Contemporary taxidermy has made miraculous advancements. During the latter portion of the twentieth century, it developed into a skilled form of wildlife craftsmanship, and select practitioners are now well-esteemed for their bona fide talents. In many aspects, the work of Richard Gensch, Buckhorn Taxidermy, is a classic example of modern-day taxidermy.
Buckhorn Taxidermy, Bonner, Montana
From a large garage outside of his Bonner home, situated eight miles east along Montana Highway 200, an inner tube toss from the recreational arcadia known as the Blackfoot River, Gensch applies decades of taxidermy experience to create and sculpt the most accurate game mounts and fish art.
"If it looks alive, the taxidermist did a good job," said Gensch. "The deer should look like it's about to blink, the bird like it's ready to fly, and the fish as if it could swim away."
Over the last few decades, taxidermy trailblazers have been creating anatomically precise manikins which incorporate every minute muscle and tendon of the animal.
With mounts developed in realistic environments and appropriately dramatic poses, modern taxidermy offers a merciful relief from the crass, snarling caricatures which marked hunting trophies years ago. "'Taxidermy's progress can be spotted in these accurate new shapes, figures and forms, and the finely detailed foam manikins available," explained Gensch.
Six deer heads hang on the walls of his shop, Buckhorn Taxidermy, waiting for their finishing touches: glass eyes and plastic jaw sets which Gensch administers in meticulous fashion. Looming overhead, 10 sets of deer antlers are tagged and waiting to be rejoined with their heads. In the upstairs loft, there are dozens and dozens of hides. The backlog makes the taxidermist, said Gensch, who has built up a fairly solid clientele from all over the world and recently completed mounts of exotic baboons and warthogs.
Gensch suggests hunters visit prospective taxidermists beforehand, and examine their mounts. The eyes should be symmetrical, not imbalanced; ears should look vibrant, not decaying; antlers should not look uneven.
Advice on How to be Good at Taxidermy
Most taxidermy mistakes can be attributed to a lack of experience, said Gensch. Seems there's an old adage in taxidermy realms: you don't become an actual taxidermist until you've been working for ten years and have experienced all situations. It's wrong, he added, for people to choose a taxidermist based exclusively on pricing, as cheaper doesn't mean better, and expensive doesn't mean high quality.
Gensch does traditional skin mounting of fish, as well as producing fiberglass fish reproductions for even the biggest trophies; whether a South American saltwater or a freshwater Montana beauty, he can preserve the memory. Multiple, high-quality photographs of the fish, its environment, or anything pertinent to the desired finished mount are key. Gensch ensures that mounts look exactly like what was presented to him.
The fish taxidermy by Gensch isn't mass-produced (he finishes between 40 and 50 yearly), supplying further proof that all of his reproductions are individual works of art. Superb attention is paid to replicating the unique characteristics of each fish, and when it comes to identifying a great fish mount, he believes the confirmation is in the nuances of the paint job.
Gensch feels that two determining traits of a good taxidermist are that they attend conventions and subscribe to various trade magazines to stay informed. Taxidermists should also maintain a large reference library and have voluminous reference photos and books on wildlife handy. "Reference material may make the difference between an unremarkable mount and an undeniable piece of wildlife art," said Gensch.
"For example," he continued, "with birds you can do a lot more with their habitat, visual types-of-things, like create sea ducks swimming in a rippling pool of water, rocks and seaweed. You need to understand their environment to complete such a piece."
Montana Taxidermist
As one of an estimated 450 licensed taxidermists in Montana , and 75,000 in the country, Gensch said that the standards, the expectations and the quality of work in his field are even higher in the Treasure State.
For as long as Gensch can recollect, he has prized and respected the outdoors, drawing it since childhood, and he feels that taxidermy is a reasonable extension of his unconfined love of natural landscapes, scenery and wildlife. Growing up a country kid in Wisconsin , down the road from a pretty and undisturbed lake, where he would catch, inspect, and admire different forms of aquatic life, he saved up his newspaper route money to take fish taxidermy courses.
Years later, as a teenager he worked at the taxidermy business of his dad's friend throughout high school, and opened his own shop in Missoula in 1988, before moving Buckhorn Taxidermy to its current Blackfoot location five years ago.
Hunting and fishing were meaningful, symbolic parts of his childhood, a way of growing up, therefore, Gensch sees the animal mounts that he fashions and enhances as products that help others capture similar memories, and as a means of honoring the animal that's been harvested.
"Wildlife is held in such high regard in our society,"' said Gensch, "and I simply put it on a pedestal for people. The trophy is always in the eyes of the beholder."
Brian D'Ambrosio - Brian D'Ambrosio is the author of more than 500 published articles and seven books, including From Haikus to Hatmaking: A Year in the Life ...
