Kudos to Brian Hendricks – Makes the cover of Taxidermy Today

The gray fox has been my favorite small mammal since I was a teenager and tried unsuccessfully to mount one into a recognizable imitation of a live one with only the guidance of J. W. Elwood’s lesson book. To this day I still scrutinize any mount of this beautiful mammal as much again to admire its striking coloration as to enjoy the particulars of its physiology and the craftsmanship of whoever mounted it.

This year’s winning entry in the NTA North American Champion category is a gray fox by Brian Hendricks, now featured on the cover of the current issue of Taxidermy Today Magazine. Everything about it is a feast for the eyes. Brian couldn’t have chosen a more prime specimen or a more typical attitude for the species. When you look at this mount on the cover of Taxidermy Today, you might notice that it isn’t difficult to momentarily suspend your disbelief that it’s a mounted specimen and not the live animal. To put it another way, if it looks more like the living animal, which it is not, than it does like a mounted specimen, which it is, then the taxidermist who mounted it has achieved what we all strive for in the art of taxidermy – flawless realism.

As praise worthy as this mount is, (and it is) from one perspective at least, it wasn’t all that hard to do such a superb piece of work. After all, Brian mounted the skin on a Brian Hendricks form.


(Photo by Ken Edwards)