A Few Favorites

[Squatty]

Besides my own of course

[Squatty]

[Squatty]

[Squatty]

[Squatty]

And a few from WAY South of the border........

[quackaddict]

that king eider and mallard hen are awesome. those brazilian teal are beautiful birds

[richardp17]

wow, great shots. Where did you see all of those mounts?

[Squatty]

at my taxidermist's shop

[Quack Wacker]

Great mounts

[Simple Man]

You know, Squatty really likes this guy and there's no doubt he does good work. I had to go to Nashville last weekend for work, so went through Chattanooga and dropped 2 ducks off to him. Shane Smith is about 30min. outside Chattanooga in Bridgeport, AL.

He made special arrangements to be there on Sat. to meet me since he knew I'd be coming through. When he flipped the lights on in his showroom, my jaw dropped. Squatty still hasn't done this guy justice. He had just about every conceivable species of North American duck and several South American species on display. You can't really appreciate the detail in his work until you see it in person.

I left him with a surf scoter and Old Squaw. I left the poses up to him to finalize, and only gave him general directions for what I wanted. The surf scoter was to be diving and the Old Squaw sitting on a rock - simple as that. He took the ideas and ran with them, and I have no question that they will be what I want when I get 'em back.

In the end, we decided on a habitat scene for the surf scoter and the Old Squaw will simply be sitting on a rock. The surf scoter will be on a rock backdrop (wall-hanging scene) diving to a bed of mussels in black sand, holding one of the mussels in his mouth. There will be reeds with seaweed attached. The seaweed will be "flowing" to one side to represent water current. All of this was his idea, and he's never done one like it. He literally came up with all of this in about 5 min. on the fly. I can't wait to get it back, and it'll be another year.

I'm tellin' ya, Squatty still hasn't done him justice.....

[Squatty]

SM, it should look something similar to this (especally the reeds!):

[Squatty]

oh and to comment about doing him justice.........

Some folks will just never get it and I've talked the talk until I'm blue in the face! I've posted a funny pic. several times of a man beating a dead horse and that's exactly how I feel about this topic. It doesn't matter if it's this guy or not (there are many other guys out there that are just as talented), but if the decision was left up to me then there's no question who I'd go to to do the work. There are a lot of GREAT taxidermists out there but not every GREAT taxidermist does GREAT work on birds. I'm very particular about it and I know what I'm talking about on the subject. I just wish I knew how to do the work myself so I could relieve the hurting it puts on my bank account! I've made some bad choices in the past with a few birds. One of them I gave away, one I chunked into the garbage, another is out in my garage sitting on my work bench, and one other one I still have sitting in my home office. The point is you can take your trophy bird to who ever in the heck you want to as far as I'm concerned. I honestly could care less anymore. I don't get a thing from talking about my friend’s work and the INCREDABLE job he does on birds. I just believe in the product. Somebody else on the other hand may not care about the work they get back and may only pay half as much as my guy charges for a mount. However, I ASSURE you if you are paying half as much as me your work will look HALF (and I stress this), HALF as good as the work I get back. There are a few people on this board other than me that have had birds done by him. I don't know if all of them have gotten their birds back yet or not. However I'll go out on a limb and say that my guy's mount is the best looking, best quality, bird mount that they have sitting in their living room, office, etc. by saying that I'm sure it will stir up a debate but as far as I'm concerned it's not debatable (unless you’ve got a piece by Frank Newmyer). I have only seen one guys work from SC that even comes CLOSE to comparing to his work, unfortunately I don’t think (and I could be wrong) he’s in the business anymore or at least taking clients. I'm sure that will offend many of you and if so I'm sorry. Anyway I've said just about all I care to say............... Now let’s see what that stirs up.

[Quercus Alba]

Yup, there is nothing worst than looking at a mount you care about and thinking to yourself: "That just don't look quite right."

[ACC/Boykin]

I like that Black Squatty.

[Squatty]

I like that one in your Avitar

[turk]

Hey squatty, Ask ACC about his black duck guide

[Squatty]

All I need to know is ...... Is he for hire?

[ACC/Boykin]

Yeah squatty he's for hire, he's good people and might even take you for free but you defintely have to 'not' mind hunting with a full fledged redneck.

[Squatty]

shoot man I'm from Greenwood.......some say I'm nothing but a redneck

[Tater]

Nice mounts and pics, but to be honest with ya I was just tired as hell of seeing that gay ass "Cavalier King Charles Spaniel" shit when I scrolled through the forums....