Cedar River Taxidermy

End of Qwest Program

Rick Matthes — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 21:12:03 +0000

We have reached the end of the program Qwest offered to me about eight weeks ago. We got started in the program when I inquired about building a web site. As stated in the past I am mentioning Qwest because they are helping Cedar River Taxidermy with my social media in exchange for my honest views of Qwest services.
I have worked with my two representatives and learned a tremendous amount about marketing my business online. I have used Facebook and twitter to gain more exposure for the business. I already have quite a few new friends and followers for potential new clients in the fall, and I’m sure this will continue to snowball. We were able to get the Facebook “like” issue sorted out last week, so we are good to go there as well.
Building a web site for the business was my main goal and I could not be happier with how it has turned out. The representative I worked with was able to help me set it up the way I needed, and walk me through the steps needed to manage it. I have gotten a lot more than just a web site, with many more opportunities to grow my business in ways I probably would not have pursued for sometime.
I have really enjoyed working with the Qwest representatives, they have been very professional and helpful in everything we have covered. Patient too with someone lacking in computer skills. Thanks for all you have done.
Rick

Sometimes Bad Luck, But still Lucky

Rick Matthes — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:42:01 +0000

I think we can all look back over the years and remember past hunting opportunities good and bad, some silly and some just plain stupid.. Like the time a friend and I were putting a stock on a very big buck bedded over a small cliff. As we approached the edge less than forty to fifty yards from were we thought the buck would be bedded, I got one of those tickles in my throat and couldn’t stop coughing for several minutes which alerted the deer to our presence. We actually both got shots but one arrow went high one low. There are a lot more, but here’s one of mine from last year. I was sitting in my stand one cold November morning. Snow had been falling hard most of the morning adding about four to five inches to the seven to eight inches that were already on the ground. As I sat there through the late morning I heard a muffled bump behind me, as I looked over my left shoulder there was a nice three point with eye guards less than ten yards behind me. He had sneaked in on me in the fresh snow. Temperature was in the low twenties and with the fresh snow of the morning all my cloths were wet. As I reached for my bow it bumped the hanger it was on, the buck heard that, but apparently didn’t think too much about it because he kept walking. My wet sleeve of my jacket froze to a metal bracket on my arrow rest on the bow as I brought it into a better shooting position. I peeled the sleeve off the metal, making a velcro sound as it detached from the metal. The buck kept working around some tree limbs still only yards away. Afraid to move much and still seated I continued to prepare for the shot resting my bow on my thigh only to have the metal wheel freeze to my pant leg. More velcro! By this time the buck was working around a tree still only ten to twelve yards away for what I was thinking going to be a slam dunk shot. I could see him on my wall and in my freezer already. As I put my release on the string it slid up the string making a zipper sound. That was it, the buck had heard enough and bound off without a shot. Just too many slight noises at that range.
In all our excursions outdoors we have to be very thankful for the opportunity to be out in the woods enjoying all the beauty the Lord has given us. For me it’s a little sad when everything works right and I do harvest a animal, but the thrill and challenge of the hunt and the meat for my family makes it all worth while. We are Lucky!!

Media update with Qwest

Rick Matthes — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:17:56 +0000

It has been about a month now that I have continued to work with my two representatives from Qwest to improve my social media for my business. We continue to work together on this program to help me in exchange for my honest views and opinions on Qwest services. We are working with Twitter to increase my followers. I am not much of a twitter guy yet, but who knows I might come around. We continue to work with Facebook to get more “likes” and grow my business presence on the web. We are having some problems connecting with local businesses and hunting clubs and organizations more related to the hunting industry, but the Qwest crew is working to get this issue resolved. I continue to add information and work on building the website for the business. This is a key component to market Cedar River Taxidermy online. Customers and prospective clients can get any and all information they need, and look at the quality of my work from the photos we have posted on the site. If I run into problems I can always contact my representatives to work things out.
The Qwest Representatives have always been very professional and helpful, Even working with someone in a industry that can stir some strong emotions and opinions, both pro and con. Not to mention working with a guy who was not brought up in the computer age and has very limited computer skills. So THANKS! both of you.

Cedar River Taxidermy Statement and Goals

Rick Matthes — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 21:10:21 +0000

At Cedar River Taxidermy we take tremendous pride in Producing High Quality Taxidermy Art. Our materials and components are always of the highest quality to create custom poses and natural habitat. Our goal is to bring your mounts to life, not the stiff mounted look you sometimes see. Eye shape and ear placement are just two things that can change the attitude of the mount and help bring life to it. The habitat on our mounts is just as important as the animal. We try to bring the whole scene to life, so whenever our customer looks at the piece it takes them back to the time and place of the hunt, and all those memories can last a lifetime for family and friends. We take the necessary time to customize your mount, to make sure the form fits your skin, making it larger or smaller when necessary. Each piece is designed to reflect correct anatomy and behavior of each species. We work together with you to alter the form for position if necessary, to make your piece a custom work of art for you to enjoy for many years to come.

