Preserving the spirt of animals is a skill mastered by Matt Jones of Whitetail Taxidermy at Miller’s Tavern in Essex County. Whether a shoulder mount or a full size display, the animals look alive. The eyes of Jones’ mounted coyote and bobcat are piercing. The deer or elk heads are so real they look like they should move.
Taxidermy preserves hunting trophies as nature’s art in three dimensions that will last decades.
Jones has honed his skill for more than 11 years. He got started in taxidermy by helping a man who used to mount his trophies. The man retired and Jones took what he had learned and turned taxidermy into a hobby while still working as a master electrician in Richmond.
“I learned from a number of ways, but the biggest was by going to taxidermy shows and learning from the people I met there,” said Jones. “I have been to a few classes out of state to learn and the biggest was from a buddy of mine from Ohio that I got to know at a taxidermy show.”
In a few years requests for his taxidermy work increased, and about five years ago Jones went into taxidermy business full time. He has so much work he sends the skins in to be tanned, a process that can take weeks.
When he gets them back, the skin is stretched over a foam mannequin. The process can take eight hours. A full size black bear might take 20 hours, he said.
The realism is captured in the eyes, which is the most critical part of making a mount, he explained.
Jones, 34, has always been an avid deer hunter, so he enjoys mounting deer heads. “I also really like mounting predators,” said Jones, “especially coyotes because all of them are a little bit different and they look really pretty once mounted.” He gets a lot of requests to mount bobcats, which are rarely seen.
Jones will take on challenges and made three black Angus shoulder mounts for a Richmond restaurant.
