Everybody has an opinion on taxidermy. Mine is pretty simple. I love good taxidermy, but…
it’ll wreck a perfectly fine relationship in short order. The worst offense: too many of well, anything. One full mount turkey is OK, two starts to get a little weird unless you live in a HUGE house. Similarly, three or more bucks are just growing the herd in the home. And how many ducks do you need in flight attached to the walls? Do you really want a drake and hen of every species? What’s the plan — an entire migration?
There comes a point where enough is enough — just ask old Deadeye’s wife.
Know what happens when you overdo? Somebody gets tired of the mounts and they begin their own migration from the prominent places in the house to the man cave over the pool table. From there, things go really bad. They’ll eventually migrate to the barn or garage…and from there, it gets really ugly: the pawn or consignment shop … or worst of all: the Salvation Army.
So why am I going again on this? Farm girl that I am, I went to the pawn shop to find a pressure washer (as one does) — and there they were. Regal still even under fluorescent lighting and over the hot televisions…
Clearly somebody had given the ultimatum: “it’s them or me” (ugh, that might just be a tough one for a trophy hunter….). Or maybe old Deadeye kicked the bucket and his wife let go of some of those mounts she’d been resenting all those years (Finally! Now she’s got room for that antique mirror that Deadeye never liked) Now look, there they are — barely holding onto their dignity in a pawn shop!
Where to next? The walls of a Ruby Tuesdays restaurant? These rock star bucks prove the point with searing authenticity: have a plan for your trophies. If the little missis (or Mr.) isn’t going to let you grow the herd in the house, make a plan for where they’ll go (that’s acceptable to both decision makers!).