[water flowing]
[music]
- NARRATOR: It's another utopian day in Utopia...
which is an actual place in the Hill Country,
west of San Antonio.
- LEE BEVLY: Kind of a small community, a lot of ranching,
a lot of hunting business, a lot of retired folks.
[church piano music]
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
- NARRATOR: Every week, Lee Bevly serves a community
of churchgoers.
- My main job is the pastor here at the
Utopia Baptist Church, and that's my full time occupation.
- NARRATOR: But outside of worship, the Reverend Bevly
provides another service in this community.
[light switch clicks]
- My hobby is taxidermy.
[music]
- NARRATOR: When his focus is not saving souls,
it's saving skins, as lasting mementoes of
hunting and fishing trips.
- It's not a calling I don't think, but I think it's
part of a gift that God has given me.
An eye to see the nature of animals and try to take
something that is lifeless and make it look lifelike,
look real.
Put a little glue on here.
I know I'm not the best taxidermist in the world,
by a long shot, but I know I'm not the worst neither.
[laughs]
[music]
You know, every taxidermist is different.
- NARRATOR: A look around the Bevly home, shows just
how much Lee has learned about the art of taxidermy.
- The first thing I ever mounted was a squirrel, and I used
a paper towel roll and two black marbles for the eyes.
[camera clicks]
Ended up about that long.
So it's been a conversation piece.
My sister still has it.
[music]
You know I grew up, my dad was a hunter, and his dad
was a hunter.
Kind of a family thing.
So we did it all of our life.
[music]
Because I love nature, I love the outdoors...
[drill whirs]
let's not waste something that's been harvested,
and just preserving that beauty so that we get to see it
all the time.
The hide, the horns, preserving the memories.
Let's see where we're at.
I've been asked you know well is that a
godly thing or not to do?
James 1:22: We're to be doers of the Word.
In Genesis chapter two, God told Man to take care of the earth.
Harvesting an animal, and knowing the numbers that
we can harvest, is part of conservation.
I'm usually out here by myself and it's a good quiet time.
Sometimes I'll have to stop and write down
some sermon thoughts.
[music]
- NARRATOR: While the Reverend's hobby seems at
peace with his faith, there is one kind of taxidermy
he will not touch.
- I have had people ask me to do a cat and a poodle,
and I said "No way!"
[laughs]
No pets!
This is a goose.
These are wings for a turkey.
Oh that's my jackalope.
- NARRATOR: Though the craft has evolved, with creativity
and available supplies...
- All kind of sizes.
White-tailed deer.
Fish eyes.
- NARRATOR: ...some things have not changed.
- Fixing to do a quail.
It teaches you patience.
I've already skinned it out.
Put the eyes in it, and then I've got wires in the legs
and that'll help him stand up.
That's one of the reasons I picked up taxidermy as a kid:
to learn patience.
[drill whirs]
And then I can set him in here and have him standing up now.
And then it's just a matter of getting all the feathers
in the right place.
- NARRATOR: Preserved with care, a mount like this quail
can last a lifetime.
- As long as they don't have a cat in the house.
It still has bird scent.
[laugh]
And it still looks like a bird.
So I tell everyone now, if you've got cats at home, beware.
- NARRATOR: Although most work is for clients,
the Bevlys keep their own mounted memories.
- Whenever someone goes hunting and they harvest their animal..
Got a bunch in here.
...that's an experience that they have for the
rest of their life.
Some of mine and the kids.
This is my son's first deer.
When they take that home and put it on their wall,
every time they walk by they look at that, so all those
memories come back.
Every hunt with my dad or the sons or even my daughter,
she's a hunter too, they all have some
kind of special meaning behind every one of them.
So I come in here every once in a while and just look
around and remember all the great memories we've had.
[music]
Probably one of the biggest problems with the world today
is families don't spend time together.
♪ Learning to... ♪
We do a lot of things together.
And because of that, we have good communication.
[music]
- NARRATOR: However you may define Utopia....
As a place of faith or community of friends and family...
as a place where work brings joy....
or maybe just a place where the sky is blue
and water runs clear...
Lee Bevly seems to have found his Utopia,
and it's a real place, in the Texas Hill Country.
[music]