KHC 174 - Savanah Endicott

Savanah Endicott - daughter of the Herd Bull (Wayne Endicott) and beginner taxidermist currently specializing in skull mounts. Join us for a conversation about the artwork Savanah did for Cam’s Wenaha bull, how she got started in taxidermy, and more! Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com Follow Savanah: https://www.instagram.com/savanah_endicott Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Boiling Skulls & Taxidermy 00:05:06 – How Savanah Got into Taxidermy 00:09:59 – Growing Up in a Hunting Family & Support from Savanah’s Parents 00:14:29 – Dreams of Making Taxidermy Full Time 00:20:33 – A Creative Eye for Mounts & First Mounts and Hides 00:24:20 – High Detail Mounts to Create Realism 00:29:54 – Having the Herd Bull as a Dad 00:32:35 – Wenaha Euro Mount & Skull Art by Savanah 00:37:15 – Final Thoughts Thank you to our sponsors: https://cameronhanes.com/pages/sponsors

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:15Cameron Hanes?

  This is the Keep Hammary Collective with Miss Savannah Indicott. How are you?

• 0:21Speaker 01

  Good, I'm doing good. How are you?

• 0:23Cameron Hanes?

  Have you been on a podcast before?

• 0:24Speaker 01

  Never, never even thought I would be going on a podcast. This is definitely a surprise to me.

• 0:30Cameron Hanes?

  Are you ready?

• 0:31Speaker 01

  I think so.

• 0:33Cameron Hanes?

  So, I wanted to have you on because I like badass girls that do cool stuff. And because I don't think, um, I don't know, I, you get attention for doing whatever stuff that probably you shouldn't get attention for, but then you are working in taxidermy. You love working on animals, mounting animals, um, you do European mounts, which is basically boiling out the skull, cleaning it up, getting the skull, the antlers ready to hang on a wall without like the hide and like the full taxidermy mount. But, so I killed a big bull in the winter with your dad and I wanted to have you work on the antlers.

• 1:17Speaker 01

  I know. I was surprised when you asked me. I was like, wow, he's trusting me with this. But I'm super appreciative of it. So, um, but yeah, just as far as like the process goes, this is actually my first year doing like skulls for like customers, like people paying me to do them. So like before I did like a handful of skulls like for family, family, friends, and I would just boil them. Oh gosh, looking back now, we have, we have one bear that was like my first bear ever did. Didn't realize how greasy they were. How did you grease them? So I boiled it, sitting on the shelf, um, and it, it looks okay, but compared to like one of the bears I did this year, like it, to me, it's like my starting point. Like that bear is a representation of like where I started with skulls.

• 2:00Speaker 01

  Cause it's, it's got its grease spots. I didn't do things properly, but I, at the time I was like, oh my gosh, like that's so cool. Like I got this thing cleaned and then I started actually researching, like YouTube, but looking at stuff, I realized I wanted to go with the maceration process for doing many skulls, especially because I work my job full time. So sitting there boiling skulls in water just wasn't really what I wanted to do. So maceration, um, as far as like, if you don't know what that is, it's just. Bucket of water, a lot of times you just put the skull right in and the flesh just breaks right off the bone, like just falls off. Nope, it's just, it's just water. So basically it rots in the water over time. And I'd say like I dumped my buckets probably

• 2:45Speaker 01

  once a week, do it with fresh water, basically until the flesh just falls right off the bone. And it makes it nice because the notice, uh, the difference I've noticed is just the skull is super chalky when you boil it, super harsh. And that grease soaks into the skull. When you macerate it, it's not chalky, all your nasal, uh, cavities, all the bones, everything stays perfectly intact. So like the skull just comes out way nicer. So I ended up doing that for all the skulls I did this year, including the elk. And I've been super impressed with it. I like it.

• 3:16Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, I didn't even, I didn't think about like, look at that bear skull right here on the table. Yeah. Like, see how it's got, turn it towards you like the note, look at the nose. See the no like little, like this one has, are you talking about that stuff in there?

• 3:28Speaker 01

  That's exactly what I'm talking about is the first bear I did looked just like this one where I, I was, there was no way you could keep all those nasal cavities. Cause you're having to pull them out as you boil. Cause it's the boiling process, it, it works, but I still found like there was a lot of tissue in areas that were just tough and stubborn and it was not easy to get off. Just like the, everything in the nose, you had to pull everything out. That ended up ruining all the nasal bones. But I did a bear with maceration and everything just fell right out. And then you degrease and I just use like dish soap and water. And then, yeah, I, I just, I was impressed with the maceration. Cause I was like, is this really going to work? Like just water and buckets?

• 4:07Speaker 01

  And what I do is heat, um, I add like little aquarium heaters in my buckets and that heat speeds the process up like extremely. So.

• 4:18Cameron Hanes?

  How'd you, how'd you learn to do all this?

• 4:21Speaker 01

  Um, just talking to people, especially like the taxidermist I work from Fridays. I'm, I'm sure you know, I'm Zane Smith.

