Tools of the Trade
Text and Photos by Rick Carter

RICK CARTER’S Back To Basics Series is directed toward helping beginning taxidermists, but also serves as a great refresher course to professionals. Rick is a renowned sculptor as well as Director of Product Development at Wildlife Artist Supply (WASCO). He and his family live in Watkinsville, Georgia.

A FEW YEARS AGO (PRE-9/11), I BOOKED A FLIGHT TO travel to a state taxidermy show where I had been asked to judge and do a seminar. I did not require a large amount of equipment for what I had to do, so I packed everything I needed into my briefcase. The contents included reference photographs, a flashlight, modeling tools, Xacto knives, paintbrushes, a "Perfect Knife," and a cordless drill. The airlines had recently lost my luggage, so this time I didn’t want to take any chances and intended to take my briefcase as carry-on luggage. When I arrived at the security checkpoint inside the Atlanta airport, I calmly placed my briefcase on the X-ray conveyor and then waited in line to pass through the metal detector.

When I got to the other side, I noticed an airport security guard walking to a table carrying my briefcase. I followed the security person to the table and watched as she opened the briefcase and pondered over what she saw. She looked up at me and questioned, "Tools of the trade?"

I smiled and said, "Yes," and she closed the briefcase and handed it back to me. She asked no further questions and sent me on my way to board the plane. I breathed a sigh of relief because without my "tools of the trade," there wouldn’t have been much of a seminar. According to the people who were at the show, that may still be the case!

I have flown again several times more recently and would no longer make any attempt to board an airplane with my "favorite things" in my possession. I think maybe they still remember me for carrying that briefcase because now every time I fly, I find myself detained in the inspection area beside some 80-year-old woman. We both sit patiently with our shoes off and our arms raised while "Barney Fife" passes a magic wand around our bodies. It amazes me that they might suspect the elderly lady of being an international taxidermist! ...

...Continued in the Summer 2003 Issue of Breakthrough.

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