- Hunters in Minnesota love their deer.

There's  just something about sitting in the woods, chasing those big racks, or trying to put  meat in the freezer.

Sometimes we take trips though and go to other legendary whitetail  destinations around the world.

Last fall, I had the chance to go up to Saskatchewan and  target some of those big-bodied dark rack bucks.

After a few quiet days of sitting amongst those  tall trees the buck I was after presented himself.

And just like that, my hunt was over.

I  put a message out on social media asking for some recommendations on taxidermists.

And one name kept coming up over and over.

- I was raised by my grandfather here in this  house.

Since I was 10 years old.

And he taught me everything I know about hunting, about ethics, and  safety, and the enjoyment of it.

Then in spring of 2011 we lost him to cancer.

Cut to that fall, deer  hunting.

I just really was not in the mood for it.

I missed my grandpa.

I missed telling him the  stories about the hunts.

Sitting in the stand that morning, this deer walks by, and it's just a nice  quality deer.

Nothing usually people would hang on the wall, but it's a great deer.

And I took a good  shot, and it dropped.

When I climbed down then to check it out, I did what my grandpa taught me  every year.

Just put your hands on the deer, and you thank the deer for its sacrifice.

For what  it's gonna provide for you.

And as I did that, I kid you not, I felt my grandpa there with me.

He gave me a hug.

And I felt so much better about the whole situation.

It got me back in the  mood to hunt again.

So I wanted to hang it on the wall somehow and I just imagined it'd be  a European mount, but everybody said you gotta go up to this guy up by Big Bend.

Carl Ahrndt,  he's a great guy.

He loves hearing stories.

And he'll do a great job for you.

So I brought it up  to Carl.

Told him that same story.

And he said, "No, I'm not gonna "European mount that  for you.

"That needs to hang on your wall "That's a story you need to tell your  kids, your grandkids.

"Keep hunting, you know, enjoyable like that."

And  so he did, and it's my proudest dear.

- [Bret] You didn't hesitate  recommending him when I asked.

- Not at all.

Nope.

He's the only  one I'll bring any of my stuff to.

- [Bret] How old are you, Carl?

- Ooh.

Just about 84.

It's something I really  enjoy.

I enjoy hunting deer.

You know how it is when you hunt those things, you know, they can  be pretty crafty, you know.

Well I started out, my first deer I ever shot, like I say, I was 23  years old when I shot my first deer and I got him with a whole recurved bow, bought homemade wooden  arrows from a guy, and after that.

I've been a dedicated deer hunter.

There's no two deer alike,  you know.

They're not all record book bucks, you know, but there's no two alike, you know.

You  look at the horns and... Eights, tens, twelves, you know, abnormal points.

You look at 'em,  you know, some different angles that they come out of the head, and different lengths of brow  tines, and it just...

I don't know.

As far as the taxidermy thing, I really got interested  when I was in 10th grade in high school.

We had a biology teacher at a science club.

Yeah,  part of the extracurriculars there.

There was a guy that was a very good bird taxidermist  there and I really got interested in that.

- So how many years have you been doing this then?

- Been doing it since 1956.

However many of those years.

- 1956?

- Yes.

- Wow.

- 67 years or something like that.

- Holy smokes.

- So.

- He's done five shoulder mounts for me for white  tails.

And I have one antelope that I shot out in Eastern Montana that he did.

And I want to say a  dozen European mounts.

This year my daughter shot a nice 10-pointer, and it had a broken brow tine  on it.

It was just a European mount, but I brought it up to him middle of November.

I said, "Carl, is  there any way you can get this done "so I can give it to my daughter for Christmas?"

Both European  mounting it and fixing that brow tine.

Said, "I got you."

He took care of it and three weeks later  it was done.

I picked it up.

But that's not real.

- [Bret] Oh wow.

- [Dustin] He's just an artist.

- Well that's what a lot of customers say.

They  like my mounts.

I've had that compliment many times.

People appreciate the detail that goes into  it.

There's more than just pulling the hide over a form.

Once it's brought here, then I have to  cape it out, take the skin off the skull then and then we have to do the fleshing process and  that.

That's almost half of my time involved in a mount is fleshing and thinning the hide.

