a a a a a a a 3 SIX BARRE-MONTPELIER, VT. RUTLAND, VT. THE SUNDAY TIMES ARGUS AND THE SUNDAY RUTLAND HERALD NOVEMBER 9, 1975 Father-Son Son Team Will Be Knee-Deep In Dead Animals STORY AND PHOTOS By AMANDA SESSEL GLOVER Phil Brooks and his son, Al, are gearing up for the opening of Vermont's deer season when they are likely to find dead themselves animals. Their deepest drawers are full of glass eyes and there are plenty of lead ears in stock. Brooks, 73, has been a taxidermist for 40 years and successful hunters stream to his shop in Glover from all over Vermont and New England.
His son has been working with him for 15 years. Business in the trophy world is as good as ever, Brooks said recently, excusing the foul smell in his work area. Someone had brought in a coyote without gutting the carcass, he explained. "Meat animals spoil awful Brooks apologized. The unpleasant odor gradually disappeared and was soon replaced by the smell of cooking, not unlike a roast-in-the-oven smell.
It was a bear's head being boiled to remove all traces of fat and flesh. The thoroughly cooked skull would next be whitened Phil Brooks (above) has been a taxidermist for 40 years. He has mounted everything from moles to moose and he says the trophy business is as good as ever. He is holding a wood duck in his right hand and a styrofoam deer head in his left, modern technology's contribution to the craft of taxidermy. Wallingford Gunsmith's Artistry Appreciated By Vermont Hunters By HARRY JAFFE WALLINGFORD I walked into Jerry's Gun Shop here with a rusted old .22 and a clip that wouldn't work, expecting to get a few tips on hunting.
A half hour later I returned to my car with a reconditioned rifle and a lot of useful information. When I arrived at Jerry's house he was busy in his crowded workshop grinding shells to prepare them for reloading. Gunsmith Part of his operation involves recycling spent cartridges which he refills with a special mixture of powder for friends and customers. He usually reloads three to four thousand shells a year. This is the busiest time of year for Jeral Tift.
People are always looking for used rifles when deer season rolls around and Jerry has a good supply on hand. Another popular deer hunting rifle is the although same hunters prefer the more powerful .308. A few hunters prefer less wallop and use the .32 special. Jerry himself packs a for deer or a 7 mm Remington magnum that he rebuilt from a '98 Mauser. A glass case marked "Not for Sale" holds a handsome set of rifles that Jerry converted from military guns.
Each has a hand worked, wood inlay stock that has Jerry's mark of craftsman ship. Gun sales and repairs are a sideline for Jerry. He spends with "a household bleach" before being returned to its original skin. Cleanliness is of utmost importance in the taxidermy trade. Brooks' speciality is mounting heads and life-sized bodies.
Most of the hides are sent to California for tanning because, steps that and procedure takes more has than a month to complete. Hides that will be used for trophy heads or other purposes are tanned in Glover. Brooks deals mainly with deer, bear, birds and fish, in that order. When deer season rolls around, his freezer fills with birds and fish which will have to wait until spring. Other animals include "quite a few bobcat, coyotes, raccoons.
fishercats and fox," according to Brooks. He also gets a small selection of otters, mink, squirrels and even porcupine much fun to Some unusual animals come through Brooks' front door. He recently mounted a twoheaded calf and has worked with all size creatures, ranging from moles and hummingbirds to a 500-pound bear or a pound moose, which the older Brooks shot. A fur bearing fish hangs above the door to Brooks office, a miracle of nature aided by Brooks' sense of humor. Occasionally a dead pet is brought in to be mounted, a request which Brooks turns down for two reasons.
"You can't make them look right," he said. "No one makes a good dog's eye they always look all His son doesn't like to deal with domestic animals because of the owners' emotions. "A person comes' in with their favorite cat all wrought up and a week later he might have another favorite cat. I'd have to, see the money first," he explained. Every animal trophy is made differently.
Bird trophies are made in one step, but the skin is "paper thin" and work is delicate. The feathers come off with the skin in one piece. The skin side is treated with borax and can be directly mounted. Wings are put into a flying position with wire. They are also carded and when the flesh has dried the cardboard is removed.
