Taxidermy takes skill
Family stuffs with pride
By DOUG BUTLER
Of the Emerald
They won’t do reptiles or dead
pets, but Adams Taxidermy will
mount just about any other
creature that squawked,
growled or ruminated.
In 22 years of business in
Eugene, Ken Erickson and his
family have mounted game an
imals from Oregon, Alaska and
around the world.
‘'Yeah, we’ve done a few
African safaris," says
Erickson's wife, Elaine.
Among the African trophies
they’ve done are cape buffalo,
elands and antelopes. There’s
even a pair of elephant feet in
the showroom.
Near them is a bobcat’s head
and a Mississippi paddlefish,
named for its beaver-tailed
nose. The whole store resem
bles a natural-history museum.
Dozens of small mammals,
ducks and pheasants peer
sightlessly from the shelves and
trophy cases.
In the center of the showroom
stands the polar bear that
Erickson's father shot. Its lip
curls in a plastic snarl. An enor
mous bison head dwarfs the
other heads — moose, elk and
caribou — mounted on the wall.
’’It is from a herd that was
transplanted to Alaska,” Erick
son says. "You can only hunt
them once in a lifetime.”
Though they mount exotic
Photo by David W Zahn
Steve Erickson applies a fine
touch to a stuffed deer head.
species bagged in faraway
lands, most of their business
comes from “the mill-working
guy who just enjoys getting out
in the country,” Erickson says.
And business has been good.
Customers bring in animals
primarily from August to
December — the hunting sea
son. During the other half of the
year, they concentrate on
preparing the trophies.
When Erickson receives the
hides from the tannery, he
molds, shapes, stretches, cuts
and patches them back into
their original form.
Mounting an animal is a talent
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and a craft best learned as an
apprentice, Erickson says. Tax
idermists who excel introduce a
personal touch into the work. In
his work, Erickson says he
seeks to create a striking,
lifelike figure.
It takes almost a year to
properly mount a deer head, he
says. Such a mounting costs
between $175 and $185, while a
life-size mounting of a bison
would cost $3,500
Trophies are not cheap,
Erickson notes, because his
family wants to give customers
trophies they’ll be happy with
for a long time Rotted, tattered
or thinly haired animals make
poor trophies, so the Erick
sons rejected them.
Most customers praise the j
work. “It’s that one guy in a
hundred who says I don’t like it’
that you remember," Erickson
says.
The insides of the animals are ,
entirely replaced in the taxider- ,
mist’s process, and the flesh
has been either frozen or dis- j
carded before Erickson (
receives the animal. Instead of ,
skeletal structures, taxidermists j
use standard forms to mount the <
animals, much as a clothier
uses a mannequin.
After stretching and shaping
the hide over the form, Erickson
does the detail work around the
mouth and eyes with putty, clay
and fiberglass. The teeth are
fake, and even the skull is
discarded.
“Real teeth rot and break,”
Erickson explains.
Along with their trophy work,
the Ericksons have hides
tanned as rugs and have deer
skin made into purses, gloves
and belts.
Erickson requires legal proof
of government sanction before
he’ll work on the hides of some
animals, especially endangered
species.
“Even if it died of natural
causes, I need to see a govern
ment tag,” he says.
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‘Fire Brooks’ wins
cash prize for editor
An Emerald editorial demanding the firing of University
football coach Rich Brooks won fifth place in the William
Randolph Hearst Foundation national editorial writinq con
test.
Emerald Editor Ken Sands, who wrote the unsigned
opinion, will receive $300 The journalism school also will
receive $300.
The Oct. 1 editorial said the University should "begin the
excavation of a morally bankrupt foundation” of college
athletics by firing Brooks.
Brooks and other University coaches were fined last year
for their involvement in the phony-credit and plane-ticket
scandals.
"If legality or morality were to be considered, Brooks
would have been fired long ago,” the editorial said. "Whether
or not he is guilty of any wrongdoing, he is responsible for the
actions of his team, if only indirectly.”
Corrections
A headline and an attribution
n Wednesday's Emerald were
naccurate.
The headline, which ap
)eared on page 3A, said that a
>roken window latch in the
oom of a Walton-Adams' dor
nitory resident who was raped
Ian. 10 was never reported. The
leadline contradicted the arti
:le, which said a University
itudy found that the broken
atch was reported in
September.
University Acting Pres. Paul
Olum said the study found that
the reported window had been
repaired in September, but was
broken again and not reported
— and thus not repaired — a
second time.
In an article on page 8B, a
quote referring to Associate
Athletic Director Ed Swartz's
standing at the University was
erroneously attributed to Olum
What was inadvertently attribut
ed to Olum was a passage from
an article in Tuesday s Oregon
ian .
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Time: 8:30 PM
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