• 4:27Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 4:27Speaker 01

  Mark Cole, he has backcountry creations, but, um, I was talking to him and he doesn't usually do skulls, but he's like, I've heard maceration works really well. And I'd heard people talk about it. So I did some YouTube research, watched all these YouTube videos of people doing it. And I was like, well, I'm just going to wing it. We're gonna just, I kinda put out there on my social media, like, hey, I'm doing skulls. If anyone wants skulls done, I'm doing them. Here's my prices. My mom was super great about like, you know, telling everyone about it too, being like, hey, she's doing skulls. So of course I had a bunch of people from my mom. Um, but yeah, then I just did maceration and it was working really well and I just kept with the process. So I was pretty happy with it.

• 5:05Cameron Hanes?

  Did you, when you started working for Zane, did you plan on, what was your plan? Did, did you just like working on animals or how did this start even?

• 5:13Speaker 01

  So I think it started when, uh, kind of flipped the switch, like, hey, I really want to do taxidermy. Like I'm gonna get into it, like.

• 5:21Cameron Hanes?

  Well, why? So why, why, what, how, I mean, why was that? Cause that's pretty rare for, for a young girl.

• 5:27Speaker 01

  I think just like growing up the way I did, especially with my parents being like us involved in the outdoors, everything. I, I think it starts from when I was really little. Like I've always been obsessed with taxidermy. Like I remember being little, like we had this giant, we still have it, my parents do. It's like this giant cougar on, like laying down. It would always be in our living room. I'd just like sit there and like touch it, pet it, touch the eyeballs. My dad would always be like, don't touch it. And I'd do exactly what he said not to do.

• 5:53Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 5:54Speaker 01

  And, um, I would just like think to myself, like, this is so crazy to me that somebody can just like kill an animal, take the hide and just completely replicate it, make it look so real. Like I always, I always wondered like, how do they do this? Like taxidermists are insanely talented to be able to do something like that. And so I've just always been fascinated, always been like, that'd be so cool to do taxidermy. Super cool to be ta- uh, do taxidermy. And, um, but I was like, that takes like a special type of talent, like that, that would be way too hard. Like you wouldn't be able to do that. Like I told myself that for so long. And then I kind of got to the point where I was like, no, I think you can absolutely do it. I think the more I tell myself that I can't do it,

• 6:35Speaker 01

  it's just never gonna happen, obviously. So I kind of just like took that step where I was like, I don't want to do this day job forever. I don't, this isn't what I want to do. Taxidermy is what I want to do. Like I'm just. I'm gonna try to get into it and it kind of started with um I texted Zane because he was our family taxidermist and I was like, hey, like, do you mind if I just come in one day and just watch what you do? Like, I just, I, there's so much I want to know. Like, can I just ask questions? Can I come in? And he was like, yeah, sure. Like, I don't care. Stop by whenever. So I stopped by one day and watched him. I think it was an Axis steer is what he was mounting. So it was pretty cool. I got to watch him uh start to finish, mount this Axis steer.

• 7:16Speaker 01

  And it was probably four or five hours long that I was there that day watching. And the whole time I was just like, oh, my gosh, like, this is absolutely what I want to do. Like,

• 7:25Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  Some people might think it's boring, but like, it was just a complete light switch. Like, I have to do this. If I don't, I'm gonna be kicking myself, you know, like, I absolutely want to do taxidermy.

• 7:37Cameron Hanes?

  Was he pulling the hide on the form and pinning it and everything?

• 7:40Speaker 01

  Oh, everything, yeah.

• 7:41Cameron Hanes?

  Is that what that was?

• 7:41Speaker 01

  Start to finish from him prepping that hide. I didn't even know, you know, that's what you had to prep the hide before it went on. Uh, prepping the hide, uh, you know, customizing the form, claywork, putting the hide on, tucking everything, finished mount, you know, up to dry. I, I got to watch him do all of it. And I was super fascinated. Yeah. Cause I was like, I don't know how this works. Like, he, you can watch YouTube all day long, but it's different when you're actually there and you're seeing how it happens. And of course, he does it so fast. He's been doing it forever. So getting to watch him do that, I was just like, this is so cool.

• 8:16Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  Um, and then ever since then, he would let me come in and just like, watch what he did. And then slowly, he would let me work on little things, learn prepping hides all the way to the point where he's like, well, if you want to mount something, like, I can give you a hide. And if you have, like I said, antlers, so my fiance, Travis, he had just killed the biggest blacktail of his life that year.

• 8:37Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 8:38Speaker 01

  And I come home and I'm like, hey, like, Zane's gonna let me mount something. Like, we should do your buck. And I had already euroed his skull. So um, we ended up cutting the skull cap off. I got to mount it, first blacktail ever. And it was just like the most accomplished thing I felt like I ever did, which was crazy. Like, I was just over the moon excited. I was like, I never thought I would be able to do this. And it turned out, yeah. I would say it turned out pretty good for a first mount. So, and he loved it. So that's what made me happy. Like, I could tell, like, he was super genuinely excited. So I was like, well, must look good, good enough, so.

