Bush Gear Taxidermy | Taxidermist Auckland, Custom Mounts

Welcome to Bush Gear Taxidermy

David Mowbray started Bush Gear Taxidermy to provide an efficient and tailored Taxidermy service to hunters around New Zealand. Valued for the quality of his work, he specialises in mounting heads, shoulders, antlers and crafting antler coat/hat racks. Whether it be a Deer, Thar, Chamois, Goat or Pig, the mount is bound to be a success as David prioritises quality and speed over volume.

Bush Gear Taxidermy is a member of the New Zealand Taxidermist Association.

About David

Having grown up in rural Australia, hunting and fishing were the sports of choice. As a youngster, field shooting was where I learnt the skills of hunting and shooting game game animals/birds.

Starting out on rabbits, quail, ducks, snipe and whistling up foxes, each of these required you to understand and learn about what you hunt, their habits and how to best approach each of these.

As time progressed I became fascinated with Deer and before long it became my sole focus for hunting. In Australia, that was the mighty Sambar. My OE was a trip to NZ for a couple of years hunting and chasing the game available. I was hooked.

Having been fortunate enough to hunt a number of the deer species I developed an interest in Taxidermy as I saw this as a natural progression. This to me is the final act of hunting, finding your trophy (however big it is) taking your trophy, fully utilising the whole animal and preserving that memory for ever with your mount to remind you of the journey you have taken.

I pride myself on producing a quality product that meets or exceeds the customer's expectations within a reasonable turnaround time. 4-5 months. It is all about quality, not quantity.

Testimonials

Game Head Mounts

Great effort, very happy with the quality and quick turnaround time.

Brad W

Coat/Hat racks

Great quality, unique and we were happy to fit out each room in out Boutique Accommodation – POSHTEL Oamaru owner Phillip Mc Nicholl

Phillip Mc NichollPOSHTEL Oamaru owner

Shield Mount

Great quality, very happy.

John G

Field Care for your Cape:

In order to get the best result for your mount, here are a few simply tips for field dressing and preserving your Cape.

- Do not cut the throat of your trophy to bleed out
- When removing the cape allow to cool, do not allow to air dry.
- Do not cut up to the brisket or chest area of the animal, leave plenty of length.
- Remember to leave the cape long, too much length is better that it being too short.
- Try to keep blood off the cape.
- Remove fat, meat and membrane from the skin/cape.
- Salt the hide/cape with PLAIN SALT, do not use iodised or rock salt.
- If you leave the head skin on the skull, wrap in a plastic bag and freeze the head (if possible) and deliver to the taxidermists as soon as practical.

Caping for a shoulder Mount

With a sharp knife cut the hide between the ears, down the back of the neck, stopping your cut behind the shoulders as shown in Diagram A. Cut down behind the shoulders to behind the front legs, cut around the front legs about 5” down from the body and join the two cuts as shown in Diagram B, so the brisket and arm pits end up going forward with the cape that will show on a full shoulder mount.

Skin up to the head or right behind the ears and cut the head off the body as shown in the diagram below.

If you are an experienced skinner, you can make a “Y” cut to the base of the horns, carefully skin around the horn burs, cut off the ear butt close to the head, and taxidermist and let him finish skinning out the head so it is done properly.

Do not drag your deer out of the woods with a rope. The branches, rocks and ground can easily damage the hair and ruin the shoulder which will show on your mount.

Remember: When cutting around the body of the animal, cut around where the brisket ends, this way you will have plenty of length on the cape for a quality shoulder mount.

Contact

BUSHGEAR Taxidermy is Auckland based.

Feel free to contact me via mobile: 021 069 2249 or email: davidm@edl.nz

"Professional Taxidermy Services"