My goal as the owner is to get your high quality mount back to you as fast as we can. We are working hard to keep that time frame down to under a year. I had some BIG projects(16 ft. Crocodile), some issues with tanneries, and just some good ole growing pains a year or two ago and some mounts went past that time frame, but we are working hard on getting that shored up, and hope to keep that time frame in the years to come. We look forward to working with you and producing the highest quality mounts possible for many years to come.

Thanks, Rick

Social Media Updates

Rick Matthes — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:14:05 +0000

For the last couple of weeks I have continued to work with Qwest representatives to market Cedar River Taxidermy online. Remember, I’m getting some social media help, and I just have to blog about my experience in their program. We continue to work on building our web site for the business, making adjustments and improvements to better serve and inform our customers. I continue to work with only two representatives making communication between us easy.
My coach and I have been working with Facebook to gain more awareness for my business online. We brainstormed for companies that I buy supplies from, and looked for people that had sufficient amount of “likes” to get the most exposure. Although not many local businesses had this, it’s important to get the name of the company out there on the web. We are going to include clubs and organizations that are concerned about conservation and hunter rights that our customers may belong to for a more targeted demographic.
We are trying to get more followers on twitter as well. we don’t have to many followers now but Qwest is going to help me expand my following capabilities. We talked about the need to update consistently so people see that we are active on their profiles, and they will be more likely to fallow.Right now, we are listed on a “creatives” list, which gives us credibility and also makes us easier to follow since people who have an account on Twitter can follow entire lists at one time. Since Qwest hooked up with Facebook and twitter it makes managing my social media as a whole much easier. With their help I’m sure we will attract more business

The Art of Taxidermy

Rick Matthes — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:10:25 +0000

Just thought I would talk about what we do and why we do it, along with some of the process here at Cedar River Taxidermy.
As a young person I always enjoyed animals and art. So as a taxidermist I can have the best of both worlds. Reproducing life like three dimensional representation of an animal for our customer to enjoy forever.
The word taxidermy comes from two ancient greek words. Taxis means movement, Derma meaning skin. So we have the movement of skin. When an animal comes into our shop we take important measurements off the animal so we can reproduce the actual size of that particular animal. Each individual specimen is no different than people, coming in different sizes and shapes. We then remove the skin from the animal, salting and drying it in preparation to go to the tannery. After several months the skin comes back from the tannery dried and tanned similar to a leather coat, only these skins are tanned with the hair on them. We then rehydrate and prep the skin to place the skin on an artificial mannequin or “form”, generally made out of a polyurethane foam the same size as our original measurements. We insert glass eyes for that particular species and sculpture the muscles and finer details with clay. We are then ready to place the tanned and prepped skin on the form with hide paste and adjust the skin until it appears lifelike. After a drying period we then paint the bare skin areas around the eyes, nose pad, and inside the ears. The mount is then brushed and cleaned and ready for the customer.
Modern taxidermy incorporates many crafts,such as carpentry, wood working, tanning, molding and casting, to name a few, but it also requires artistic vision and talent including the art of sculpture, painting and drawing to bring our mounts to life. So whether its a deer shoulder mount or a life size mount with an elaborate base and habitat, at Cedar River Taxidermy we always want to give your trophy A Final Compliment!

Social Media with Qwest

Rick Matthes — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:15:07 +0000

For several years now I have realized my business needed a online presence. Thankfully I have found some help through Qwest. They contacted me with a program to help me market my business online. I have been working with representatives from Qwest to build a foundation for my online presence. They have been helping me build a website and get all the social media set up through Facebook, Twitter, and a blog. Before my only advertisement was word of mouth, which is good; but now I should be able to reach more potential customers and improve my business operations with technology. All I have to do in return for this help is to blog about my experience and give my honest views about the Qwest program.
So far everyone has been extremely helpful. I have only spoken to two people, which is good. It’s nice not getting passed around to different people. In the final steps of the program I get to work with my own personal coach in order to learn the basics of social media. It is good to work with someone who is truly there to get me started. I have learned about blogging, using key words so I get hits from search engines, and how to recruit people using Facebook and Twitter. I look forward to learning more as we go a long. Without this help from Qwest I may not have had the time to even consider how to begin to build a site, let alone get the social media started. When it is all said and done, I know this program will be a big step for Cedar River Taxidermy and something that will truly help establish my business.

Work in progress

Rick Matthes — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:04:09 +0000

Putting the skin on lifesize black bear today 6/8/11, invoice #0552. Shoulder mounts we are working on invoices in the #0580 range, so if your number is close to that we should be getting to your animal soon.

Thanks, Rick

Welcome to Cedar River Taxidermy!

Rick Matthes — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:37:59 +0000

Cedar River Taxidermy has been in business for 6 years, but taxidermy has been a part of the owner’s life for more than 15 years! We specialize in big game from all over the world.

Inland Grizzly completed in April

Come back for more updates about our current projects and information about taxidermy!

Work in progress

Rick Matthes — Mon, 30 May 2011 17:25:53 +0000

Brown bear is under way