• 9:16Cameron Hanes?

  That's fun.

• 9:16Speaker 01

  But yeah, it kind of started there. And then ever since then, you know, my parents, my dad, he killed an axis deer. I got to do his axis deer through Zane. It was, it's, it's been great. So just kind of on this journey of trying to learn everything I can. And most taxidermist won't just be like, hey, I'll just teach you everything you want to know. Like you can just hang around for free. And he has let me just come in there. And it's, I don't think he realizes it, but it's like a dream come true for me to be able to do that. Like I never in a million years thought I would like already get this far within a year of just like putting my foot in the door, basically with being like, hey, I want to do this.

• 9:56Cameron Hanes?

  That's, yeah, it's great. It's, um, I, I wonder like when you started going out with your mom and dad when you were young, like, did you gut your animals? Cause how it normally works is kids just stand there, watch, don't do anything, right? They might've killed it. But the dad generally, the dad does everything while they do that. So like, do you work on your own animals when you kill? And have you always done that?

• 10:21Speaker 01

  I think obviously when I was little, my dad, he'd be standing there. I'd be like, hold this hind cord or hold this leg while I cut. But I was watching him. And then as we got older, I think he like had to step in a little more and do it. And now that I'm kind of on my own and I don't hunt with my parents as much anymore, it's just a given. Like, but I think my dad being there and like doing it and showing us how to do it. As we were younger is helped me now. And I'm like, oh, look, like, I know how to do this because of my dad. So, yeah. And my mom, I would say equally.

• 10:54Cameron Hanes?

  Cause you've been out, your mom is actually, you know, kind of a badass. She gets out there, bow hunts and has always, I've always been impressed with, uh, with Lisa because like even taking you guys up as a mom, taking daughters up to bear camp, you know what I mean? That's rare. That's just like. Hardly any moms are taking their daughters bear hunting.

• 11:15Speaker 01

  Right, it's not common.

• 11:16Cameron Hanes?

  So that's, that's, I mean, I think you guys are lucky to have that opportunity and have the parents you do have. Cause you have, if somebody like you who loves this, the lifestyle, man, I mean, it's perfect.

• 11:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:30Cameron Hanes?

  It's amazing. And who knows what your future is going to be, but I can tell you're passionate about it and you truly love it. And you like the artistry of taxidermy because it is art, you know? If you get good at it, you look at some of these pieces and that it's, they're, it's amazing.

• 11:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:47Cameron Hanes?

  What the taxidermists do.

• 11:48Speaker 01

  No, it really is. Absolutely. And yeah, my, my mom is probably one of my biggest supporters on that too. Like she's so excited when I got into it and just with everything, it helps having parents like that kind of fuel that passion for me too. Like when I got into dental school, it was like, oh yeah, like they're proud of me, but it was like, when I started doing taxidermy, my dad was like, oh yeah. Like, have you been going to Z? Like he got really excited and I felt the exact same way though. So. Um, but it's really cool. And I mean, it's just, it's what I love to do. It's one of those things where I was like, you know, we love to hunt and fish. Like every weekend, like we, we want to be in the outdoors. We're out in the woods. It's like, I kind of just was thinking about it before I really got into it.

• 12:30Speaker 01

  And I was like, what can I do that? Like totally reflects like my passion, like, like my parents do, like that was their passion. Like the outdoors hunting, bow hunting, and they made a business out of it. And it's like, I kind of thought that and I was like, oh, it's taxidermy. Like I love taxidermy, like everything about the animals, like it's so fascinating, but I was like, no, I can't do it. Like it's way too, I kept telling myself for so long. It's way too hard. It's way too hard. And then when I kind of put my foot in the door and started doing it and told my family, I don't know why, but I was expecting the same react, reaction of like, oh, you're going to start taxidermy. Like, okay, like that's going to be hard. And just because that's what I told myself for so long and it was complete opposite. They were like over the moon for me.

• 13:13Cameron Hanes?

  Supportive.

• 13:13Speaker 01

  Yeah. And it kind of just was like, oh, wow. Okay. Like I felt great about it. I didn't need other people's approval to tell me that, you know? Like starting tax- Consider me was good or bad, but it felt really good to be like, oh, you guys believe in me. Okay.

• 13:26Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 13:27Speaker 01

  So that's been helpful.

• 13:28Cameron Hanes?

  I think that's rare also because most parents, they want their kids to get good paying jobs that can provide. So you have that because you're a dental hygienist. Is that what it is?

• 13:38Speaker 01

  I'm a dental assistant.

• 13:39Cameron Hanes?

  Assistant. Okay. But that is a career. I mean, that's like, you know, for a young woman, that's a great career to go down it because you can make good money. It's not crazy hours. And so most parents would be like, oh, we're so proud of our daughters because that perfect job. You know, she did it. She's got hired everything like that. So they would, and then taxidermy doesn't seem like a career to, unless you know about the business and have been around hunting. You wouldn't think it's like a career, like a regular career. So um. It's pretty cool that they like allowed you to chase that, that dream and then are also supportive and, and you know, also embrace the opportunity with you, basically.

