Upload
others
View
5
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
June 2018 Newsletter
Florida State Taxidermist’s
Association, Inc.
FSTA Board:
President:Trina Pritchard
352-567-1521
Vice President:Jared Mallard
904-483-7568
Secretary/
Theresa Durham
863-697-0914
Treasurer:
Charlotte Lord
352-542-7337
Board of DirectorsDale Buffenmyer
352-317-3831
Barney Durham
386-328-7515
Jesse Kelly
904-769-6699
DC Simms
352-2322731
Scott Statton
904-463-5355
Ken Jones
813-312-6725
Jeff Whitlock
386-547-2139
KenBarrow
386-214-2701
To All My Fellow Taxidermists and Friends,
To all members of the FSTA I would like to thank you so much for a
wonderful show, and to see all of your smiling faces again was
amazing.
I would like to thank all of our board members for all of there hard work
that they put into this organization. I know that I can’t do this without
them. The 2019 Convention will be held at the Ramada Inn and
Conference center in Lakeland, Florida on February 7-9th, 2019. One
of the recommendations that was given to me was that we need to
maintain a permanent facility and create stability in this association. I
shared this with the board and we have decided that the Ramada
fulfills all of our needs. The hotel has many things to offer us on the I-4
corridor with all the amusement parks within 40 minutes either way of
the facility for families that choose to make this a full vacation. The
hotel number is 863-688-8080. The room rates will stay the same at
$89.95 per night. The schedule of events will be emailed as soon as
possible.
Our next Presidents challenge will be a full body coyote mount. This
should be interesting for all you fur lovers out there. If you are unable
to find a coyote, please reach out to your fellow taxidermists and see if
they may have one.
Please join us on Facebook. We look forward to your comments if you
need to contact anyone, please don’t hesitate to call.
Set your mind on things above
Colossians 3:2
Sincerely,
Trina Pritchard
A letter from Father George
I am sending you and the members of the FSTA a few random and rambling reflections
on my life, as it pertains to my involvement with taxidermy.
I grew up in Saint Petersburg and lived just a block from the Coffee Pot Bayou and one
block from the newly pumped up landfill along North Shore Drive. Our neighbor was Dr.
Holmes. He was on the staff at the American Museum of natural History in New York City, but
spent the winter months at his home on North Shore Drive. He invited me into his home one
day. I was perhaps 10 years old and I was immediately fascinated by his “studio”. Like many
scholars, it was very, very, unorganized, jars filled with formaldehyde and animal parts,
mounted birds on the walls, a few fish mounts, human skulls and assorted bones, and of
course, a jumble of books and papers. He was one of the archaeologists, along with Dr. Stirling,
who were doing research on the famous Weedon Island Burial Mound. He sensed my juvenile
interest and said, “Just go across the street to the new landfill and look around”. I did, and I
found giant shark teeth, some as big as a playing card, manatee bones, and darkened foot
bones of horses, almost petrified. The “bug” bit me! I was hooked on being like him, doing
research and investigating the unknown, and learning taxidermy. But at that time, the 1920’s.
taxidermy was a very secret sort of profession. I went to the Encyclopedia Britannica and tried
to find out more but there was very little information that a youth of my age could
comprehend. Items like the work of the great Carl Akley and Louis Jonas at the New York
Museum were astounding. But again, I was bitten hard and I wanted to learn more about
taxidermy. There was one taxidermist in Saint Petersburg and I recall one day especially. I was
standing near his yard where he was preparing chemicals to tan a bobcat skin. He chased me
away. About all I learned from the encyclopedia was how to make arsenic soap and how to
“stuff” a skin with excelsior or dry moss. But one day I found a roadkill squirrel. This was my
chance! I skinned it but did not really know how to flesh it properly and of course, as a boy, I
certainly could not buy arsenic. So, I used salt. At that time, Borax was unknown to me, so you
can imagine how my squirrel turned out with just salt. Later I tried another squirrel and did not
use salt. It looked like a scarecrow.