Fish skin is wrapped around a fish-sized mount, colored and then varnished to seal the trophybbits are the hardest to work with, Brooks said. "Their skin is like paper tissue. You can see the light right through it." Last year Brooks turned "about 300" deer into trophies and of 255 bears killed legally in Vermont, 55 of them found their way to the Glover shop. Cleaned bear skins are placed in a drum with a substance similar to kitty litter. The drum rotates and the fur is cleaned and degreased.
All hides are either salted and sent to California placed into 15 to 30 gallon crocks filled with a basic tanning acid which Brooks has worked with since he entered the trade. The salt sets the hair and helps keep out bacteria. Brooks goes through 1,500 pounds of salt year for this purpose. The salt used to cost $1 per 100-pound bag, and now runs $3.85. Legs, heads, paws and hooves, hides float fill in some others.
crocks After three or four weeks the hides are removed from the crocks and rinsed several times in warm water. Hunting trophies are often referred to as being The skins are not stuffed, rather they are stretched over wood forms which have been pre-sculpted to match the size of the killed animal. Al Brooks reported some people think trophies are simply preserved animals. "Guess they think they're pumped full of formaldehyde" he mused. Basic head sizes used range from size one (the smallest) to five which is rarely called into action.
The deer skull and antlers are attached to the wooden head (cedar is the preferred wood). The skin, still wet from being rinsed free of tanning solution, is wrapped around the wood and carefully handstitched together. 'The ears are shaped with slivers of lead and glass eyes are inserted after the skin has dried. Often Brooks is asked just to mount antlers and hooves which are then used as a gun technology is making its mark on the craft. Brooks is beginning to work with styrofoam deer heads.
Other unusual heads like buffalo or antelope can now be bought, made of papier mache, from several taxidermy supply companies. Electronic tools have helped. "But we still do all the wood shaving by hand," Brooks added. Brooks mounts entire animals by tracing the skinned carcass with a grease pencil on to a pattern. The pattern is constructed into the shape of the animal and filled with "wood wool." The tanned skin is slipped over that form and the sculpted head is then attached.
Some hunters ask Brooks to transform their kills into serviceable items. Moose legs support coffee tables, a squirrel holds a thermometer and animal hooves are turned Every day animal bodies are brought to Glover for Brooks (right) to turn into trophies. This bear was shot by Robert Grammo of Littleton, N. (left; one of Brooks' regular customers. Heart Association Urges Checkup Before The Hunt RUTLAND With the hunting season in the air, hunters in Vermont have their eyes on the mountains, their spare time devoted to checking guns, clothing and camping gear, and, in ever larger numbers, according to the Vermont Heart Association, their names listed in their doctors' appointment books.
Gone are the days when "verboten" was the word for enthusiasts with heart disease, though in most states more hunting deaths still result from heart attacks than from gunshot wounds. The hunters who become headlines are often those who either haven't had a physical examination in years or a regular routine of physical exercise. "Your doctor is the one who can help you decide which into ash trays. In his store's window two bear cubs sit in a little row boat. One has a pipe in its mouth, the other holds the oars.
Brooks and his son also buy hides and sell raw furs. Coon skins stretched on slabs of wood dangle from the ceiling and mounds of salted fur lie in another room. Al Brooks believes the type of animal brought to him is directly proportional to the price set on their hide. "When fox weren't worth anything we didn't get so many, now coon pelt is worth something so they're coming Brooks believes that bear "are holding their own," in Vermont, but that there are fewer deer. He blames that on the doe season and hopes another doe season is not in the future.
"We don't need a doe-season up here, there aren't enough deer as it is," he judged. Both the Brooks men also condemn interstate highway system, saying it has split many deer herds and generally done the hunters a disservice. "I wish they'd stopped building it White River Junction," the younger Brooks says. Both Brooks and his son are hunters. "I wanted a bear for 20 years, the older Brooks remembered.