• 14:24Cameron Hanes?

  So that's been nice, I bet.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  It, it absolutely has. And yeah, like you said, it's kind of like, a lot of people have it was like a hobby. And it's hard. It is really hard to make it full time. Like I remember watching so many videos and there's this one guy and he was talking, he's like, you know, there was like a 70 or 80% of taxidermists who try to get into it. They don't succeed because it's hard and it's tough. Um, and so that's why I've kind of been like slowly just trying to learn everything I can. Obviously I have my day job. I'm like, until I get to the point, like hopefully the goal is um, that I can't do both anymore. Like I wanna hopefully I set myself a goal for like next season, like start taking in some actual animals to mount.

• 15:09Speaker 01

  Um, and then just start with a few. Um, but once it gets to the point that like I can't do both anymore, then that's where you're like, okay, this I'm doing full time. So that's kind of what I have in my mindset for myself. But again, who knows where it's gonna go. So.

• 15:24Cameron Hanes?

  I think that'd be pretty sick, like Savannah Indicots, whatever. You know what I mean?

• 15:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:30Cameron Hanes?

  That'd be awesome.

• 15:31Speaker 01

  Right.

• 15:33Cameron Hanes?

  I don't know. I, I, I love it because. I mean, nobody would say that bow hunting could be a, a job.

• 15:39Speaker 01

  No, absolutely, yeah.

• 15:41Cameron Hanes?

  I had, I had a really good job for a long time that anybody would be like, okay, that's, you're gonna retire doing that. So it is, there are these niche endeavors that can, if you have enough passion and you have the drive and you've had this vision, they can turn into something special. Even though nobody else has ever done it, or it's like, the odds look terrible. If you want it, it'll happen.

• 16:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:06Cameron Hanes?

  It'll happen. I mean, if you have, no, because you are a hard worker, you love what you're doing, then it's just a matter of time. You just keep, keep putting in the work and getting better and better and building this name. And, um, you know, people learn more about your story than they want to come in. It's like, but, but I think like to, I don't know if we talked about it really, but there are really good and really bad taxidermists. I mean, there's taxidermists who, I've had animals that I've lost, you know, because they took in too much mu- or they took in the money. They didn't pay, you know, to get the hides tanned. So then they're losing, they don't have enough money to pay for the hides. And then the guys say, hey, where's my mount?

• 16:48Cameron Hanes?

  But the hides are at the tannery. They're not, the guy doesn't even have them. So it's like this whole business part of it, I think. Because taxidermy takes hours and hours and hours. And, um, it's hard work. If, you know, I mean, it's work, but you can fall behind, you know, and you can get buried. And then you're promising a million people their animal's gonna be ready. So it's, it can be tough. I mean,

• 17:11Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 17:12Cameron Hanes?

  How do you, how do you navigate that are just gonna grow slowly? Is that what you're thinking?

• 17:17Speaker 01

  I think so, yeah. And like you said, taking in way too much at one time and like, just not being able to catch up.

• 17:24Cameron Hanes?

  Because it's hard to say no, you know?

• 17:26Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 17:27Cameron Hanes?

  When people want you to do something or believe in you, like, oh, I'd love for you to do it. It's hard for you to say, I don't have time.

• 17:33Speaker 01

  Right.

• 17:33Cameron Hanes?

  Because everybody, we always want to be yes people, you know? And just like, oh yeah, I want, I want to help you.

• 17:38Speaker 01

  Right. And I think that's where you have to learn to like, say no. And I think that is hard for me too. Um, cause I mean, even with skulls, it's very different. Like I know taxidermist to do Euros and regular taxidermy with just like mounting everything and it's tough trying to do both. And just with skulls too, like if I tell somebody like, oh, your skull's almost done. Like I've had that instance where I was like, the skull will be ready by next week. Like the bleach just has to dry and it was a big bowl and um, I walk out the next morning and the antlers pulled. It was like an earlier season bowl. So all the blood had hit the bleach on the skull. So it was like black and I had to go and re-bleach it for like a week or two. So then I had to tell that

• 18:22Speaker 01

  person like, sorry. Yeah. And then I'm behind. So, but then I feel like there's a, you know, I do feel the pressure on me of like, I need to get these things done. I need to get them done. And I can only imagine what taxidermist you're doing at full time with mounts and skulls feel with all that pressure on them to get everything done in time with, you know, tannery taking six months or longer sometimes. So yeah, that's definitely something I've taken into consideration of like, when I start this, I just, I gotta work my butt off and I gotta make sure I'm organized and that I, you know, give proper timelines and just, yeah.

• 18:59Cameron Hanes?