At this time, I was big into Boy Scouts and one of the merit badges was taxidermy. I
don’t recall what I produced to earn that badge, but I did. The only item I can recall was tanning
a woodchuck skin with Fels Naptha and Octagon soap. My efforts in learning taxidermy, more
or less, went into a decline. I continued with other scouting lore, camping, cooking outdoors
and the hundred other items that the Scout manual indicated to continue on your way to the
rank of Eagle Scout. I hit that at age 16. But now, I was out of school and entered the Seminary
to become a priest. So my career as a taxidermist was more or less over.
I was now 26 years old and was assigned to Orlando, St Augustine, Miami, the
Pastor in Ocala, and finally Pastor in Venice, Florida. It was there that another man
entered my life, George Hott. That definitely put me back into taxidermy fever. He had
been on the staff at the Museum of natural history also, as well as the famous
Pfleuger Taxidermy Studio in Miami. He was more or less retired, but set out to teach
me. The fever really returned as I learned the skill in fleshing, preserving, mounting,
etc. Then I heard about the NTA. I joined but did not at the time become involved in
any competitions or exhibits. Then I joined the FSTA and was now off in high gear.
Under the tutelage of Curt Bossie, Bo Reed, Tony Gilyard, Gene Dobbs, Ratso
Pennington, Mike Kirkhart, and others, I really got into taxidermy in a big way. Hogs
became my specialty mainly because I had the advantage of some 30,000 acres along
the Myakka River. Hogs were everywhere! I brought at least one hog, sometimes
several, to every FSTA competition, plus at the NTA and the World competitions. With
mentors such as Curt Bossie, Tony Gilyard, Bo Reed, and many, many, other great
taxidermists, I entered into the big stuff like moose, grizzly, and black bear full body
mounts, and fighting hogs with appropriate habitat vegetation.
After leaving Venice, I moved to Citrus County as Pastor for more than 30 years. I had
a fine little building for taxidermy work and did probably 90% of my competition
mounts while there. I stopped my work in taxidermy about the year 2008. I cannot
fully or adequately express my gratitude for the warmth and fellowship that I enjoyed
with my many taxidermy friends. I always consider myself as an amateur. I never
would accept any specimen for mounting without pay. I would at times, present a
deer or hog head to a special person as a present.
As I now approach my 100th birthday, I often spend my reveries recalling
the happy times I spent with the roster of great taxidermy friends I knew during all
these years. I send my prayers for all of you and will ask God’s blessings on each of
you and your families.
Sincerely,
Father George Cummings
FSTA 2018
Convention
FSTA 2018
Convention
1:00 pm To ???? Setup Backboards (everyone's help is appreciated)
3:00 pm To ???? Supplier Setup
4:00 pm To 7:00 pm Pm Registration/
6:00 pm To ???? Seminar –
8:00 am To 12:00 pm Registration - Mounts Accepted
9:00 am To 11:00 am Seminar-
10:00 am To 12:00 pm Supply Area Open
12:00 pm To 1:00 pm Lunch Hour- Mounts will not be accepted during lunch
1:00 pm To 5:00 pm Registration - Mounts Accepted
1:00 pm To 5:00 pm Supply Area Open
1:00 pm To 3pm Seminar –
3:30 to 5:30
6:00 pm To ???? Friday Night Member meeting /
7:30 am* To 9:00 am Late Registration (No Mounts Accepted After 9am)
8:00 am To 11:00 am
9:00 am To 12:00 pm Supply Area Open (Supply Area Breakdown 12pm)
12:00 pm To 1:00 pm Lunch
1:30 pm To 4:00 pm Competition room open
4:00 pm To 5:00 pm Breakdown (everyone’s help is greatly appreciated)
6:30 pm To ???? Banquet and Auction
2018 Schedule of Events
Thursday, February 8th
Friday, February 9th
Saturday, February 10th
Birds
Mammals, Game heads, and Deer
fish
Judges