Rural Hall Taxidermy shop talk

My personal best buck EVER! A hunters blessing!

2008-12-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

Heres how it went down...

I got in the stand at 6:00 tuesday morning. By 6:30 I had deer all around me. My stand is in a cedar tree. Two yearlings come into the path in the tree and looked up at me. I knew I was busted. But they started eating berrys off a boxwood like bush. As it got lighter, the deer kept geting closer to the woods. They was eating green weeds in a non-picked soy bean field (they never went to the corn). As they got closer to the woods I would grunt. They would turn around and come about ten feet and stop, then go back. This went on for a few minutes. When it got light enough for me to see, I realized the 10 pointer was with them. The way the light was hitting that rack, It looked like his ears was big as a basketball. When I scoped him I knew it was now or never. Thats when I took the shot.

If you look at one of the photos, you can see his tarsal glands are swollen. But this deer did not have the full blown rut smell. He actually had no smell at all.

The same evening, I heard two bucks rais'n cane in the woods. It sounded like Lousiville sluggers beating each other.

Needless to say, the better half has been off work all week and will be sitting in my stand in the morning. She has killed does by the truck load. But never a Buck.

I can only hope and pray her time is now!

10 point buck
Shot aprox. 7:15 am this morning
30-06 (US Armory, Springfield w/ Ted Williams scope)
168 yard shot
Deer ran 30 feet!
Aprox 200-210 lbs.

More than bussiness is booming!

2008-12-07T01:25:00.000-08:00

I am really amazed at the bucks that have been bagged this year! Business is booming at Rural Hall Taxidermy! Had a new client bring me a nice Davidson county buck this year. He drove from Welcome, NC to my studio, went back home, got his deer and brought it back. All the same day!

I honestly beleive that the 2 buck a year limit is really paying off on nicer bucks being harvested. Hunters are being more picky about what they kill now. This in years to come will start producing some awesome deer in North Carolina, im sure.

I did manage to sneak away from the studio and make a successful shot at 150 yards with my old Springfield US Armory 30-06 I bought some 20 years ago. Which includes a old Ted Williams scope! We lost our lease in Wikes County this year. But managed to obtain 90 acres in Forsyth County that looks very promising. Its kinda nice to drive 15 minutes to hunt verses an hour now. I can hunt in the mornings and be at the studio by 9:30am so thats another plus. (I never got a scope in time for my Weatherby 300 Mag I won. Maybe next year...)

Heres my first for 2008! Hunting in Forsyth County(photo taking at the farm).

You cant tell it, but this buck had little kickers all over the base of the antlers......

Im involved on a major project in the Taxidermy industry. I cant give much details right now. But New York Times, Taxidermy Today magazine and numerous local news media is wanting a peice of this project. Theres not many taxidermist ever had the honor of working on this major of a project. Maybe in a week or two we can let the cat out of the bag on this one.

I am still awaiting the aproval and cetifacation of my copyrighted forms I have designed. This has also been a major stepping stone for me that I am really looking forward to.

Theres only a couple more weeks of deer season in my district, and hopefully I'll set my better half up on a nice buck. Probably one I missed in Black Powder season...lol

Well thats a short update on the going ons here at Rural Hall Taxidermy.

~Teddy

Wow! where has the time gone?

2008-11-25T12:23:00.001-08:00

Well here it is November! Stick and string has come and gone, along with the smoke pole season. Now we into firearms and season.

I never drew the bow back this year. I never even got to go hunting. I had to play catch up and get everything finished up before deer season got underway. Muzzle Loading was a different story. I guess "buck fever" got the best of me. I missed 3 NICE bucks! I'm talking wall hangers!

So here we are at rifle season. Man I have taking in some awesome deer this year. I had one customer drive all the way from South Carolina just to have me mount his deer for him. This is a "new customer" that I had never met before. He had a buddy use my services and was so impressed he brought his trophy here. That puts a feather in your cap when you get results like this.

I am considering putting a "cap" on the amount of deer I take in after this year. Only taking in repeat customers and thier friends trophies. My customer base is growing faster then I ever expected.

Here's some simple advise I need to give out.

IF you place your trophy in a black garbage bag to carry to your taxidermist. Please keep it out of the sun. This creates heat and creates bacteria and then the hair falls out. I would hate for you to loose your trophy after all the work you put into it.

Please don't cut the brisket area, or the arm pits. This could hamper you from getting a full shoulder mount. If you have questions concerning skinning a deer, feel free to call me and I will walk you through it. Field care is very important in the final result of a nice trophy hanging on your wall.

Last, call before you haul! I might be sitting up a tree watching the planes fly over and the birds singing.

May your aim be true and your trophy be BIG!

Till next update ,
Wildlife Artist, Teddy Speas

A month away and stick & string starts!

2008-08-16T02:10:00.000-07:00

WOW! where has this year gone? In just a few weeks Deer season starts up for the year! That's just hard to imagine!