  It's uh, that, cause I know like in, in any business, you don't want to turn away customers. So these guys, they don't know how, if anybody's gonna have a good season, if they're gonna get, they're like, I got bills to pay. I need to take these animals in. I can't tell people I can't do it. So they want to do, they want to do it all. And it's uh, cause they don't know, it's kind of cyclical, you know, you got hunting season, you're buried, but then all off season, you, hopefully you took in enough animals to where you're staying busy in the off season. So I, I get it worse a challenge. It's uh, yeah. But you'll, you'll get it figured out. Cause I think um, yeah, being organized is a big one. I don't know if you're an org- organizational type person.

• 19:38Speaker 01

  I'm pretty psycho about my organization, actually. If it's not organized, I, I can't focus. But yeah, I also take mental notes from Zane especially because he's super organized, obviously has a lot of loyal customers and he does amazing work. So I always take notes or I'm always bugging them with annoying questions like, how do you do this? Or how do you do that? And yeah, I mean, and he's, he's got so much work on his hands, but he just every day like pumps things out. I think he works probably Monday through Saturday and probably even more than that. But uh, Yeah, I take a lot of mental notes from him. I'm like, I need to be more like him when it comes like down to the time that I'm ready to do actual taxidermy.

• 20:20Speaker 01

  So that's why I'm also pretty fortunate to be working with him because I get to see how he does everything.

• 20:26Cameron Hanes?

  It's like apprenticeship, basically.

• 20:27Speaker 01

  It is. It absolutely is. Yeah.

• 20:30Cameron Hanes?

  And he's got a good reputation. So you're learning the right way.

• 20:32Speaker 01

  Yes. Yep.

• 20:33Cameron Hanes?

  Like, what are you best at? Like, what's your gift?

• 20:39Speaker 01

  Um, that's a good question. I think I'm still figuring that out just because I don't, I, I would say I only know like a tiny bit of taxidermy. Like, there is so much to learn. I haven't, you know, you need to mount everything. You need to learn all sorts of things that I haven't even done yet. And I'm trying to get there, but um, I don't know. I would say I kind of have like a, a creative eye for some things. Um, I have a lot of fun with like habitats, like when we're mounting something and they have habitats around them. Like I can really look at something and be like, oh, this will look good. Like I did my dad's uh, axis steer. And we needed to cover some, you know, holes we sewed up that just weren't,

• 21:25Speaker 01

  weren't looking normal on the axis steer, just because they have super thin hair. So it's not easy to hide stuff like in blacktail. They have much longer hair. So.

• 21:33Cameron Hanes?

  For people who don't know, like that would be like where you gutted it or skinned it, maybe you cut the hide or the broadhead itself. Made a hole in the hide and that hair is short. So you can't like just lay it over like an elk has, you know, longer hair. But so you're talking about hiding those cuts or those where the hide is cut.

• 21:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was one of those giant grim reaper broadheads that were one of the expandables. So it was like, okay, what are we gonna do? And he's like, we can do a little habitat. So we did kind of like a lava rock style and I did some like Hawaiian plants, which was fun. And I was like, well, I hope my dad likes it. I hope he doesn't make it too girly. Um, he ended up liking it. But um, yeah, I don't know. I think I can just kind of look at things and like have a creative eye for it. Um. As of like what I want to do, it's just of like doing it and making it look exactly like the way I envisioned it. Kind of same with your skull. Like I was like, I really want to do this, but like it's gotta look good. Like I hope I can do it the way I have it envisioned. So.

• 22:33Speaker 01

  But yeah, I think I'm learning every day more and more like what I'm good at and getting better at too. I think there's a lot that I have to get better at, or just there's a lot of things I haven't done like I um, my bear from Canada, I get to mount it here soon. I think it's going to come back from the tannery and that'll be my first time really working on a bear all by myself, doing my own, my own bear. So um, I'm excited.

• 22:54Cameron Hanes?

  Was it a good bear?

• 22:56Speaker 01

  It was a pretty good bear. I think my mom and my sister made my bear look bad because they shot such giant bears. Yeah, they were like seven foot bears. They were crazy. Even John and Jen said like those were some of the biggest bears. Um, but mine was a little smaller, but still I was super happy with it. My biggest bear, definitely.

• 23:14Cameron Hanes?

  What, what are you gonna do with it?

• 23:16Speaker 01

  I think what I want to do is you've probably seen like those pack frame style mounts where they mount the head and they have the pack.

• 23:24Cameron Hanes?

  That'd be cool.

• 23:25Speaker 01

  I think I want to do that.

• 23:26Cameron Hanes?

  Whoa, that'd be good.

• 23:27Speaker 01

  Yeah. So my first like ever like taxidermy I started doing was like a pack frame mount, but I did it with a European style skull. Before I did skull cleaning, before I did anything. Um, so I did my fiance's skull and then I tanned my first hide, which turned out a little rough, but at the time I was like super stoked with it. I was like, this is really cool. I was able to tan this. And so I folded the hide up, I put the skull on it. I had like an old World War Two pack frame and then got a bunch of stuff to put on it. And so I'm like, well, now I'm going to do my second pack frame, but it's going to be way better and way cooler and it's going to be with my bear. So it's kind of my thoughts on there.

• 24:06Cameron Hanes?

  That'll be good.

