Continuing Education Taxidermy courses are designed to prepare students to develop skills while teaching the preservation of birds, game heads, and mammals. Related subjects are included for a better understanding of customer relations and natural habitat construction. Students are also versed in state and federal regulations.
Course work includes basic proper measuring, skinning, fleshing, preserving, form selecting, and preparing techniques. Students will learn basic mounting procedures, finishing, and painting of selected specimens, construction of natural habitats, and artistic display of mounted forms. Students are required to provide their own specimens for each semester. Specimens must be lawfully taken and properly tagged under North Carolina wildlife law.
Individuals may take the Taxidermy program as either a college credit (curriculum) program or a noncredit (continuing education) program. Opportunities for graduates are self-employment, sports shops, game preserves, museums, art galleries, interior decorators, guides, and outfitters.
Special Information
The Taxidermy curriculum focuses on a variety of high-end techniques to achieve the most professional results including: water-pressure fleshing, wet tanning, hand-forming, and artistic natural habitat presentation. Students participate in annual amateur competitions and consistently win awards with these techniques.
The Continuing Education semesters are broken down into multiple classes per semester. Throughout the semester, there are three-day classes and two-night classes. For students to take an entire semester, they will be required to register for multiple classes.
Course Information
Spring Semester: Mammals
Mammal Taxidermy covers mounting game heads and life-size mammals. Emphasis is placed on proper measuring techniques, skinning, form selection, and mounting procedures. Upon completion, students should be able to skin, preserve, and mount mammals to achieve a life-like appearance, including proper color restoration.
Fall semester: Birds
Bird Taxidermy is designed to provide skills related to the control methods required for quality bird taxidermy. Topics include the precise measurement, skinning, assessment, and mounting of birds. Upon completion, students should be able to provide a realistic, quality bird mount.
Please call 910-898-9672 or email taxidermy@montgomery.edu for more information about upcoming courses or to get your name on a waiting list.