The Reluctant Artistry of a Local Taxidermist

When I first met Tim Patton earlier this year I knew I would eventually do a story on him.  We met during my neighborhood COVID-19 photography project back in March and April that documented how local families were experiencing the stay at home order.

During the project I met dozens of fascinating people around the neighborhoods I covered, mostly teachers and nurses. So when Tim told me he was a taxidermist, he immediately got my attention.  Fast forward a few months later and there I was standing in his Union Township shop with a herd of very still, unblinking animals staring at me.  

Tim comes from a family of hunters and outdoorsmen. When Tim was 11, his father, also named Tim, took a deer he killed to a taxidermist to be mounted. The end product was mediocre at best and brought his father to the conclusion that he could probably do as good, if not better himself.

So Tim’s father began to study and practice taxidermy on the side of his full time job welding aircraft parts. Eventually he got good enough to commission work from people like Carson Palmer. For Tims’ dad, taxidermy brought in some extra money, but it was just a hobby more than anything.

Bigger plans

Way back in high school, Tim always knew he wanted to start his own business one day and be his own boss, but he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. So when he found himself working a third shift factory job making mayonnaise and tartar sauce, he knew it was time to make his move.

In 2011, he followed in his father’s footsteps and began doing taxidermy on the side, starting Patton’s Taxidermy Shop, LLC. Five years later in 2016, he quit his job at the factory to put all his efforts into his business.

The transition from side work to full time did not come without a lot of hard work and practice. Over the years Tim attended many seminars, classes and competitions to help hone his skills.

“So are you a good taxidermist?” I asked.

“I’m better than average,” he said with a look of modesty. “Am I the best? That’s debatable,” now with a little more confidence. “But I’ve won a lot of awards and have a lot of return customers,” he concluded with a smile.

In the seven years he has been competing, Tim won 24 awards in three different divisions across five different categories at both the state and national level. Tim describes this as, “Not too bad,” but I could tell he was proud, and he should be.

When he is not winning awards, Tim gives seminars at Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas about the proper field care of a hide.

A subculture?

I was surprised to learn of taxidermy’s subculture, or “brotherhood,” as Tim describes it. “I have taxidermist friends all over the country,” Tim told me. Although they are careful to protect trade secrets that give their own work a signature look, they help each other when they can, usually by sharing materials that may be in low supply or by referring clients to each other.

Tim made sure he wanted to give credit to some of his mentors, including Hilton Eppley, Ron Blinksy, Jim Lynch, Steven Mellor, and his father of course. Tim says that without them sharing their knowledge, his work would not have advanced as quickly as it has.

Additionally, without the support of Tim’s wife, Rachel, and so much of her help behind the scenes, he doesn’t know if he could have made it this far.

A process

The majority of Tim’s work is hunting related, including but not limited to bears, turkeys, rams, zebras, an assortment of birds, and interestingly enough, fish.

Tim does pet preservation as well. “Pet preservation was something that I wasn’t expecting when I got into this work,” Tim said, which is funny because that is what I would have expected the majority of his work to be.

“I get about five calls per month about someone wanting to get their dog or their cat or even their hamster preserved,” Tim told me.

“So if you can do one, can you do them all?” I asked.

Tim told me the basic principle for preserving any mammal is the same for the most part. “If you can preserve a deer then you can preserve a squirrel or a dog. The process is the same as far as preserving the hide and the fur, but the mounting aspect is different. For example, they don’t make a dog form that I can buy so I have to make one.”

The “form” Tim referred to is essentially the filling or the stuffing of the finished product, although you’re not supposed to stay “stuffing” because nothing is actually being stuffed, which was news to me. The form is essentially a mannequin of an animal that the taxidermist purchases to drape and fit the hide over. Of course this all makes sense now, but like most people, I never really gave it enough thought to think preserved animals were not “stuffed.”

“90% of that is fake,” Tim said pointing over to one of his finished mounts. “But I make it look alive. The only thing that is real on a deer is the fur and the antlers, everything else underneath is artificial. The inside of the ears is plastic, the eyes are glass. It’s neat to take artificial things and make them look lifelike. That’s what I get the biggest kick out of.”

Tim of course is referring to the actual craftsmanship of the process here, which is making something authentic out of limited authentic material. A process that I never understood until I met Tim and truly appreciate now.

