FORWARD: Recently I saw a post by Joe Kish on www.Taxidermy.Net and I found it one of the most interesting writings I have read in a long time. I’m not sure how many of our readers saw this post, but I immediately knew that anyone who loves competition taxidermy needs to see and read it. The actual name for the post was Sell The Sizzle, Not The Steak – First Impressions. It is a masterpiece that I felt needed repeating. Sometimes words of wisdom like this one posted on social media get lost because of the millions of posts on the Internet and I felt this one needed to be resurrected in print for the other non-social-media followers.

Maybe we all need to visit Taxidermy.net more often. I think many of you will enjoy this essay in retrospect about thinking beyond the normal when planning for that next competition piece.

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It was with sadness and shock that I learned that Robert Holshouser passed away November 8, 2018. I first met Robert, or “Burt,”as I later dubbed him, in the late 1980s in Anchorage, Alaska. I can’t elaborate on all the specifics of Robert’s life and accomplishments, but knowing him for well over 30 years, I got to see firsthand the talents he possessed.

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 Inflation is a sustained general increase in the cost of goods and services and a reduction in purchasing power of the dollar bill. If you charged $500 for a whitetail shoulder mount last year, to maintain the same pay rate (regardless of additional cost increases) this year with an inflation rate of 2.95 percent, you will need to charge $514.75 just to prevent a loss in pay from last year.

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THE LAST ISSUE'S study of coyotes featured facial details, facial attitudes, and still body poses. In this issue’s study, the focus will be body attitudes often recreated by taxidermists because of special requests from our customers, and other times it is for that search or quest for a new and different attitude for a competition piece. I have been told many times by taxidermists, “Thanks for that photo reference in the recent issue! I used one of them as a guide to complete my competition entry.”

The coyote reference for the last issue and this issue were divided into attitude categories. In this issue I will show groups for fighting or aggressive, howling, walking/running, pouncing, and with prey. I hope you are not only enjoying but also learning and using the reference we present in Breakthrough. If any of you have special requests or a species you would like us to feature, send us an email. You can do this by visiting our web site at www.breakthroughmagazine.com or email us at info@breakthroughmagazine.com.

IN FEBRUARY 2018, Kathy and I visited Salzburg, Austria, to attend the European Taxidermy Championships®, about which we had a feature in the last issue. We have previously produced two World Taxidermy Championships® in Salzburg, yet we still had not visited all there is to see in this beautiful area of Europe. This time we were traveling with our friends Joe and Peg Meder after the show and we planned for a week of travel through the high country of Switzerland and the beautiful mountains that surround it. The mountain city of Zermatt was our selected destination with the famous mountain peak the Matterhorn. In my communication with Matthias Fahrni, chairman of the ETC, I told him of our travel to Switzerland after the show and he quickly issued a invitation to visit with him and his wife Helen during our travels. Our return travel by train took us very close to where they live in Aegerten, near Bern, on our train route to Zurich, our departure city. We arranged for an overnight stay in Aegerten and we all had a fantastic meal and visit that evening at the Fahrnis’ home. Our friendship and my knowledge of Matthias’ abilities go back nearly twenty years. He has two World Titles for fish skin-mounts, and he was one of our fish judges at the 2012 World Championship in Europe. I was also a part of the judging team alongside him at two European Championships and his ability and work amazed me. I felt it was time to tell his story and the unique reputation he has established in Europe. I know you will enjoy and learn from this interview. Matthias is not only one of the best fish taxidermists in the world, he is very likely the highest paid specialist taxidermist in the world.