I have a question I hope you can shed some light on. I love great taxidermy work, but one animal seems to be harder than all the rest and I do not understand why.
Cat's. Bobcat's and Cougar especially. I am not picking out any work on the board as I do not want to offend any individuals, but honestly, most of the cats I see done really aren't very good. It seems it is mainly in the face that they really miss the mark, but even in muscle and body posture they seem to more often miss the mark than hit it. Why is this so? I have 3 good friends that have bobcat done, and only 1 would I consider even decent. I have deer and a fox done by the taxidermist who didthe decentbobcat, and I consider his work extremely high quality. The worst thing ever to come out of his shop was that "decent" bobcat.
I'd like to understand as I'd very much like to have a full mount cougar and bobcat done, but if I got backa"goofy faced" cat I see so often I'd be crushed.
I'm not an expert in anything but I have a hunch. Taxidermists usually do alot of deer and that is their bread and butter. They know their subject. When a cat is brought in, they don't really know the anatomy and natural expressions of them. Usually don't have much experience with them, and the mount is possibly their first attempt. They are basically a beginner and the work shows. I think that careful study of reference materials and time invested would pay off. Trouble is, they have a ton of deer in the freezer and do not want to spend excess hours on the cat. It is a shame really...why waste a nice trophy, many hours and someone else's money
if you are not going to do it right. Personally, I would do whatever it takes to make it decent, or turn it down to begin with.
Here is a photo of a bobcat that I didand yes, I too find that most people don't have the knowledge to do something that they don't see that often. They are special.
Rich- great looking mount! I think I remember you posting it before, but after MA Jay mentioned the face - yours does look good.
MA Jay- I don't have much experience in "finding" taxidermists, but I would look for one who has proven himself, like Rich or someone. I think it would be worth it to me to pay shipping (you only get so many trophies!).
Good luck.
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Member of Team "REAPERS OF THE HARVEST"
Great looking bobcat Rich. I think alot of the problems with bobcats are that most taxidermists lack the finesse it takes to accomplish a decent bobcat. There are alot of un-natural forms out there too. Poses that don't look that good. One of the other problems, as it was explained to me, is that everyone know what a house cat looks like, and a bobcat is so similar. Think about it.A lot of people can't tell top quality taxidermy from poor quality. I've seen some terrible deer mounts that people thought were great. If everyone knew the difference, there would be a lot of taxidermist out of business. With taidermy, take everything out that you don't want or can't use - then put it all back. If you mount on a crappy form, it'll never be anything but a crappy mount.
Rich, I really appreciate you posting. Your bobcat work is really good, in fact your posing work is impressive. Now your face on that bobcat looks like a true bobcat facial expression, now please don't take this wrong, but for that particular seen I would think that you would be seeing an open mouthed expression. Ready to snap up that pheasant.
I looked on your site and saw the crouching cougar and thought the facial expression you did there was real good.
So is the concensus that it is just because taxidermists rarely do cats that is why they often don't look good?
2.And I feel that with any mount you need reference material and if you dont have it you are winging it, and it will look like,"you dont know" what it looks like after it is done. Its not rocket science.
Question for the taxidermists on the board.