I'm finally seeing day light at the end of the tunnel and am on the verge of getting caught up. I just finished a Jake Turkey from Virginia, a 9-10 lb large mouth bass, a few brim with about a 2 lb bass in a cluster. Finished the last customers deer head for last year. By the way...those stimulus checks uncle Sam sent out produced lots of work for Rural Hall Taxidermy!

We did manage to sneak off to Tippecanoe, Ohio for about 5 days. A couple we have became close friends with own, Lightning Motocross. So we took off to the race track and had a blast! Later that weekend we hung out with Tracey Lawrence. He had a gig in Cambridge Ohio at the Deerassic Classic and we was in attendance and had a blast! The fella that started Deerassic Park, Dean, I had the honor of meeting. And later on in the weekend I found out he originally was a taxidermist. Now that caught my attention. So I set out to find him and we got to talking. He is known all across the country for his talent of making reproduction antlers. This is a major time consuming ordeal. I have attempted to do this with BAD results. So in January/February I'm heading back to Cambridge and Dean has offered to show me the tricks of the trade in this field. Dean is just a super fella and I really look forward to this outing.

August 15th (yesterday) was Annette and myself 14th wedding anniversary. WOW for me being with a women for 14 years...Well that's deserving of a gold medal! And I will leave it at that.

I will post a reminder later on. But, we will bee in New Hampshire Oct. 29th - November 4th. So if you get that big one, call the studio. That number will transfer over to my cell phone and I will get your message and return your call.

Everyone have blast getting ready for deer season. Its gonna be a good year from what I have seen and heard.

The next couple of weeks I can finally get started on some things I am wanting to do for myself.

Till next time, Draw, Anchor, Aim and Release! If you was lucky the work just began!

~Teddy

It's summer time! Back from vacation....

2008-06-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

I updated the photo section with the life size Coyote I completed for Mike Brooks. Mike told me to do it, "the way I wanted to". So when Mike and his family came and picked it up, they LOVED it!

Got a bass finished for Joey Riggins that turned out great. My true passion in taxidermy is fish. But in this business you have to do it all.

Annette and myself took a week off for vacation and headed west. Our flight ended in Las Vegas Nevada. Where we "bellied up to the bar" with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Good Ol JR(Jim Ross), Bret "Hitman" Hart, Pat Patterson just to name a few. Several of my friends that I have been associated with in the Professional Wrestling world was there as well. Folks like Steve Dr. Death Williams, Cowboy Bob Kelly, Ronnie Garvin, Bob Leonard, The WOLFMAN, My good friends Harley and His wife BJ Race. Harley and BJ have invited me and Annette to come up to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri and hangout with them one weekend. Harley wants us to get on his speedboat and see if he can scare us. That should be interesting......

Monday night in Las Vegas, I refereed a wrestling show at the Riviera Hotel/Casino. The legendary manager of the four horesmen,J.J. Dillon was a manager for one of the tagteams involved in the match. I was extremely excited to have the honor of Ref'n a match involving JJ Dillon and getting to dispute and argue the finish with him. JJ is still to this day a highly respected gentleman in the business.

My real close friend,Wes Daniel and I did a skit Tuesday night that involved Nick Bockwinkel. This is on Youtube and you can check it out by clicking on this link > You Tube As some of you know, My Professional Wrestling Referee name is, Morgan Dollar. So when I introduce myself on the clip as Morgan Dollar, you will know who I am.

The vacation like everything, must come to and end. So here I am back in the studio working on fish, deer and other critters.

Till next time, take a kid fishing!
Be well,
Teddy
Wildlife artist

Get your rod and Reel! Its Fishing time!

2008-04-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

Spring has Sprung! The fish are bitting! Its that time of year to get out and go fishing! If your out boating, please I beg you,BE CAREFUL! While taking my boat out I have seen some people do so crazy things. So keep everything and your surroundings in mine while you are on the water.

I have all ready started taking fish in form local anglers. Nice Bass are starting to bite and Crappie are going crazy right now. Getting more and more reports in that the shad are starting to show up alot(that for all you catfishermen). Speaking of catfishing, checkout the BOC. If you sign up be sure and tell them CarolinaCats (thats me over there on the forum) recommended you. Its a awesome catfishing and fishing in general forum!

Recenlty a lady called about some reproduction trout. Her twin sons caught while fishing at the North Fork Ranch in Colorado. Needless to say these are birthday presents for her to twins. She was excited when she saw the finished product.

This week I am working on a lifesize coyote. This will be a aweosme mount when I get it finished. It will be a rather unique one. I will be sure and post a photo of it when I get through. Along with the critter it killed!

Well thats about it form this side of the creek. Tight lines to all you fishermen out there!

Before you take off fishing be sure and check out WXII12 for the latest weather information. My buddy Austin Caviness is right 99% of the time....well almost 99% of the time.

Hopefully in the next week or two I will be able get out and do some fishing myself.

Till next time, Good luck with your outdoor adventures!

~~Teddy

What a weekend!

2008-01-26T22:31:00.000-08:00

Above- Display of our work at the Deer B-Que

We had a very interesting weekend. We attended Northridge Baptist Church's annual Deer B-Q.
Hundreds of people turned out for this annual event that is becoming more and more popular in the community. The mens fellowship,along with several Ladies of the church pulled off one amazing feat. The food without a doubt was better than any store bought food you can get. They began cooking deer venison at midnight Friday and man alive was it good! We are all ready making plans for next years festivites.

