A video or photograph capturing a caught catch from a successful pike fishing can be complemented by a stuffed head of a trophy specimen of this strong predator. Although the process of creating such a masterpiece is painstaking and troublesome, if desired, any angler can make such a souvenir for himself or for a friend.
How to make a scarecrow from the head of a pike so that it is kept for many years? Is it worth it to try to create a realistic enough stuffed animal so that it matches the natural look of the caught fish as much as possible or is it better to order an experienced taxidermist to do such a job? It makes sense to figure it out ...
Taxidermy - the art of making stuffed animals
Taxidermy (from Latin - “skinning”; from the Greek - “tidying up skins”) is a craft or art of making stuffed animals, birds, fish, reptiles and other dead creatures that are of some value as exhibits for museums. This craft is also in demand among hunters and fishermen when creating stuffed animals of trophies they extracted.
Essentially, taxidermists, as skin and skin experts, provide one of the most important steps in making a stuffed animal. But besides the correct dressing and preparation of the skin for long-term storage in its natural form, you also need to create a frame on which the skin will need to be pulled, so that as a result the scarecrow is as close as possible to the original sample.
But what if there is no taxidermist nearby? How to make a stuffed animal from the head of a pike with your own hands at home, without knowledge of this craft and practical experience? It does not matter, the advice of experienced fishermen who immortalized their trophies in handmade stuffed animals will help to cope with this task.
How to save caught fish?
The first step is to catch a big pike. If this miracle happened, and there is a desire to preserve the head of a strong predator, it is advisable to immediately photograph the trophy alive in the form in which you want to remember it - in an attacking pose, possibly with a catchy bait or wobbler in its open mouth.
During transportation, the fish must be immobilized, wrapped in a damp cloth and kept in a cool place. The skin and fins should not dry out. When removing the hook from the mouth, you should be careful, as it can easily damage the teeth of the predator.
A stuffed animal from the head of a pike is best made immediately, without long-term storage and freezing. If this is not possible, you should keep your skin and fins moist for as long as possible by wrapping your head in a damp cloth and placing the bundle with it before freezing in a plastic bag.
Cutting and Gutting
Before digging up the abdomen and gutting the fish, the head must be carefully cut off. It is better to leave her body up to 3 cm behind the gills and front fins. So the scarecrow will look more natural. The cut must be done at an angle if you plan to hang the product on the wall.
Gills should not be removed if you plan to make a scarecrow with an open mouth. Otherwise, they are removed, being careful not to get hurt.
How to make a scarecrow out of the head of a pike to preserve the predatory sheen of her eyes? The eyes, unfortunately, will not be preserved. They are best removed immediately using a crochet hook. Then, through the orbit, the flesh of the cheek should be removed without damaging the skin.
The brain substance is removed with cotton swabs using tweezers through the holes made in the orbits. You can make a cut in the skull from the side of the body with a scalpel or knife and so clean the skull box, after removing the meat behind the gills, carefully separating it from the skin.
Training
After cleaning, the head is washed thoroughly. In this case, the skin is handled carefully so as not to tear the edges and not to stretch it unnecessarily, since after drying the scales will not stick to it.
How to make a scarecrow from the head of a pike so that it looks like an attacking predator at the time of the throw? To do this, immediately open the mouth of the predator and spread it with a wooden peg or wire. Emphasis should be placed on bone tissue. But the mouth should not be opened excessively and unnaturally.
Some teeth may stick loose and even fall out. In this case, it is desirable to fix them in some way. After drying, they will hold on better. Separate teeth can be especially distinguished by pressing the gum with a screwdriver and exposing the fangs in all their predatory beauty.
Gill covers should also be opened and wedged. If it is decided to leave the gills, they are also straightened and evenly fixed in this position.
To make the stuffed pike head look natural, you should pay attention to the fins. They are carefully laid along the body or straightened and fixed on some flat surface with paper clips.
A suitable size plug is made of wood or foam, which will be tightly inserted from the side of the cut of the body to prevent drying out and deformation of the effigy during drying.
Canning
The head of the pike for canning is placed in an enamel dish, sprinkled with plenty of coarse salt or immersed in a cool salt solution (10-12 tablespoons per 1 liter of water). Salting in a cool place lasts 7-10 days for a pike head up to 3 kg and up to two weeks for larger specimens.
Preservation is possible by immersing the head in alcohol or in an alcohol-gasoline mixture for up to 10 days. After the first 3-5 days of soaking, it is advisable to change the solution to fresh and repeat the process.
To preserve the fish head, some anglers use an insecticide to control cockroaches. The powder is dissolved in water and the workpiece is soaked in it for 24 hours.
The original way to make a fish head in the summer is to leave it near the ant heap. Forest orderlies will quickly remove all the flesh, leaving only bones and dense skin.
Drying
How to make the head of a pike (stuffed) so that it can maintain the appearance of a caught predator for many years? After preservation, it must be properly dried. The salt ambassador is the easiest and cheapest way to preserve. But after such a process, salt will be released on the surface for several more days.
All this time, the head needs to be washed every day, clean it of mucus and protruding salt. This is best done with an old toothbrush. It is important not to miss the moment the process ends. After the completion of salt evolution, the drying process accelerates.
At this stage, the cavity of the cheeks must be filled with clay, putty or polyurethane foam. A stub is inserted into the slice of the body, the jaws, gills and fins are straightened and fixed in the desired position. In this form, the head is mounted vertically on a board or plate and left to dry in a ventilated room.
Finishing work
After drying, possible defects are best aligned with putty, followed by painting with gouache or acrylic paints. The plug is removed, lubricated with glue and installed in place, and the skin is gently pressed against it for a tight connection.
The tongue always dries and decreases in size. It can be "built up" with putty, giving it a natural shape, followed by painting. Damaged fins can be corrected by gluing fiberglass pieces on the back.
Gills are tinted red, dull and worn areas of the skin can also be tried to “refresh”, guided by photographs taken at the place of catch. Making a stuffed pike head is almost done. It remains only to insert the eyes and cover the head with two layers of nitrolac.
Eyes
Ideally, it is best to insert the eyes purchased in a specialized taxidermy or hunting store. But if this is not possible, you can make them yourself.
Eyes from an old children's doll may come up after first peeling off the paint from them. The lenses of the glasses can be turned to the desired diameter and then painted on the inside.
The easiest way is to fill the eye sockets with yellow plasticine and stick a black pupil button followed by varnish. Some craftsmen grind their eyes from a bar of plexiglass, others cast them from epoxy or polyester. You can choose a suitable button in the hardware store and paint it in the desired color.
Mount artificial eyes on clay or mastic, correctly orienting them and avoiding bias.
Locking on a Medallion
It is important to determine in advance where the scarecrow will be placed: to stand on a horizontal surface or hang on the wall - it depends on what shape the stand should be chosen for mounting the head.
You can make a stuffed animal out of the head of a pike with a fastener on a figuredly processed board sawn according to a previously thought-out pattern. A medallion of an angular saw cut of a dry tree trunk with a textured bark is suitable for these purposes.
The head is attached with a self-tapping screw to the base of the vertebral bone through a pre-marked and drilled hole in the board. The support is well sanded with fine sandpaper before coating with varnish and after its first layer.
A real fisherman will definitely make a label indicating the date, place of catching the trophy, the depth with which the predator attacked, and the bait on which it was overlooked.