Seems that HISTORY® (formerly "The History Channel"; www. history.com) is launching what it describes as "a new half-hour personality-driven series," called Mounted In Alaska. The series will feature Russell Knight, the owner of Knight's Taxidermy, a family-run shop in Anchorage. Assisting Russell will be what the press release describes as "an expert team of colorful craftsmen and outdoorsmen with a passion for preserving the wildlife and natural history that hunters and fishermen from local Alaskans to African hunters bring into the shop."
In one episode, Russell works with Theodore Roosevelt's personal taxidermy kit. In another he restores a 50-year-old polar bear mount. As the press release says, "Russell is constantly put to the test with difficult and sometimes strange requests for mounts from his customers who come from all over the world. From concept to completion, viewers will see the true, pressure-packed process of what it takes to preserve natural history all on a deadline and always for a demanding client.
Since you are those "demanding clients" of Knight or some other taxidermist, we thought you might be interested. The series premiers on Thursday, April 7 with back-to-back episodes.
All this leads us to a larger question. How interested are you in taxidermy? Taxidermists are as integral to our passion as hunting outfitters. We all know that some taxidermists are true specialists in specific types of game, while some are generalists. We know that some produce wonderful trophies year after year. We also know that some hunters have had nightmare experiences with bad taxidermists. Some of these horror stories rank right up there with the worst outfitter debacles we've reported on in The Hunting Report. Would you be interested in filing reports on experiences (good, bad or ugly) that you've had with taxidermists throughout the world? This would be your chance to give praise where praise is due, and warn your fellow subscribers about the ones who don't perform up to standard.........(continued)