• 24:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I'm excited.

• 24:09Cameron Hanes?

  I know Roy had a, I think he had a dull sheep on a pack frame. Looked pretty sick.

• 24:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was gonna say that would look really good.

• 24:14Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, I mean, but I, I, so I like, you know, I think part of it, I think it'd be hard for a taxidermist to be super busy. And then also do the, I love the crazy or the extra details like.

• 24:31Cameron Hanes?

  Um, like on a form, you know, where you got the neck rolls, you know, do you guys ever like make those on the form, make it more distinct? So the hide, the, the rolls are more, cause you can get like a form that's kind of just, um, doesn't have the detail to it. You pull the hide over it and so there's, you know, it's just kind of like, just whatever, no, there's no ridges. There's no like skin rolled up. Do you make those, do you work on the form itself to dig that, out those creases to make it look better?

• 25:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, um, we do sometimes a lot of, you know, if a customer from what I've experienced and when we're working on, uh, mounts that have those neck rolls or that hard, um, turn, a lot of times you'll kind of carve that out on the mannequin, carve them out deeper and then overlay it with clay. So then that skin tucks really nicely in there.

• 25:25Cameron Hanes?

  Okay, yeah.

• 25:25Speaker 01

  Because yeah, a lot of times the forms like they have those, but they're not super, like they're not as deep as you want them to be to really get that skin to lay in there. And so you really carve it up. You make it look like it's way deeper than it should be, but then you overlay that clay on there and it helps kind of tuck that skin and looks a lot, lot better.

• 25:47Cameron Hanes?

  That's the kind of stuff. I mean, and then I remember back in the day, like even see that bull right there. Did you see the white on the corners of his eyes?

• 25:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:55Cameron Hanes?

  So even that, that wasn't a thing. It's like the eyes used to be all, that was like a addition that I'd always liked because it was just like that little, it seemed more realistic to me. And just so the, what I'm talking about is like the little details on mounts. It just take time. But it's, and it's hard to do it all if you're busy, but maybe that's a, maybe you can really like, you know, make something special by like just spending time on it. I'm sure you will, but I love the little stuff on mounts.

• 26:25Speaker 01

  And I think that's probably what makes certain taxidermist stand out too, is just taking that time to those little details. Because from my experience, you know, watching Zane or having, having, uh, having me do something on a mount, um, that's just like a tiny little detail that I'm like, does, does this matter that we do this? And then we do it and I see how it looks and I'm like, oh wow, that made a huge difference. Or you know, I do something and he shows me the right way to do it and I'm like, oh, that looks way better, but it's just tiny little details that matter. So yeah, I think that definitely makes you stand out quite a bit. And even when you like with the eyes on that elk, like knowing. It's tough. Eyes, I would say, are probably the hardest thing for me right now especially.

• 27:06Cameron Hanes?

  How come?

• 27:07Speaker 01

  For any taxidermist, I think they'll say eyes are pretty tough because you have to get them right. Like, I feel like it can make or break them out.

• 27:15Cameron Hanes?

  Direction, kinda, you mean?

• 27:16Speaker 01

  That, and just like when you're cleaning them, like, cause you're basically making the whole anatomy of the eye yourself. So you have to, you gotta get it right, or your deer might look bug eyed.

• 27:28Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 27:28Speaker 01

  Um, but the anatomy of the eye especially, like how there's the white in the eye. Um, Zane has showed me, like, there's multiple pictures, like deer especially have a certain way that their eye is gonna be positioned. And you have to just nail it to make it look right. And especially with that elk, like with the white in its eye.

• 27:47Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 27:47Speaker 01

  A lot of times, like elk turning, that's when you see the white in the eye. So.

• 27:50Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 27:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:52Cameron Hanes?

  I like thinking about, like, if I think about a bull coming in, you know, head back, just all fired up, but it's kinda looking like crazy eyed.

• 27:59Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 28:00Cameron Hanes?

  That would be hard, but if you could nail that, oh my god, it looks so sick.

• 28:04Speaker 01

  Right.

• 28:05Cameron Hanes?

  I don't know.

• 28:05Speaker 01

  I've seen, I know what you're talking about, and I've seen those mounts, and they do, they look really cool, so.

• 28:10Cameron Hanes?

  But yeah, I'm like, and in the habitat, like I got the moose, and so I had the alders there, and some snow and rocks. And, uh, like you said, you like the habitat stuff, but yeah, I just like making it a, like, like I said, a piece of art. You know, because it is, it's like, you kill this animal, it's so hard to, to be successful hunting. Then you want that memory, you wanna be able to look at that memory and have it represented this, this, this, uh, kinda just a mark in time that was so impactful to you, and now you can look at that and just recall that. But you want, you want that recollection to be like so perfect, because it's like, oh, that's exactly like what it was.

• 28:51Speaker 01

  Exactly, yeah.

• 28:52Cameron Hanes?

  But I can imagine that'd be very rewarding for you to try to make somebody feel that way about their animal.

• 28:58Speaker 01

  No, exactly.