"I finally killed one and I'll never kill another One's enough. The older I get the more sentimental I most of his working hours driving a tractor-trailer for Guy Wilson. The gun business grew naturally from Jerry's tinkering and rebuilding on his own rifles. Pretty soon his friends discovered his special touch with gun repair and the house on old Rte. 7 in Wallingford became a popular place around deer season.
Any time Jerry came across a Photo by Harry Jaffe Jeral Tift tough problem he consulted his friend and "crackerjack gunsmith" Jim Comeau of Pittsford. As Jerry put it, "If it can be fixed, he can fix In 1967 Jerry converted a small room off his kitchen into the gun shop and became official with a federal license to sell firearms. As far as Jerry knows there is not much new in the rifle line this year. The old stand by for deer hunting is still the lever action In scopes, Jerry recommends 2 three, or four power for the deer rifle although a scope is not really necessary for a Routine maintenance, which keeps his rifles in 1 mint condition, is done after hunting season. The barrel is taken out of the stock for a couple of days SO the stock can dry completely.
After cleaning the bore, the barrel gets a light coat of oil, inside and out. When the leaves fall and nights get nippy the oil is wiped out of the bore and the rifle is ready. Another pre- season necessity is sighting-in the gun a necessity for some. Instead of sighting-in each season, some folks rely on what Jerry calls, "Kentucky When using this method the hunter knows how much his rifle is off target and in which direction. All one needs to do is compensate correctly when taking aim and stay in tune with the gun.
Jerry Tift is strictly a rifle hunter and does not put much stock (no pun) in bow hunting or hand guns. He feels the majority of archers are not good enough and leave many wounded deer to die in the woods. Hand guns just are not accurate, he says. Jerry hunts with his wife, and when I asked who got the last deer, he quickly changed the subject. They have an arrangement based on Jerry's offer, "You get him honey.
I'll get him And he has dragged bucks from swamps, mountainsides, and distant meadows. Last year the Tifts went without deer meat and in 1973 Jerry reluctantly recalled that Mrs. Tift brought home the venison. But in 1972 their friends and neighbor were well supplied with deer meat as the Tifts dropped a four-pointer on Creek Road in Clarendon and a six-pointer in Tinmouth. They do most of their hunting in Tinmouth, Danby Corners and Shrewsbury.
While we talked Jerry worked on my .22, the rifle I unfortunately left i in a garage to accumulate rust. When I was ready to leave, he handed over my "new" old, oncerusted rifle with a smoothlyfeeding clip that had not worked in years. My offer of compensation was countered with: "'The only reason I do this is I like working with Al Brooks (above) has worked with his father making trophies for 15 years. He is cleaning loose flesh from a bear skin before it is salted and sent to California to be tanned. Deer Camps: To Hunt Or Not RUTLAND Some years the strangest tales about deer hunting are told not about what happened in the woods per se, but rather about what happened, or was supposed to happen, at the hunting camps where the guys gather to eat, sleep and play cards when they're not out there in the forest, pursuing game.
Some camps operate smoothly, the membership restricted to thoroughly behaved and trained outdoorsmen who sign on to hunt deer and who leave the shenanigans for intemperate fellows in other camps who divide their time between hunting and bacchanalian behavior, not necessarily in that order. Any given sportsman's attitude toward the hunt can determine whether a visit to a deer camp means once is not enough, or that once is too much. The latter is what happened to a seasoned deer hunter several years ago after he accepted an invitation from his pals to stay with them in camp. He never hunted. He arrived the previous evening and departed before dawn on opening day.
He will not describe what went on during the late evening and pre-dawn hours. But what did, clearly, frightened him. He admits he has no yearning to try it again. There is no specific criterion for what constitutes a deer before you get too "bushed;" take your stand near camp and let the others flush. Bringing the deer back after the kill is hard work.
Sensible hunters share this burdensome chore heart patients never touch it! "Hunting can be one of life's great adventures, but hunters who are out of practice as outdoor men can push too hard, too fast, too far. If you take as good care of your physical condition as you do your gun, you can continue to enjoy hunting seasons for many years to come." contact For more information, the Vermont Heart Association, 56 Church Street, Rutland, Vermont 05701, for a free copy of "Hearts and camp. Ideally, it is situated in, or near, prime hunting territory. It can be a small cabin owned by one of the hunters or it can be owned by several outdoorsmen. It often is a summer home rented from an owner who has repaired for the winter to a warm climate or to the city.
