82-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, November 24,1984 BY SALLY BAIR Staff! Correspondent RONKS On Monday, thousands of hunters will take to the woods in Pennsylvania looking for that most beautiful and most elusive game, the white tailed deer. For those lucky or skilled enough to kill one with a sub stantial rack, the next step may be to visit their local taxidermist to preserve the hide and antlers to bring back the excitement of the hunt long after it is over. Richard Herr, Ronks R 2, is a dairy farmer who works part time as a taxidermist because of his love of hunting and wildlife. He enjoys making the animals look as lifelike as possible, and likes the tedious, exacting work which goes into taxidermy. “It is very fine work, very time consuming,” he says of his avocation. Herr operates a 40-cow dairy herd with the help of his family just outside Strasburg, and he makes it clear that the farm and herd are his first priority. “There are my bread and butter.” But when the Richard Herr holds one of the many hides awaiting com pletion. A dairy farmer, Herr feels his part-time taxidermy business fits in well with a dairy herd and with his special interest in hunting. appear as it would in , Daily former expresses love of wildlife through taxidermy field work is done and things slow down in the winter, Herr can often be found in what had previously been the family butcher shop, working on animals brought to him. Herr says he has hunted “since I was old enough to hold a gun," but his interest in taxidermy began in 1954 when he shot a pair of wood ducks on the farm and had them mounted. He recalls, “I thought, if only I could do a specimen Idee that.” Not one to wish idly, Herr sent for a correspondence course, which he completed, and then served a three to four month ap prenticeship with Richard Busch, at Franklin and Marshall College’s North Museum in Lancaster. He credits Busch with helping him perfect his skill, saying, “He helped me a lot. He’s super on birds.” As friends began asking him to do work for them, he decided to get his license, and in 1972 took the exam and was officially licensed by the state. Asked for advice to hunters so that their trophy can be mounted in the most desireable way, Herr responded, “The biggest thing is to get it to the taxidermist as soon as possible.’’ He said the worst thing, especially for deer, is to leave the hide in a warm, damp place after it is skinned. “It will lose the hair and begin to decompose,” he states. Furthermore, Herr says, “Hunters continually cut the hide off too short. If they want a shoulder mount, they should cut it behind the front legs, and have the brisket with it.” He also said, “You can’t take too many measurements.” He said he can estimate the appearance of a head if the hunter brings in just the hide, but it is extremely helpful to have measurements as to the width of the eyes, the length of the muzzle, the circumference of the neck, and many others. As for the homemaker who must deal with the perfectly preserved mount that comes into her home, Herr advised, “You should hang it in a place where it gets the least amount of light, especially sunlight.” Fowl can be wiped off with cotton or tissue, and game heads can be vacuumed. It is of extreme importance to always wipe with the air, so as not to lossen the hair. To make the hide shine, Herr says the best thing to use is a discarded nylon stocking and wipe it gently. He added, “Mounts should last a lifetime, depending upon the variables.” He said extreme dryness will break the skin and cause it to deteriorate, and the sun will bleach the colors. He said all mounts should be placed away from fireplaces, if possible. In Herr’s opinion, one of the most important skills of a taxidermist is knowing how a specimen should look, and then knowing how to make it look that way. “That is the key to a perfect mount.” His love of the outdoors and hunting experience helps him know what an animal looks like in nature, and he says living color photographs are a great asset. He said his background in butchering is also helpful to him as he pursues his taxidermy. Herr added, “The number one thing is eye expression. I buy quality eyes.” The eyes are made of glass, and the forms for the heads are of urethane. Herr said a taxidermist must also consider the placement of the ear and muzzle as he works on the finished animals. It is evident that little touches can be influenced a great deal by the jrd Herr sews , cape of a white tailed deer as he works on finishing the mount in the workroom on his dairy farm. He especially enjoys working on whitetailed deer and prefers them to mounting small game. While pheasants are becoming more scarce in Pennsylvania, it is still possible to find a specimen such as this. Herr finds it challenging to mount game birds and admires the in tricate coloring of the feathers. wmestpad tMoips skill of the taxidermist and something as insignificant as the width of the eye opening can have a strong influence on the final ap pearance of the mounted animal. Herr says his close work with animals has taught him “to realize how much fuller and how perfect and beautiful God’s creation is. You only realize how perfect the creation is when you try to duplicate it. You really know there is a supreme being.” He adds, “I try to use the best methods and the best products I know. I try to give the best workmanship.” He enjoys at c tention to the tiniest detail, hut * r * Herr prefers mounting whitetailed deer, and this specimen attests to his skill. He spends a lot of time preparing the hide, shaving closely around the eyes and nose to achieve a look as close to nature as possible. Herr says realistically, “If I charged auto mechanics’ wages, no one could afford to have a head mounted.” The work of a taxidermist is not just stretching the finished hide over the purchased frame. It begins when the head is brought to him, and he must skin the hide off the skull. Then he salts it and ships it to a tanner, he works very hard shaving the skin closely around the eyes so it will lay right when finished, and he also takes the cartilage out of the ear, replacing it with an ear liner when he works (Turn to Page B 4) V*
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