How to make a scarecrow from a pike's head? Souvenir for memory: a scarecrow from the head of a pike

A video or photograph of a captured catch from a successful pike fishing can be supplemented with a stuffed head of a trophy specimen of this powerful predator. And although the process of creating such a masterpiece is a painstaking and troublesome business, if desired, any angler can make himself or a friend such a gift for memory.

How to make a scarecrow from the head of a pike to keep it for many years? Is it worth while trying to create a realistic enough scarecrow to match the natural look of the caught fish, or is it better to order such work for an experienced taxidermist? There is a sense to understand this ...

Taxidermy - the art of creating scarecrows

Taxidermy (from Latin - "skin treatment", from ancient Greek - "tidying up skins") - is a craft or the 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 from hunters and fishermen when creating stuffed animals for their trophies.

In fact, taxidermists as skin specialists or skins provide one of the most important stages of creating a scarecrow. But in addition to the correct preparation and preparation of the skin for long-term storage in a natural form, it is also necessary to create a skeleton on which the skin will have to be pulled, so that in the end the effigy was as much like the original sample.

But what if there is no taxidermist nearby? How to make a scarecrow 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 seasoned fishermen who perpetuated their trophies in their own made-up stuffed animals will help to cope with this task.

How to keep the fish caught?

The first thing to do is to catch a big pike. If this miracle happened, and there is a desire to keep the head of a strong predator on memory, it is desirable to immediately take a picture of the trophy alive in the form in which you want to remember it - in an attacking pose, perhaps with a catchy pale or wobbler in the open mouth.

During transportation, the fish must be immobilized, wrapped in a damp cloth and kept in a cool place. Skin and fins should not dry out. When removing the hook from the jaws, you should be careful, as it is easy to damage the teeth of a predator.

Scarecrow from the head of the pike is best made immediately, without long-term storage and freezing. If this is not possible, you should keep the skin and fins moist as long as possible, wrapping the head with a damp cloth and placing the parcel with it before freezing into a plastic bag.

Cutting and evisceration

Before ripping the stomach and gutting the fish, the head should be carefully cut off. It is better to leave at it to 3 sm of a body for gills and forward fins. So the effigy will look more natural. The cut must be made at an angle, if you plan to hang the product on the wall.

Gills should not be removed if it is planned to make a scarecrow with an open mouth. Otherwise, they are removed, being careful not to get hurt.

How to make a scarecrow from the head of a pike to preserve the rapturous gleam of her eyes? Unfortunately, the eyes will not survive. They should be 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 by cotton swabs with tweezers through the holes in the eye sockets. You can make a cut in the skull from the side of the body with a scalpel or knife and so clean the cranium, after removing the meat behind the gills, carefully separating it from the skin.

Preparation

After cleaning, the head is thoroughly washed out. In doing so, the skin is treated with caution, so as not to break the edges and unnecessarily to not stretch it, since after drying the scales will not hold onto it.

How to make a scarecrow from the head of a pike to make it look like an attacking predator at the time of the throw? To do this, immediately open the carnivore mouth and open it with a wooden peg or wire. The emphasis should be made in bone tissue. But it is not necessary to open the jaws excessively and unnaturally.

Some teeth can stay in the pulp loosely and even fall out. In this case, it is desirable to fix them in some way. After drying, they will hold better. Individual teeth can be particularly highlighted by pressing a screwdriver with the gum and exposing the fangs in all predatory beauty.

Gill covers should also be opened and propped. If it is decided to leave the gills, they are also spread and evenly fixed in this position.

To make a scarecrow from a pike's head look natural, pay attention to the fins. They are gently laid along the body or straightened and fixed on some flat surface with paper clips.

A suitable stub is made of wood or polystyrene, which will be firmly inserted from the side of the body cut to prevent drying and deformation of the scarecrow during drying.

Canning

The head of the pike for canning is placed in enameled dishes, copiously copied with large salt or immersed in a steep saline 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.

Conservation is possible by immersing the head in alcohol or alcohol-gasoline mixture for up to 10 days. The solution after the first 3-5 days of soaking is preferably replaced with fresh and repeat the process.

For the conservation of the fish head, some anglers use an insecticide to control cockroaches. The powder is dissolved in water and soaked in it billet during the day.

The original way to make a fish head in the summer is to leave it near the ant pile. Forest nurses quickly remove all the flesh, leaving only bones and dense skin.

Drying

How to make the head of a pike (scarecrow) so that it can preserve the appearance of a captured predator for years to come? After preservation, it must be properly dried. Salt ambassador is the simplest and cheapest method of conservation. But after such a process, the salt will be released on the surface for a few more days.

All this time you need to wash your head every day, clean it of mucus and salt. It is best to do this with an old toothbrush. It is important not to miss the moment when this process ends. After the separation of salt is complete, the drying process is accelerated.

At this stage, the cavities of the cheeks need to be filled with clay, putty or foam. A stub is inserted into the cut of the body, jaws, gills and fins are straightened and fixed in the desired position. In this form, the head is mounted vertically on the board or plate and left to dry in a ventilated room.

Finishing work

After drying, the possible defects are better leveled with putty, followed by painting with gouache or acrylic paints. The cap is removed, smeared with glue and placed in place, and the skin is gently pressed against it for a tight fit.

Language always withers and shrinks in size. It can be "enlarged" with putty, giving it a natural form, followed by painting. Damaged fins can be corrected by gluing pieces of fiberglass from the back.

Gills are tinted in red, dull and stuck places of skin can also be tried "update", guided by photos taken at the site of the catch. Making a stuffed animal from a pike's head is almost finished. It remains only to insert the eyes and cover the head with two layers of nitro-lacquer.

Eyes

Ideally, it is best to insert the eyes acquired in a specialized taxidermic or hunting store. But if this is not possible, you can make them yourself.

You can come up with an eye from an old children's doll after a preliminary ripping of paint from them. Lens glasses can be turned to the desired diameter and then painted on the inside.

The easiest way is to fill the eye sockets with a yellow clay and attach a black button pupil with a subsequent varnish coating. Some masters sharpen their eyes from the plexiglass bar, others cast them from epoxy or polyester resin. You can pick up a suitable button in the hardware store and paint it in the right color.

Mount artificial eyes on clay or mastic, correctly orienting them and avoiding distortion.

Securing on a medallion

It is important to determine in advance where the scarecrow will be placed: standing on a horizontal surface or hanging on the wall - this determines which form of the stand to mount the head.

To make a scarecrow from a pike's head it is possible with fastening on a figuratively processed board, cut out on preliminary thought out pattern. Good for these purposes is a medallion of a corner saw of a dry trunk of a tree with a textured bark.

The head is attached by a screw to the base of the vertebral bone through a pre-marked and drilled hole in the board. The stand is well sanded with fine sandpaper before coating with varnish and after its first layer.

A real fisherman will make a shortcut with the date, the place where the trophy was caught, the depth with which the predator attacked, and the bait she took for granted.