I stumbled across a few ...er "young" friends I had not seen in years. Barry Westmoreland was a Deputy Sheriff and had retired a few years ago. It was great seeing Barry. At least this time without a gun...lol

The hunter safety class had some where around 27-28 people in it and I believe they all passed the class and received their certification.

The seminar about, "field care of your trophy" we had was excellent. People had many questions. The questions ask by the attendies was good valid questions.

Below are a few photos that was taking during the seminar.

Above - Teddy going over field care for Birds

Above - Teddy going over field care for Fish

Now its back to work come Monday morning and the play time is over.
Take care all,
Teddy

DEER-B-Q & Seminars & Prizes- January 26th 2008!

2007-12-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

On January 26, 2008 the Northridge Baptist Church (Rural Hall,NC) men's fellowship will be sponsoring a FREE Deer-B-Q!

This will be a dayful of fun for everyone! You must preregister! This is so the men will know just how much food to prepare.

Theirs going to be all kinds of outdoor activities for hunters young and old. Door prizes, and a major surprise at 2:30! They are planning several different seminars on hunting related areas. All this will be going on during the day, starting at 1pm.

They contacted Rural Hall Taxidermy and we will be presenting a seminar on field care for your trophy. This seminar will include small game, deer, birds & fish. Hopefully this will help allot of hunters understand what they need to do (and not do) before their trophy arrives at the Taxidermist. We will also have several different items on display.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will also be having a Hunter Safety course. This is a mandatory requirement for people that have never held a hunting license in North Carolina. The only way you can get your hunting license is to have this certification. You must preregister for this as well. You can preregister by going to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Website.

If you need more information please contact Northridge Baptist Church at 336-969-2330.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Business is booming....

2007-11-19T23:42:00.000-08:00

Well I did manage to sneak away to Gods country and bag a small 7 pointer during the opening day of Black Powder season in the nothwestern region of the state. Annette seen 11 deer opening day and didnt see any shooters. But she was happy with atleast seeing deer.

I want to give out a "way to go" to Mark Longworth. Mark let the old smoke pole do the trick and bagged a awesome 8 pointer with a 25" spread. His better half is getting it mounted for his birthday in March. Just so happens his birthday and mine are a few years and a couple days apart. So we just might have to sit around the camp fire and celebrate our birthdays and his deer come March!

I will be staring the 2007 Trophy room shortly for you to checkout some of the work thats going now. This time of year is... Long days and short nights around the Taxidermy studio...

Till next,

Im back in the skinning shed!

Teddy

Deer season is here!

2007-10-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

I guess not posting any new info. since June pretty much explains the flow of work going through the studio. I have been taking deer in at a record pace for this time of year. Along with fish and other critters.

I recently mounted a deer head for a gentleman that hunts in Ohio. Now I beleive in doing the best work possible when working in the studio. And I beleive if you treat your customers right and do a excellent job,they will return. Well, lo and be hold......This gentleman returned with 3 more deer from his hunting club in Ohio. To have that kind of repeat business in the same year really made me feel proud.

Bow season is usually slow for me. But this year has been different. To the extent that I have had to impliment a return time frame. The following is when you can expect to receive your item back once the deposit has been made:
(determined by work load)
March - October - 3 months
November - December - 4 months
January - February - 5 months

This includes all items and not just deer. My work load continues to increase with the quality of work I am producing.

In a few weeks I will start the 2007 Trophy room. This will be a interesting section as I will display the deer taking in for this year. To mention just a few I have, include a 10 point buck with a 25" neck, a awesome looking 8 pointer and a nice velvet antler opening day(Archery) 8 point buck. These are just a few with lots more to come.

So if you dont see me posting updates as often as I would like. Im covered up to my head in fins and fur!

Give me a call or take a chance and stop by the studio. I am always looking for an excuse to sit around a few minutes and chew the fat.

"Theres a place for all of God's critters! Right beside the Taters and Gravy!"

Award winning Wildlife Artist,
Teddy Speas

Over due update

2007-06-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

I do apologize for not updating quicker. But I have been extremely busy working in the studio. I still have 3 more deer to finish for the year and a fella called Saturday about bringing one Monday(or having the game warden drop it off....LOOOOOOONG story). I have been doing lots of Large Mouth Bass. People are catching some monsters now!

I entered a deer and a squirrel in the Taxidermy mini course competition in May and placed third. Now, I have placed critters in all the categories and know what the judges look for. So I should be better off at my next competition.

In September, I'm gonna start working on a life size buck that was hit in front of my house about 3 weeks ago. This should be a major undertaking. But I am looking forward to it!

Will be uploading pictures of some more work as soon as I have time.

Well back to work (at 3 in the morning!).
Take care all,
Teddy

Shop Talk has been deleted

2007-04-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

We will have this up and running shortly. While on vacation the blog was deleted during a migration period with blogger.