• 29:00Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 29:00Speaker 01

  And, I mean, even with skulls, like, I know it's, you know, they're not a full mount, so it's different. But still, like, when somebody gets their skull back, I wanna make sure it looks perfect. I mean. You never know if it's somebody's biggest deer or not, like how special that hunt was to them. So you want to make sure like you're taking the best care of it. You're going to make it look the best it can. So yeah, that's important to me. I feel

• 29:22Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 29:23Speaker 01

  I wouldn't, I don't know if I'd say a lot of pressure, but I feel very responsible. Like, okay, they trusted me with this. Like, I need to do my best. Even when it comes to, you know, doing stuff for my family. Like, I want to make it look the best I can. I want to make, you know, my dad proud. I hope he likes his Axis deer and same thing with Travis. I was like, it's his biggest black tail and we weren't even going to mount it in the first place. But now we are. So I really hope he likes it and yeah.

• 29:48Cameron Hanes?

  Sure, it'll be great.

• 29:49Speaker 01

  Put a lot of love into it. So.

• 29:51Cameron Hanes?

  How was, uh, how, how is it having the herd bull as your dad?

• 29:58Cameron Hanes?

  Do you know who the herd bull is?

• 29:59Speaker 01

  Yes, I know who the herd bull is. Um, good. I think he's shaped a lot of why I love the outdoors and why I'm get, you know, I'm into taxidermy. Um, I think I didn't realize it when I was younger, but you know, when you get older and you move out and you don't hunt as much, you're like, you kind of bring those things with like everything he taught. I kind of use when I'm alone out there or not with him. And I can't, I always think of him and I'm like, yep, I'm doing this because my dad taught me to, or I catch myself. I'm like, no, my dad would do it this way and got to change it, but

• 30:40Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 30:40Speaker 01

  He's, he's been inspiring to me. So

• 30:42Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 30:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm glad to have a dad like him, that he took us out hunting the way he did and spent all his time, you know, making sure we put in for certain hunts and yeah, it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for him. So.

• 30:55Cameron Hanes?

  Wow. They're both proud of you. I think he was saying yesterday, like you're his little tumbleweed or something like that. I think

• 31:03Speaker 01

  He calls me that.

• 31:04Cameron Hanes?

  Uh, yeah, I was showing, I had the guest here that I have Rachel. She was in shooting yesterday. We're looking at your pictures, you know, because you've killed, you know, some bucks and. I think, oh, there's one where you're just on the rocks, you know, right? I said, your mom's office. But anyway.

• 31:17Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 31:18Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, good. So we were looking at that and he was talking about you. So they're, I know they're very proud of you.

• 31:22Speaker 01

  Well, I appreciate it. Yeah.

• 31:25Cameron Hanes?

  I'm gonna grab. Oh, go ahead.

• 31:27Speaker 01

  I was gonna say, yeah, the tumbleweed comes from us hiking like eighteen miles and then I start to tumble over some sticks. And then he starts the video of me calling me his tumbleweed and I'm like, oh, I don't know.

• 31:39Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 31:40Speaker 01

  So kill it here. So.

• 31:41Cameron Hanes?

  He takes it pretty serious, doesn't he?

• 31:43Speaker 01

  He does. Yeah.

• 31:44Cameron Hanes?

  Very serious out there.

• 31:45Speaker 01

  I know. It's definitely a wake up call when um

• 31:49Speaker 01

  I'm hunting out by myself and then I'm like, hey, dad, like, let's go out. I can't get a buck this season. And then he takes me up and I'm like, I'm out of shape. Like, I can't believe my dad is just absolutely beating me up this hill. Like, it's crazy.

• 32:02Cameron Hanes?

  He's in good shape.

• 32:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, he is. It's crazy what he can do.

• 32:05Cameron Hanes?

  He was, uh, he likes to have the contest at the shop too. So the other day, I can't remember who he had in there, but he's like, wants to do, cause he can do some pull ups, you know, he's like, he likes doing his, his stuff like that. It used to always be curl contest. He wanted to see who could do the most curls. But, uh, yeah, so he was out there. I think he did like fifteen pull ups the other day. So he's.

• 32:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's crazy. I don't know if I can do two and I work out, but yeah, not like him. He's crazy. So.

• 32:33Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, it's good stuff. What I said, so to tell the story, I drew the Wenaha bull tag. Your dad loves a Wenaha. So he's like, yeah, he goes, yeah, if you need any help, I'd love to be there. And I'm like, yeah, of course, herd bull. Yeah, you're always invited. So he was there, killed this big bull and on a hard to get tag. And then so I told you, I said, I want, I want to see if you will European mount this for me, but then is there any way we can capture something special about sharing this hunt with your dad? And this is what you came up with. So tell me about it.

• 33:10Speaker 01

  So, yeah, when you asked me, I was like, oh, yeah, absolutely. I can bleach skull. That's fine. I've already done a few elk this year. And then he asked me to do the artwork and I was like, I can do the artwork, but it was definitely like some pressure was on cuz I was like, well, I want to make this thing look perfect. I mean, I know how much this hunt meant to you guys. This was once in a lifetime bowl.

