It can be really challenging to find a base that perfectly fits your animal, but is there ever really a perfect fit? There is with Contour Sheet! The revolutionary product from Scenes-n-Nature allows you to quickly and effortlessly create custom bases that perfectly fit any mount, eliminating floating feet for good.

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The Taxidermy Hall of Fame class of 2021 was inducted at the National Taxidermists Association awards banquet on July 24, 2021 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There were seven very worthy candidates nominated for the 2021 induction year, two as Historical Nominees and five as Contemporary Nominees.

They were: Historical Nominees for 2021

Herman H. ter Meer

Sinclair Clark

Contemporary Nominees for 2021

Terence Coffin-Grey

Harry Paulson

Stefan Savides

Rodney Schreurs

Jan Van Hoesen

On the following pages we offer a shortened version of the biographical sketches submitted for each elected member. Video presentations were presented at the induction ceremony for each of the four inductees. These videos can be viewed on the THOF website by going to “Inductees” on the home page and selecting “2021 Induction Ceremony.”

The THOF Board of Directors encourages you to visit taxidermyhalloffame.org and see, read, and find out more about the great pioneers and history of the taxidermy profession.

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Redheads go by many names, including red-headed ducks and red-headed pochards or diving ducks. This waterfowl is easily distinguished from other ducks by a male’s copper-colored head and bright blue bill. Ring-necked ducks look similar to redheads at a distance, but they have darker backs than redheads, with a white spur on their sides that redheads lack. Canvasbacks have similar color patterns, but they have distinct profiles, with long faces that slope unbroken from the top of their foreheads to the tips of their bills. Redheads have a more classic duck look, with a well-defined angle between their rounded heads and distinctive blue-gray bills.

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Taxidermy is something that everybody who gets involved in it will make mistakes. I’m not referring to the actual taxidermy process alone, but anything you do that is related to taxidermy. I’m going to touch on things where I have personally messed up, or things other people have told me about or showed me. Some of the foul-ups can be funny and some are not.

An example of this was the first few largemouth bass that I caught and mounted…

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The main difference between painting a skin-mounted fish and a replica or carving is the real fish skin has the natural markings to follow so you need to apply the colors lighter than with a replica. On a replica, you need to use good reference to create the markings as close to the real thing as possible. One trick I have used over the years is to use the skin from a real fish. I filet it off and dry it flat on a piece of cardboard. If you soak it in water with a handful of borax added, the markings usually don’t fade that much as the skin dries and gives you a great reference for reapplying the markings on a replica.

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