed animal in my life. During the rut, these things seem to defy gravity and have a perpetual chip on their shoulder. We watched the males (I don't know if they're Rams, Bulls, or Billies) fight, push around females, and generally take their agression out on anything vertical, whether it be mammal or plant. Their ability to maneuver the sheer vertical cliff faces  and boulder piles just left us awestruck. If you ever have an opportunity to hunt Ibex, DO IT! Anyway to continue, Shawn showed up that evening and we planned the morning hunt. The plan was to have me deliver Shawn and Dad to the base of the mountain so they could climb in the dark for an hour to a planned ambush site. The following morning, Shawn and Dad arrived at a small oak tree at the base of a 200 foot cliff where the Ibex were sleeping high above predators reach. As daylight broke, the Ibex bounded down from their perch and paraded toward a small mountainside spring and in front of Dad and Shawn. With one well placed shot from my borrowed .270 Dad downed his 41-inch Ibex. Shelley and I were out on the desert floor in my truck watching as the Ibex fled the scene over the cliff faces to safety. Shelley and I climbed up to help pack the Ibex off the hill only to find that these things are only about 27 inches tall and weigh about 60 pounds.

B & C 27th Big Game Awards

I just saw the listings on the trophies entered in the 27th Big Game Awards that took place this summer in Reno Nevada.  The top trophies entered in the last awards period are invited and undergo a panel scoring.  The trophies are meticulously scored and either the entry score is upheld or changed depending on how the panel scores the trophy.   I had scored three of the trophies entered and the scores were upheld on all three and to top that off, they all took first place in their categories.  I always feel good when I score a trophy and a panel score agrees with how I scored it;  It shows me that I am scoring accurately and within the strict guidelines of the scoring system.  Duane Chapman's San Carlos bull scored 404 1/8, Larry Landes's New Mexico antelope scored 91 4/8 and  Brian Balmer's typical Arizona coues scored 127 0/8.  The photos of Brian's antlers don't really do it justice, but I don't have a field photo at present.  There were many great trophies entered in the 27th Big Game Awards.  For more info on this and the Boone and Crockett club, please visit http://www.boone-crockett.org/ .

Bonneville Speedweek

I know this has nothing to do with taxidermy or hunting, but I just returned from a few days at Bonneville Speedweek on the salt flats in Utah.  I had the opportunity to drive my dad's vintage, blown fuel roadster he built.  The record was open in this class and a friend of my dad's drove the car first, setting a record of 207 mph.  I then got the chance to up the record and drove it 221 mph.  Words cant describe what it is like to drive this fast but it is definitely an adrenaline rush.  I added a few photos from the trip.

Freeze Drying Antlers

Mogollon Taxidermy just acquired a freeze dry machine so that we can do our own velvet antler freeze drying in-house.  We are one of the few, if not the only taxidermy studio in Arizona with the ability to offer this service without shipping your antlers out of state. We feel that freeze drying velvet antlers allows them to retain the most size and fullness with less shrinkage than other methods of preservation.  This machine has a cylinder shaped chamber that is 24 inches in diameter and 52 inches deep.  If an antler will fit in within these measurements, we can freeze dry it.  It will fit average size elk as long as the skull cap is split.  Coues deer and most mule deer will easily fit intact with only the biggest mule deer having to have the skull cap split.  The best looking freeze dried velvet comes from antlers that are well cared for prior to reaching us.  Please call if you have any questions on the process or what to do with your antlers before bring them in.

Montana Trip

I just returned a few days ago from trip to Montana. My friend Gary has a place on Noxon Reservoir in western Montana and I went to see it. There is water everywhere and everything is super green. We saw sheep, deer, and bear from the road.

Gary built a very nice home on 15 acres with part of it bordering a finger of the lake.  It was only a short walk to go fishing.

We also visited the Boone and Crockett Club's headquarters in Missoula, Montana.  They had a display that included many of the current world records of each species.

We also visited a place that has these giant cedar trees.  The two in the photo aren't even the largest that we saw.  It was a great trip, but now back to the daily grind which I was reminded of when I got off the plane in Mesa and it was 108 degrees.  Let's hope the Arizona monsoons get in full gear soon.

Kofa Water Hole

This is looking from the dam into the pothole which is 12-13 feet deep

This is looking at the dam and the silt pile that was moved with buckets and more than 50 volunteers

Above is another view looking at the dam side of the catchment. Below is the crew that went with us. We had my two kids Hannah and Cole, My nieces Madeline and Megan, and my nephews Gage and John. My dad Bill and Brother Garrett were also along.

We just returned Sunday from a waterhole project in unit 45B in the Kofa Mountains. This project consisted of cleaning out all of the silt and sealing the catchment. This project was first completed in 1982 and has since developed some leaks so that it wouldn't hold its full capacity. Prior to the dam being built in 1982, the hole held about 6000 gallons of water and after the dam about 40,000 gallons. The catchment got very low on water last summer and had to have water flown into it by helicopter. This becomes very expensive so the project became a priority. This project was funded by the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society and the labor was provide with mostly volunteers. These projects are a great way to give back to our game populations and volunteers are always needed.

Shoot for the Heart

Mountain Bible Church here in Payson that started a monthly get-together this year for outdoorsmen and women. Last month featured pro bass fisherman Clifford Pirch talking about bass fishing and how to become a better fisherman. February's event, last Thursday, had well known mule deer hunter Dean Pederson speaking about mule deer and mule deer hunting. It was attended by more than 150 adults and 20+ kids. Everyone is invited, whether from Payson, or out of town. The mule deer event had a great display of some giant mule deer bucks. There will be seminar on Coues deer in the future and this one should have numerous huge bucks on display. I will post the dates for these gatherings as they come available for anyone who would like to attend. The next one will feature renowned lion hunter Steve Smith talking about lion biology and habits. Hopefully Steve will share some exciting stories of his experiences chasing lions around the Southwest.

Waterhole project

Here is a photo of a water catchment project I took the kids on a couple of weeks ago. It was on Black mesa in the Sierra Ancha mountains. This area has a resident herd of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep that moved into the area more than 20 years ago. It is believed that the sheep came from the Ft. Apache Reservation to the east. This is some beautiful and rugged country, just what the sheep like. If you have never volunteered on a conservation project, these water catchment projects are quite the deal. A good group of dedicated sportsmen and women dedicate a weekend and get their hands dirty for the good of our wildlife populations. It is amazing how much work gets completed in just a couple of days. This project was funded by the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society and the Arizona Deer association. They are both great organizations. For more info on how you can volunteer, check out their websites, www.adbss.org for the Sheep Society and www.azdeer.org for the deer association.

Welcome to Mogollon Taxidermy's Blog

Welcome everyone! Mogollon Taxidermy is now blogging. We will post photos of our customer's trophies as they come into the shop with their permission. This should be exciting as we get some very unique as well as large animals come through the shop. I will also post other pertitant information relating to taxidermy as well as Boone and Crockett and Pope and Young Scoring. Please respond with comments and ideas on posts people would like to see. Here is a photo of my father-in-law's buffalo he killed in Nebraska in December (left to right Earl Laforge, Bill Goldman, Clay Goldman).