• 33:29Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 33:30Speaker 01

  So I got to thinking about it and it was nice that you were like, well, I have an idea. And then you told me that you wanted it to represent you and my dad. So I was like, okay, what am I gonna do? And then I remember seeing all your photos from the hunt and I kinda went back and was looking at them. I saw the photo of you guys hugging. I wanna say it was probably right after you guys just got back to the truck from killing that pole. Cuz your bowl was on your truck in the picture, the background of the picture. So I was like, ah, if I could just recreate that picture, like, let's just do that. Like, it just seemed like a really wholesome moment between you and my dad.

• 34:01Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 34:01Speaker 01

  Um, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna get, gonna get that on there. So I figured it out. I kinda stenciled it on, painted it, and then I was like, I need to do a little more, like, do some scenery. So I did the mountains, the trees. Um, and then that antler that I kinda have right underneath you guys is this antler right here. I traced it out, same thing. I was like, you can't just do any random antlers. It's gotta be an antler from this bowl.

• 34:25Cameron Hanes?

  It's gotta mean something, right?

• 34:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. And then I just did a little Wayne and Cam win a Ha 2025 on there cuz gotta know what this bowl's from, so.

• 34:34Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. Well, this is, this is exactly what I wanted because as you can see, I got, I have a lot of stuff in here. I don't have any win a Ha bowls in here that I shared the hunt with. You know, we've been, and your dad have been friends for a long time. And so that, the hunt, because of that, and my son was there, James was there, but mostly because Wayne was there, is always gonna be like special because of our history growing up bow hunting and how archery has, you know, basically shaped our lives and now is shaping our kids' lives. And, um, so this bowl will always be unique and one of a kind for that. So I wanted to have, I thought it'd be super special.

• 35:16Cameron Hanes?

  My son was with me when I killed it. You did the, this, and Wayne was with me also. And as Wayne's daughter, you did this. So it's kinda like we're tying in the next generation into what, you know, something that's, that's, like I said, changed our lives. So that's why this is so meaningful to me and I'm so, um, happy.

• 35:37Cameron Hanes?

  That you did such good work on it. I'm proud of you and I'm

• 35:40Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 35:40Cameron Hanes?

  Proud of you chasing this, this dream of taxidermy because it's so unique, but it's like I, I do believe you have a, have a gift for it. And I think that's going to develop over time because you care. That's what it takes. And I, I'm going to look back at this and I'm going to watch you. You know, as this evolves into whatever this journey is for you and taxidermy, I'm, I'm going to have this as one of your first pieces. And it's going to always be special to me. So

• 36:06Speaker 01

  Yes. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. I appreciate you trusting me enough to do it because I think you knew I probably wasn't any like skull artist. Like there is people out there who do like super intricate skull art. They paint the whole thing. And when you asked me, I was like, I know I can do it because you asked and I said, yes. So I'm going to make it look, I'm going to make it look good. I'm going to do it. But yeah, it was definitely pressure was on. So I'm, I'm really glad you like it and I appreciate you trusting me with this special bowl. So, because I knew it meant a lot to you.

• 36:39Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, it definitely does. And it's like, then you got, you pulled out the ivories for me. So I got my humble ivories here. It's got some good color to them too.

• 36:47Speaker 01

  They do. Yeah. I had a few bowls this year with ivories and those ones I would say probably were the most like colorful. Yeah.

• 36:54Cameron Hanes?

  They're definitely pretty. But I don't want to, I don't really want to put them in, here's my cup of ivories.

• 37:00Speaker 01

  I saw that. I know. I didn't toss them in there for that reason. I was like, well, I don't know if you want to keep these somewhere else.

• 37:05Cameron Hanes?

  Keep them separate. But, uh, yeah, ivories are so cool. Yeah. Um, that's awesome. Well, I want to, um, I want to get, let's get a couple of pictures, James, of, of me and Savannah with this. And then, yeah, I want, I want to look at some of the amounts with you, see what you think of them.

• 37:24Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

• 37:25Cameron Hanes?

  All right. Well, thank you for coming in and delivering my bowl and doing such beautiful work on it. Um, like I said, I'm, I'm, I'm grateful. Thank you.

• 37:34Speaker 01

  Thank you for having me. I'm grateful. I never in a million years thought I'd be on a podcast, let alone yours. So when you asked me, I was like, oh boy. Okay. Put on my A game. But yeah, I was, I had a blast doing it. So thanks for trusting me with it.

• 37:46Cameron Hanes?

  Well. I don't know. I don't know how people are going to track you down, but I know you're on Instagram, so you can look up Savannah Endicott and maybe you can make the list when she turns into a superstar taxidermist.

• 37:58Speaker 01

  Oh, boy. Yeah, we'll see. I hope so, honestly. That would be a dream come true, so.

• 38:03Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, I'd love to see it, too. Well, thank you. Thank you, Savannah.

• 38:07Speaker 01

  Of course. Thank you.