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Show .L'-a- t. SECTION Davis Reflex-Journa- B l NOVEMBER 11, 1986 L, Taxidermy comes before hunting Anita Nortons taxidermy office is a zoo of ters. life-lik- e crit- The moist-eyeanimals surrounded her desk, and while talking, she smooths the hair of a pine marten and primps the ear of a deer. d I just love the little critters, she said while petting a bobcat fixed in a pose of grooming its front paw. The only thing would rather be doing than taxidermy is hunting. 1 Although taxidermy ranks before hunting among Anita's favorite hobbies, it took her years to find the profession. But she has been hunting all her life. Raised on the family farm in Grand Junction, Colo., when Anita wasnt helping with the cultivation, she was out hunting by herself or with friends. In only the past six years, she has had the time of her life preserving animals. But before taxidermy there was a bank job which she hated. Then she tried operating a minor home repair service, but people expect you to do home repair for nothing, she said. Then the taxidermy trade came upon her by surprise. My husband and I were out deer hunting and this pretty little buck was standing right in front of us. I was getting ready to shoot the critter when this badger jumped out of his hole at my husband and I. The buck was scared off so I shot the badger instead, she said. My husband suggested I try mounting it. So I did. With a book on taxidermy and no former experience, Anita sat down to mounting the badger. She liked the work so well, she immediately trapped a coyote, a raccoon and a mink and mounted them. But Anita quickly outgrew the taxidermy book. It didn't what it meant by splitting lips, turning explain everything-Ii- ke an ear or taking the cartilage out of a nose, she said. She sought help from a professional by taking her mounts down to a commercial taxidermist in West Jordan for pointers. I took my mounts down to ask him how I was doing, and he told me my mounts were pretty good for a beginner. Then he asked me to work for him in his shop, she said. I worked for him a year and a half and learned a From there I talked to my husband and decided if I was going to be serious about being a taxidermist we would tear down the garage and build a place for a business. Even with a business called Norton's Taxidermy, Anita shuns calling herself a commercial taxidermist. Anyone that spends 26 to 38 hours on a mount cant be commercial, she said. (Most commercial taxidermists finish up to four mounts in one day.) But Anita takes extra care when she is preserving an animal. So much care that she becomes attached. By the time the customer comes to pick it up I have a hard time letting the critter go, she said. When a deer head comes in for mounting, Anita takes exact measurements and skins it. Then she takes the antlers off and cooks the marrow out of them and scrapes all of the fat off the pelt. Two saltings preserve the skin from rotting. Next she sends the cape to a tannery in Montana and orders the polyurethane form according to the measurements from four main distributors in (he United States. Polyurethane forms came to taxidermy only eight years ago. Before that the mounts heck-of-a-lo- Beaming is an important step in preserving the cap. t. Continued on next page Some polyurethane forms for bear are a perpetual growl (left). This preserved fawn in won Anita four awards. |