Love Your Local Taxidermist

Conveniently located next to our local gun shop, is the local taxidermist.

I’m not much of a hunting person. (To coin a phrase from my Dad, “I’d prefer not to disaccommodate the animals.”) Not surprisingly, I’m really not much of a stuff-the-dead-animals-and-display-them person.

Yeah, yeah. You may be saying, “You eat meat, right? You got a problem with dead animals?” Well, yes and no. While I do eat meat (and fish too), I like to think it magically appears on my plate. Frankly, if I thought too much about where meat and fish come from, I would probably eat nothing but rice and ketchup.

But I digress. Back to the story…

Our taxidermist has a little, unassuming storefront on main street. The only indication of the nature of the business is “(Owner’s Last Name)’s Taxidermy” painted in elegant, black letters on the sides of the narrow building. The window, devoid of all things dead, bears a small Uncle Sam statue and two write-on/wipe-off boards.

A few times a month, I walk by the store. The owner always writes friendly, little messages and posts them in the window. We’re invited to join in on the town’s July 4th Celebration or, perhaps, encouraged to have a good holiday season. Today, I walked past the store window after I dropped off my car at the mechanic.

In case you’re curious, here’s what the signs say today:

#1)
Happy Thanksgiving! (This has a little picture of a turkey on the front.)

#2)
A quote about taxidermy:
“No bones about it. – 10/17/03”

At first glance it appears like a dusty, little main street store that time forgot.

However, here’s the clincher: The store’s proprietors are famous!

Apparently, this store is home to a family of several generations of taxidermists. There work can be seen all over the world. Most notably, though, they do a great deal of work for the Museum of Natural History.

These folks must have some very interesting stories. Maybe I’ll invite them over for a nice turkey dinner?

On second thought, maybe I’ll serve them some ravioli instead.

Comments

[Mr. Dorsey Myers]

I would like to request information on curing a female deer hide. How much do you charge to tan the hide and keep the fur on it. Please email or call me @ 918.698.1292. Thank you!