Anybody have pictures of their bobcat ot lynx mounts that they are willing to share? I am looking for ideas.

Dave

Krueger's Creations Taxidermy
and
Mary's Rugmaking
Phoenix, Arizona

They must be hard to do, like all cats there is quite a bit of variance between the quality of mounts here.

Marys are good, Graftons are great, Coopers is good, the rest are well they are......... something completly different.

D99,

All the mounts I post are my husband Chris' work. Although I am a taxidermist also, I only on occasion mount an animal. I specialize in taxidermy rugmaking.

This is one I did for myself
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Here is one I just finished up a couple weeks ago. I usually don't post many photos, but go ahead and tell me what you think. Cats are the hardest animal to get right, InMyOpinion. I also like more relaxed poses.

Nice stuff,

What other animals are really tough, here's my guess list:

Baboon
any other cat
coyote
wolf
fox
badger
hyaena
Any animal you don't see on a regular basis, like if you lived in Maine and were asked to do a pronghorn antelope.

I know I said cats are the hardest to get right, but I was referring to the more common animals I get in my shop.

I think any primate is tough. I have helped another guy do one and that was enough for me. Predators are tough for those who can't get the expression right which is usually in the eyes.

Probably the toughest animal to mount is someone's pet; dog or cat. I doubt 1% of those turn out they way the customer wanted. I won't touch them.

Many taxidermists struggle mounting animals that have a limited selection of forms. Altering forms to fit the hide can be the make or break on a proper mount.

I shot a bobcat in Texas this February and its getting mounted by someone I don’t know. I saw some photos of his work (and they all looked good) but I’m still very scared. I have seen a lot of Bobcats (in photos on the internet) come back horrible looking. Some look like someone’s pet cat and others look like a strange little alien. Seeing all these mounts calms my nerves. You all have great looking mounts.

quote:

What other animals are really tough, here's my guess list:

Baboon
any other cat
coyote
wolf
fox
badger
hyaena
Any animal you don't see on a regular basis, like if you lived in Maine and were asked to do a pronghorn antelope.

I think in general you see frew predator mounts that look realistic. I'm not a taxidermist but I think there are two things that make them harder.

1. People always want them with the teeth showing. Most can't get the face to look right when the mouth is open. The majority of the predator mounts that I thought were good didn't have their mouths open.

2. Still on the face. The various sheep, deer, antelope, etc species have those nice big dark eyes that seem to be pretty easy to make look realistic. Again with predators most can't get the right combination of pupil dialation and how wide the eyes should be open.

That's my take anyway.

Here are a couple.

I don't buy into any animal being innately harder to do than another. I've seen (and done my share) of screwed up whitetails and they're everywhere. I've done passable work on Blue sheep, tahr, grizzly, exotic birds, African stuff and I'm working lifesized muskox right now. None of those animals live here but good reference pictures are the key. Still, a lack of talent won't make any difference regardless of the approach. Grey Duck probably has it right. The lighter the iris, the more likely talent comes into play. I have a tougher time with the light sheep and cats just because of that fact. I see by some these pictures I'm not alone either.

A well done life size cotton tail rabbit is the most difficult mount of all time for me anyway and I have been at taxidermy about 45 years now and I think I have mounted most every legal game animal on the planet.

Jim, that's one helluva testimonial there. Henry Wichers Inchemuk told me a few years back that small game animals are the most understudied, badly mounted animals in our industry. The cottontail and the squirrel give me fits as well, but as I told Henry, you ain't seen how badly I can mount a deer yet. LOL

I agree that rabbits can be tough, but I still vote that Fido the Dog or Fifi the cat is the hardest to get right (in the customer's eyes anyway). I won't even try one, as I have helped enough guys who did that I know better.

Henry Wichers Inchemuk, that is a blast from the past. A great man from all I have talked to who met him. I wish I would have had the pleasure.

Oklahoma bobcat (to give you an idea of how big this guy was: he weighed 42 lbs and the mount he is standing on is almost 44 inches long)

Henry Wichers Inchumuk (the name the Eskimos gave him when he was collecting specimins in Alaska, a lifetime ago, meaning "man who makes things alive again")is indeed the finest small mammal taxidermist alive today. He has been a dear friend for the past 21 years, since the 1st time I visited his shop and home which was a museum of artifacts from the 7 continents he traveled procuring specimens for the Denver Museum, during his 30 year tenure as Taxidermy Curator. There is no taxidermist alive today that has the grass roots, first hand knowledge of the art of taxidermy and has lived, worked and socialized with the great icons of our industry.

Henry was so pleased when I married Chris (who is known worldwide for his mastery in small mammal taxidermy). As George stated, regarding Inchumuk's comment on small mammal taxidermy, it is very understudied and poorly executed(for the most part)in our industry. Inchumuk and Chris speak the same language and are definitly in their own world when they discuss their techniques and share ideas.

Chris is one of the two or three taxidermists who have been awarded, on several occasions, the very prestigious "Henry Wichers Inchumuk Award",( in which one is awarded yearly), at National Competition.

A rabbits skin is more friable than a doves and their ears are probably the most difficult to turn. So I would concur that they are one of the most difficult small mammals to mount. I have amazingly witnessed Chris mounting bats and chipmunks, but a rabbits skin is like wet tissue paper.

Here are a few rabbits Chris has mounted over the years.







For anyone interested in seeing a presentation of Inchumuks incredible life and artistry, you can view this clip which was put together for his presentation of the first 'Lifetime Achievemnt Award" at The World Taxidermy Championship in 2007.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBFv1RmgXk4#

Sorry to have slightly hijacked this thread, but when I saw Inchumuks name mentioned. I felt compeled to seize the opportunity to share this incredible mans story with you all.

Kind regards,
Mary

Dang good rabbit mounts Mary. I hunted pronghorn antelope with Henry and his wife here in Wyoming several years ago. He also helped me out and taught me lots here in my studio for a week while he was here. Great people is an understatement.

Here is a Bobcat I just finished(8-11-08).