Aside from food, plumbing and a stove, essential accoutrements must include a deck of cards, poker chips and several six-pacs or their counterpart in more volatile stuff. Sometimes both find a place on the larder shelf. A bartender is not required because hunters in camp who imbibe like to keep their intake basic and simple. They play the game between the white lines, so to speak. But, if the camp is to be inhabited for more than a weekend, a chef of reasonable talent ought to be signed on.
Nobody expects fine French cooking. Hunters on the prowl for several hours a day, however, do not perform at their best on a diet of beans and hot dogs daily. For many outdoorsmen, the deer camp affords a respite from aspects of family life that occasionally or frequently rub them the wrong way. They appreciate a week or more in the company of other males and the camaraderie, card playing and storytelling during the off hours is more important sometimes than the hunt. One story that has circulated in deer camps for many years concerns a bunch of Vermont hunters that went into camp the evening before opening day without designating a chef.
One of the guys, call him Sam, had an idea. He'd volunteer for the job with the More On Deer Further information, articles and pictures dealing with the Vermont deer season appear on the outdoor page, Page 7, in Section Two, the sports section. understanding that the first person to complain about the food would take over as camp cook, freeing Sam from his assignment, and each sueceeding complainer would assume the chef's chores. It seemed to the gang an idyllic solution and everyone agreed. The next morning Sam was up before the others and prepared an exemplary breakfast eggs, bacon, pancakes, steaming coffee.
He fixed sandwiches for lunch, too, and filled everybody's thermos with the hot coffee. Everybody went hunting, except Sam. The evening meal was superb, also, eagerly gobbled down by the famished, admiring hunters. Another day passed, and then another. No one offered even the slightest complaint about Sam's cooking.
He realized that his time in camp was passing swiftly and he had thus far not even loaded his rifle. On the fourth day, Sam's pals detected a sloppiness in his food not there before. The next day, the food was even worse. On the sixth day, no complaints were registered and Sam concocted a scheme. The next morning he reverted to his usual culinary excellence and served a piping hot breakfast, fixed the best lunches possible and sent the guys off to the woods with encouraging words.
Then he raced to the garbage pile and scooped up several handfuls of coffee grounds. He baked a pie crust of admirable flakiness and set it aside. And, by mid-afternoon he was cooking his best meal thus far. That evening the hunters marveled over Sam's banquet. When they called for dessert, Sam proudly marched to the table bearing the pie crust filled with used coffee grounds.
The first hunter to be served gobbled an enormous bite. His face reddened, his neck bulged. "Ugh. he groaned, "ugh!" He clasped his stomach. "Ohoooo, used coffed grounds pie!" Then, quickly, a look of remembrance crossed his face.
He turned to Sam. good," the hunter smiled "very, very stresses you can take and which to avoid. Schedule your appointment for several weeks before you plan to go, and know the answers to these questions before you get to the doctor's desk: How cold will it get at night and how hot in the midday sun? How far will you hike through the underbrush and marshes, how long the uphill climb, how high the altitude you're heading for? These are some of the factors your will want to take into account," the association said. Starting with the physical check the Vermont Heart Association offered tips for all hunters: "Condition your self as for any unusual physical exertion, with an increasing schedule of exercise; choose lightweight but warm clothing (remember, several layers of lightweight clothing are warmer than a single, heavy layer, and it is less of a load on your heart); know simple firstaid rules; be moderate in eating and drinking, and remember that drinking mixes with neither driving nor Some added tips especially for hunters with a heart condition: "Never hunt alone. Tell at least one member of your party about your condition, what medicine you take, how the medicine is given, and in which pocket you carry it.
Keep medication instructions clearly typed or printed on one the container. Get a good rest preferably a full night's sleep before you set out to hunt. Rest along the way as often and as long as necessary.
