Taxidermy.
It is derived from the Greek words taxis, meaning movement, and derma, meaning skin.
So loosely translated it's the movement of skin.
That movement is frozen in time, deer heads in living rooms, a fish on a restaurant wall
or a stuffed bird or wildcat in a school or museum.
As hundreds of hobbyists and professionals create stunning, lifelike reproductions of
animals for display, you quickly realize taxidermy is an art form thriving throughout Iowa.
Roger Hutton has been doing taxidermy for more than 45 years make 3D trophy memories.
As a teenager he noticed taxidermy articles in his grandfather's Outdoor Life magazines
and one day sent off the $12 needed to order the taxidermy lessons as advertised.
His career took off from there.
Hutton: It takes time.
It's like anything you'd do, the more repetition you have, the faster you'll get at it, the
better you'll get at it.
The basic taxidermy process is to skin the animal, then tan the skin, mount it on a mannequin
and finish by paying close attention to the detailed features.
Hutton: Get our eye set.
So we've got to make sure we get it level.
In Iowa the big thing is deer head, it's our only big game animal and for most people that
is the big trophy and for most taxidermists that is your main moneymaker.
Taxidermy has grown into quite an art to where we're actually putting life into animals.
It combines creativity with knowledge of anatomy, skills in tanning and carpentry and artistic
talent in sculpting and painting.
Hutton: Learning how to repair mistakes and damages in the wildlife is very important
to doing a good, quality job.
I like to say that it ain't a matter of how many mistakes you make, a good taxidermist
is able to cover them up and not let anybody know you made any.
Not only does Hutton do taxidermy for customers but he also runs one of three taxidermy schools
in Iowa where students of all ages come to learn how to tan skins and mount animals.
On this day, Dave Sunken visited Roger to help brush up on his duck skills.
Sunken: I thought, you know, I looked at it and thought I can do that myself and then
I went on an African safari and my taxidermy bill was going to be really high so I just
started doing my own.
I enjoy the outdoors anyway so bringing the animal back to as much life as you possibly
can, that's what really appealed to me and that's why I'm here today is just to learn
how to get more life back into my birds.
Hutton: A lot of times you'll end up spending more time grooming to make him look nice than
it actually took you to put him together.
Schuck: And then you start getting the color there.
Ben Schuck, who operates Schuck's Tall Tales Taxidermy out of his home near Pleasantville,
studied under Roger Hutton.
Schuck: What I'm using is dry pigment.
He says he is constantly learning and trying to improve the quality of his work.
Schuck: I see new things every time I look at an animal.
I see a different color, I see a different look, I see a different attitude.
The more I got into it the more I felt that it kind of drove me toward my artistic side.
Some mounts don't contain any real parts of the animal at all.
They are complete recreations just like this rainbow trout.
It is increasingly common with catch and release fishermen and women and certain types of fish.
This rainbow trout will take Schuck about 20 hours to complete.
Schuck: They know that when they bring it to me I'm going to sit here and I'm going
to paint 5,000 scales on this fish with an iridescent silver because I want them to have
the best fish.
According to Hutton, interest in taxidermy is growing, with more and more young people
getting involved in the art.
That includes his 15 year old grandson Remington, who hopes one day to take over the Hutton
taxidermy business.
Remington Hutton: I thought it was really cool and I just decided I wanted to try it
and see if I was any good at it.
So I started when I was nine.
I just keep learning being down here and watching when grandpa is doing things or if he's mounting
something really cool then I'll come down and watch and help him and then I'll do my
own customer work and he'll help me and just keep getting better and it's like a 24 hour
school every time I come down here because I always learn something new and improve on
something.
Ben Schuck's kids, 9 year old Keaton and 8 year old Sicily are budding taxidermists as
well.
They learn by example from their dad and have won awards at the annual Iowa Taxidermists
Association competition.
Sicily Schuck: Well, I like painting a lot so when I do the reproduction fish I get to
paint them and that's why I like it.
The goal is to produce a mount that is as lifelike a possible.
The attention to detail on the fur, feathers or scales is a labor of love and a point of
pride.
Schuck: I don't want to call it a hobby because it's more than a hobby for me.
Hutton: To get a nice piece done and have it look like you imagined it before you even
started is really rewarding to me.
Schuck: I want them to set it up against somebody else's deer or something else and say, man,
there's something about that deer or that fish.
They may not be able to say why, but they'll say that looks better.
And I guess that's my goal.