The first thing I think of when I hear “eider” is a king eider, which I sense almost has a cult following by some waterfowl hunters and taxidermists. These two groups have devoted followers and collectors of their king eiders, their favorite waterfowl. Eiders are one of a few species of ducks available to North American hunters that I have never hunted or killed. Not because I wouldn’t have loved to have had them in my list of successful hunts, but the latter two-thirds of my lifelong love of pursuing game has been for the hoofed mammals, which I also believe is a sort of cult following. During my observations of both hunters and taxidermists, I have noted that the admirers of the eider genus, especially king eiders, have an obsession that I admire and regret that I was not a part of.

TO SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW: visit www.breakthroughmagazine.com or call 800-783-7266 for immediate service.

A couple of decades ago I had a booth at a large sports show in my hometown. The man who had the large booth next to me sold all kinds of accessories for four-wheelers, motorcycles, UTVs, and snowmobiles. During the slow times of the show he asked questions about taxidermy and I asked questions about his business. He owned a manufacturing business that made all of the products in his booth. Some of the gizmos were made in his hometown of Minnesota and the rest were assembled there from plastic injection parts that he contracted in Taiwan. He traveled there two or three times a year, coordinating the production of new products and the container shipments of the parts. I was familiar with the molding procedures we use in this industry to mold foam and plastic parts, but knew very little about injection-molding, and I asked questions about the process of producing tooling and the types of plastic used, etc. Much of the talk was simply idle chatter from boredom because the show fell on Super Bowl weekend and the weather outside was less than cooperative for travel. The potential customers were scarce and the hours were long.

TO SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW: visit www.breakthroughmagazine.com or call 800-783-7266 for immediate service.

Gray foxes’ diamond-shaped faces, with their bright, intelligent appearance, has drawn me throughout my career, much like whitetail deer taxidermists to their favorite subject. The average size of a gray fox can vary greatly. I’ve weighed mature gray foxes as light as 6 pounds (2.73 kilos) and as heavy as 14 pounds (6.35 kilos); the lighter foxes were located in the western region of the United States while the heavier specimens were in the northern reaches of their range. Typically, males are a pound or two heavier than females of like age and area.

TO SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW: visit www.breakthroughmagazine.com or call 800-783-7266 for immediate service.

The highest honor an entry can receive is Judges’ Choice Best of Show. Breakthrough is honoring this top achievement with the Breakthrough Award for Judges’ Choice Best of Show. Featured in this article are the winners from 2022:

Australia  Andrew Xanthoulakis

Canada    George Elekes

United States   Tim Daigle

New Zealand   Chase Voss

Arkansas Mark Pontius

California Richard Mark

Colorado  Dwayne Bercier

Idaho       Richard Mark

Iowa   Tim Schroeder

Kansas    Matt Welsh

Louisiana Tim Daigle

Maine      Cody Gould

Maryland Dalton Jeffers

Michigan  Owen Eldred

Minnesota  Larry O’Malley

Mississippi   Cole Mears

Missouri   Jerry Huffaker

Montana  Rich White

When hunters decide they want a preserved trophy of an alligator they have killed, there are many choices. Some of the popular choices are a cleaned and bleached skull, some have the skin tanned into patent leather for boots, etc., while others decide on a mounted head, a full-body mount, and or display the tanned skin as a rug. There are choices for rugs, and the type of rug a customer wants will be determined by how much room he has for displaying purposes, with costs being another factor.

TO SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW: visit www.breakthroughmagazine.com or call 800-783-7266 for immediate service.