“I don’t consider myself an artist,” Tim told me. This was right before he explained all the painting, sculpting, and forming that goes into every mount.

As he explained some of the process to me, Tim ran his hand along the different parts of the deer that must be correctly exhibited to give an animal the appearance of being alive. From the atlas of the deer to the contour of its ears and depth of its septum, Tim gave me a brief lesson on its anatomy. I sensed a reverence from Tim for both the animal and his work at the same time.

It appears to be the attention to detail and form that separates good taxidermy from bad taxidermy. When trying to make something mostly unreal look totally real, there is little room for mistake. If even the smallest thing is out of place, something won’t look right. And I have to say after looking at Tim’s work, I don’t know how he could make his work look more real.

I think it was the way Tim carefully painted the appearance of moisture on the nose and eyes of one of his bucks that really sold it to me. For the next hundred years the buck will look like he was frozen in time, caught browsing in a field on a crisp fall morning, runny nose and all. I imagine there are worse ways for a deer to be immortalized.

Impact

Tim recalled a few different clients who teared up when they came to pick up their mounts and saw them for the first time. The pet preservation jobs are always emotional, but it appears even some outdoorsmen are not immune to the deep feelings they experience when seeing Tim’s finished work.

This probably explains why some of Tim’s work is on display at some of our local parks and nature centers, including some hawks at nearby Seasongood Nature Center at Woodland Mound Park.

Not too long ago a local man found a great horned owl that died after flying into a power line. He brought it to Tim to mount so he can donate it to St. Xavier High School to be displayed by their science department. Tim has the permits required to do such work.

Most people think Tim can mount anything, but legally he cannot. Tim does have special permits to mount songbirds, cardinals, and other unique animals, but for educational purposes only. It’s not uncommon for someone to call Tim about wanting to mount a bird for personal use that flew into a window and died, and he always has to deny the work.

Oddity and Novelty

“What are some of your most bizarre requests?” I asked.

“A guy called me once who was having his arm amputated and wanted me to preserve it,” Tim told me with a laugh. “I had to tell him I wasn’t sure if that was legal or not.” In the end, he never heard back from the guy.

Another guy told Tim he was about to undergo liposuction and was going to have a bunch of excess skin removed as a result. He wanted Tim to preserve his excess skin so that he could make pouches out of it to sell at the Renaissance Fair.

Side note: If you happened to buy any leather pouches at the Renaissance Fair from an awkwardly thin man, I’m so very sorry. Also, I should add that Tim did not take the job for obvious reasons.

This sort of oddity led me to my next question about Rogue Taxidermy, a sort of controversial wing of taxidermy that gets more creative with the animal and takes liberty with its essence to create unique and/or whimsical pieces. Imagine a cat with horns or a dog with fins. Napoleon Dynamite’s Liger comes to mind.

Traditional taxidermists like Tim are often at odds with the rogue taxidermists, but Tim tells me even though he is more of a “purist,” he is not necessarily opposed to rogue taxidermy. In fact, Tim did some repair work for a monkey with wings once for Loveland’s Momento Mori Oddities, Collectibles, Antiques.

Any research into the history of taxidermy will take you back to the Victorian days of Walter Potter, known for his dioramas featuring mounted animals mimicking human life. In the end who can really say what is traditional and what is not?

My curious Q&A

“Do you have any pets?”

“Yes I have a boxer”

“Will you preserve her when the time comes?

“No, it’s not for me. I love my dog, but I think it would be hard to see her and know she’s not alive. But it’s comforting to some people, so to each their own.”

“Is your dog scared of you?” Odd question I know, but I was genuinely curious if they had some sort of sixth sense about what he does plus the smells, etc.

“My boxer will come up and smell me when I get home, but I’ve been doing it for so long I don’t think she really thinks about it much anymore. But when we first got her, if I had a mount ready to be picked up by a customer she’d go running to go outside then stop dead in her tracks to look at it, but now it doesn’t even phase her.”

Finishing Touches

I disagree with Tim’s assessment that he is not an artist. I imagine the claim to be an artist is something hard for a guy in a camouflage jacket to admit, but if his work is displayed in museums and homes to be admired, what is his work if not art? If he brings life to death through craftsmanship, resurrecting at least the essence of an animal to educate and satisfy our curiosity, what is he if not an artist?

If you are interested in contacting Tim to inquire about his services or maybe just convince him that he is an artist, give him a call at (513) 535-9067.

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