President's
Message
by Mike Kirkhart

As you know the last few months have been a real test for each of us as we watched the world observe us trying to elect a president. Hey it's tough for Americans to make up our minds sometimes -- especially tough for us Floridians. Other times it's as easy as deciding to go fishing instead of work. You know the sayings "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work anytime!" I don't know for sure if this is true but it just could be that some of the election arguing could have been taken outside and settled much easier than in court. Ha, Ha. That would be the day!

Hey we taxidermists see the world through a different view master than most that stay in doors. I have to tell you this one about my 4-year-old daughter Nikki who amazes me on a constant basis. Many Saturday mornings she is the first to get up after I have made some coffee and walked the mutt around the block. This last weekend was another one that she managed to be up with me early. She had come out for her cereal. It was 7am and I was trying to concentrate on some paperwork. So when she asks for some attention I thought it would be simple to turn on the television and get back to work while she ate cocoa puffs. I set the bowl down in front of her and grabbed the remote. I asked her, "What cartoons do you want to watch honey?" She sat right up and said, "Daddy I don't want to watch cartoons I want to watch Hunting and Fishing shows!!" I nearly fell over!!! But you know something? It was a great time to spend with her and it reminded me that our children become our little shadows when we take the time to teach them. Later that day we went fishing. She always goes to sleep with the rocking of the waves. As soon as the action begins to happen she takes part and catches a couple. These are the things that make memories for us.

My son Buddy who is 16 now is also a product of his upbringing. At 5 months I held him in my lap while fishing in the boat at the inlet. I let the jig go to the bottom and bang a fish grabbed hold of it. I held his tiny little hands on the reel handle and helped him crank. Deb and I were so proud to have him fishing with us. When that fish came to the end of the rod Buddy started jumping for joy in my lap as if he knew the thrill of the catch from birth. The 3-inch long fish is one of the most liked display fish in the shop by my customers. It's a "Kids First Fish" display with the date and species as well as Buddy's name on the plaque. That first trip was also the beginning of a lot of fishing and (2) IGFA world records that he has now. Buddy out fishes his old man any day of the week now. Can you tell I'm proud of these blessings?

You have these stories too don't you? They may be different but they're every bit as good and better than any stories our customers come up with aren't they? You know we work hard as taxidermists. It is a labor-intensive work. It takes skill and determination as well as experimentation and self-motivation to go out there and work on wildlife trophies for client's 50-70 hours a week sometimes. That might only be on a 5-day schedule too! I spoke to one of my clients the other day and he told this little story on himself as we talked about the fish that he wanted mounted. He said that in his good fortune in business he attends a few upscale luncheons as part of his social life. He teased that when he walks into the clubhouse it gets real quiet then he can hear a few of the snoots say things like, here comes that guy who MAKES THINGS. And the buzz goes on. He said it is funny to him as most of the others at the club inherited their money and don't do the WORK thing. He says it tickles him even though they can't relate to him too well and he says "that's OK. They have their money through investments and I earn mine by making stuff out of metal." We taxidermists are like that. We work for our pay. When we do a real nice job on a piece and the customer likes what we have done we have honestly earned our money and provided a service to our fellow man. We are so blessed to do a work that is so close to our hearts. We may choose long hours for our pay and sometimes it seems like there is no chance for advancement but it comes with the turf if you take a lot of pride in what you do. It may be that we could make our way in this world differently but you know what they say, "You can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy (or girl)." Most of us don't want to give this way of life up. It makes for good story telling and sharing when we finally do let our wives dress us up and take us to the convention each year. All of this is what you call living. Making a living and being proud of it. A friend of mine that is a farmer works his 70 hours+ a week has an answer to the question, "What are you raising?" He always says the same thing, "Kids! Five of them!"

I hope you are as happy at this life in taxidermy as you can be and busy, as you want to be. I also hope to see you at a show so we can tell some more stories about our experiences as we live them. I'll leave you with this one that's hanging on our shop door, "When the good Lord made the earth, he made it 75% water, so it stands to reason that we should spend 75% of our time fishing." I hope your freezers are filling up with work to do and you get to have some time for the outdoors that we enjoy so much!!!

God bless you,
Mike Kirkhart