Getting  the hide thinned down.

When I get 'em fleshed out, then I usually salt them down and then I let 'em  dry out.

And then when I get ready to tan 'em I put them in a solution where they're regenerated  again.

There's things we have to do to get the form ready.

You know, we gotta cut the molds  locked in and drill out the nostrils and.

Then it's set the eyes.

Well the ears are turned inside  out, and the cartilage is totally taken out of them too, so.

Being we use plastic earliners,  then, you know, they get inserted in there, so.

I mix up some epoxy and I put a little  bit of red tempera paint in there to get it a pink color.

And it eliminates, I don't  have to paint the ear when it's done.

- [Bret] Basically It's gonna look like  this once you get it on essentially?

- [Carl] Yep, that's the same form.

- [Bret] What's the purpose of this then?

- [Carl] It makes a little... Not such a sharp bend right in the neck  there.

No special reason I guess, but I... - [Bret] makes it look a little more natural.

- Then it gets a coat in the hide  paste.

I'm making myself a mount.

- [Bret] Oh, are you?

- On one of these.

I don't have that  many mounts of my own.

I gotta do some.

Hold the hide on the form, set  the antlers, and.

Go from there.

- [Bret] When somebody brings in a  deer head, what's your goal with that?

- [Carl] Do it just as good or  better than the last one I did.

Whether I'm doing it for somebody else or for  myself.

Just.

I try to do the best I can I guess.

Once it's totally dried down where the pins,  we'd be taking pins out as it's drying then.

We do a small amount of epoxy around the eyes.

We  try to get the little deal right in the corner of the front of the eye.

The nose pad on the deer  is fleshed very very thin.

When it dries onto the form you lose all, I mean it dries smooth,  there's no texture there.

If you look at the deer, you see the little bumps?

We'll replace those  bumps.

And then I usually go with a little row of bumps all around the bottom of the eye  here too.

I haven't really kept real accurate close deer, but got pretty close to 30 hours into  a deer head.

When you tuck them lips in there.

It should come hair to hair.

When you look at  some mounts, they don't tuck it in enough.

That takes care of that part for now.

- It's funny how you gotta get ahold  of him, but you only can call him at lunchtime.

Or after supper, you  know?

'Cause he's in that shop.

- [Bret] No cell phones and no internet.

- Nope, nope, it's all old school for  him.

It's amazing how he keeps all that stuff together.

His notebook's awesome.

You  know, he'll just ot your stuff down on this little spiral notebook and you wonder  how it's gonna get done and how he's gonna remember your deer, but it's your  deer every year, and it looks fantastic.

- We just got word from Carl that the  buck is finished which is great.

That was a really quick turnaround.

It's  just in time for the Minnesota Deer and Turkey Classic.

So let's go  over to Carl's and pick it up.

- He's awesome.

He is.

He loves hearing the  stories.

That's the first thing he asks me when I bring in a deer.

Which den was this one in?

Was your daughter with you this time or did your wife finally beat you?

You know, he's great at  remembering stuff from previous years, you know, from previous stories.

Yeah, he's funny.

And we  always have to budget some time to go get the deer, you know?

When I went to go get my deer this  year, my wife is like, "Well are you gonna be home for supper then?"

Like yeah, I should be back,  but.

He's always fun to talk to, that's for sure.

- So cool.

- I guess to get to the point where I'm  at as far as the quality of the mount, that's what.

That's what I enjoy.

- [Dustin] When you first put  that post out there that you were looking for somebody and I  recommended him, somebody said, "I heard Carl's retiring" and my heart sank.

I'm like no, we can't lose a guy like that.

- [Carl] I don't know who started that, but... - [Bret] You're not quitting any time soon.

- I ain't.

As long as I can still thread the  needle I think I'll be...

I got no intention to quitting.

Probably 'til the good Lord takes  me, I guess.

I'm just fascinated with deer.

- [Bret VO] Using taxidermy to preserve these  animals is more than just putting something on the wall.

It's preserving a memory.

And we  all have different ones from over the years.

- You know, the memories that we have as far as  growing up on the farm, and hunting and fishing, and the things that we've done.

It's  a... Memories.

Really good memories.