Taxidermy

This page may be vacant for a time because, even though I probably mount over 100 big game shoulder mounts a year, I’m not really interested showing commercial mounts on forms other than my own. Occasionally I will post a photo or two of my competition pieces because the mule deer will be on my forms, whether altered or not. Photos of other species that I mount for competition will appear here as well just to show my work.

Taxidermy Philosophy

Taxidermy is a mechanical trade. By that I mean that any competent mechanically minded person can pursue a career in taxidermy. However, not all such minded people have the abilities to create the appearance of a living animal in their taxidermy. I believe most taxidermists started out doing it out of the love of the wildlife and in hopes of mimicking our Heavenly Fathers design. Copying this living, natural creation is where the mechanics of the trade are fine tuned, and artistic aspects come into play. Some people believe taxidermy is not an art, but I believe, when simple mechanics turns into the appearance of flowing, living beings in motion, taxidermy transforms into art. Just as good, accurate clay/bronze sculpture is art, so too can accurate taxidermy follow the same path. God is the greatest artist, and following the structure and anatomy of his creations, taxidermists can create some spectacular beauty.

The core enabler to accurate taxidermy is live reference, or photo reference, and the ability to interpret such reference. That brings me to the subject of competition. I’m a strong proponent of taxidermy competitions. If nothing else, they compel you to do your best work. To me, this is reason enough to compete. Time and money restraints keep me from competing at the level I’d prefer, but I still enjoy competing at my capacity. I don’t agree with some folks that let the politics of competing keep them from it. In my experience, taxidermy competitions offer every competitor a chance to learn and grow. I’ve learned many things from competition judges, but the most profound statement to date came from judge Gary Powell, when he told me “you should use your competition practices in your everyday work”. “That way, when you do a competition piece, your technical practices will be familiar”. He was so right. Since then, I’ve tried to follow his advice and my daily taxidermy work as well as my competition work has improved.

I believe that my desire to do well at competing has also given me persistence in developing my mule deer forms to a higher standard. I’ll talk more about that on my Forms page.

 

Antlers West Taxidermy
c/o Steve Tait
7592 S. 2350 W.
West Jordan, UT. 84084
Phone#: 801-694-1553
Email: awtaxidermy1@hotmail.com