
I visited Scott the other day, he was in the middle of mounting a caribou shoulder mount. measure horns and hide, Tan the hide, order and prep the form, tan the velvet horns, mount the horns to the form, eyes mounted and then the hide. In total it likely takes a few hours to place and glue and sew the hide onto the form, then setting hide to make sure it looks lifelike, Total hours likely 25 hours from start to finish atleast. Someone who takes the time, uses references, and takes pride in their work, plus experience does a great job… Scott has lots of experience and does a good job.. Some people want to skimp on the price of the mount however, you just spend 3-5 thousand on the hunt, $1500 gun and scope, flight, and you want to skimp on the only thing you can actually touch after it is all said and done… I do believe the Taxidermy is very high on the list in the completion of the hunt.
Taxidermy at Holman”s in Brandon
Manitoba Bear hunting


Bear Skulls remove flesh, boil, pressure wash, bleach, score after 90 days, dip to clearcoat, attach to plaque and send to Hunter.. that is a general process of the prep of a Bear skull after it has been harvested. We all know the original skull is not put in mount or rug and a styofoam one is used inplace . Measurements are taken off the original skull or a cast is taken if something unique is wanted to be saved for the mount. Some hunters like a painting done on their skull, or a bear paw print with their pic showing in the paw, and some one it just plain no plaque just hung on the wall. We had Jeff and Chi from Beijing hunt with us last fall and they requested the bones of the front paw cleaned also as this is a Chinese custom.
Snow Geese hunting in Spring Migration


Tom is travelling across South Dakota and North Dakota the snow geese are layered field to field. Then as he is going along he sees a quad and a fellow pulling a sneek on the big flock of snow geese… I guess it is everywhere, a quick sneek is always fun if you have some blasting.. the last pic is of a good friend Tim Brown of Waterton had a good shoot last week.
Local whitetail deer


I was out for a drive this evening and just down the road from the Big Grass lodge we have a Manitoba wintering grounds for a number of whitetail deer. As I get close I can see the does sunning themselves on the slope out of the wind, then as I stop to click, the turn and run, and I get mostly flags.. then a little farther a doe stands for one click and then she turns, the calf a little braver, or maybe not so Wise stands a little longer. I didnt see any horns but my motion camera are still picking up horns on the bucks last week.
Manitoba Ice fishing season
Time is running out , temperatures are rising and March is slipping away. Forecast states temps to the low 40F by mid week, so we chose to take our shack off before we turned it into a pontoon boat.. lol.. Tom has it set up just to just hook it up, turn jacks, drop wheels and away we go. over all the water levels of the Lake have dropped over 12 feet by looks of the shore. We had no problems getting up the ridge and onto road off the lake which was GREAT> Judy is a little stressed when it is her job to remove the shack.. Sammy and Jazzy got to go for a ride and all were happy…
Wildlife in Manitoba

Cameras and feeders is what is in Judys plan for the winter.. just outside the kitchen window we have many birdfeeders, with many Blue Jays, Grosbeaks, siskins, chickadees, feeding daily. then Surprise, I had been feeding the other animals the scraps as the dogs sure did need them, every couple days Id take a bag out in field to feed the other travelers of the area, then one morning after putting fresh peanuts and some dried berries and bread crumbs in the feeder, LOOK who showed.. Slowly she moved towards the feeder.. , Hoping I was going to get a shot I got out the Canon and SNAP I got it… Not sure if it is Mr or Mrs I named her Mrs Fox.. daily she travels around the yard, and Ive seen lots of activity on the field and in slough where she has caught mice and squirrels. It is amazing what you see if you just look and have time to spend in the outdoors
Manitoba Ice Fishing Derby in the Russell area.


Our 7th annual Ice fishing Derby on Lake of the Prairies held Feb 27, Judy did the photos at the derby.. You know the Papparazzii thing she is always got the camera.. Well 556 people attended 1200 holes were drilled, we caught 39 fish, Northern Pike, Walleye, and Perch.. largest fish 68cm Northern Pike took home $12500. second fish 64cm northern $5000, Winners choice raffle tickets and she took home a Polaris Side by side.. not bad for a little ice fishing derby here in Manitoba. If it wasnt for our volunteers and our local sponsors we would not survive.. but it brings some Tourism $$ in and some good fishing stories of the one HE didnt catch.. but all have FUN IN MANITOBA!




