To clarify my OP. I’m in no way a trophy hunter. Never had the slightest interest in spending thousands and thousands $$$$ to fly somewhere for a Bear, Elk, or Longhorn Sheep. I only hunt for my freezer and the local food bank. I often pass up shots early in the season for larger bucks. Smaller ones are less gamey and more tender. We always take two or three hams to the local barbeque for slow smoking and slicing. Great eating all winter. The rest goes to a processor for grinding and getting fat added. Venison burger. I bring at least two deer to the food bank. Depends on how many tags I’m issued.
But, of course if a Buck with a huge, huge rack decided to come by my stand and say hello. Then yes, he’s going in the freezer and that head will be on my wall.
Yep, and I grew up next door to the family who owned a funeral home and dated the son while he was studying for his embalming license. And I watched him embalm a body. I’m not sure what’s more abhorrent, the history of the funeral industry or the process of gutting, bleeding, and pickling humans.
I’m super sensitive when it comes to animals and not really a fan of hunting for sport, but for some reason I’ve got no problem with taxidermy. Maybe because my uncle has some pieces in his house, and I know they weren’t for sport. Or maybe because my godmother’s husband is a taxidermist (and works from his house) but it’s not like I spent much time at either place.
Taxidermy of your pets is creepy though. I wouldn’t want my dead dog hanging around any more than I’d want my dead grandpa.
Hardly. Embalming isn’t meant to be permanent. It’s only to keep the body looking good for a few days (probably about a week?). And it’s not like you’re going to keep the body displayed in your house.
If he let you into the morgue, he could have gotten into a lot of trouble. My father’s a funeral director and the way he described it, only certain people are allowed in during embalming. I’ve certainly never been allowed in. Unless different states have different laws.
Pretty much sums it up for me. I spend a fair amount of time hunting, and have no interest in maximizing the trophy aspect. Our lease doesn’t produce many mountable racks and I consider that a good thing. If B&C records starting coming out of our land, the high-dollar trophy hunters would bid up the lease to unaffordable levels for the rest of us.
So far, there’s only been one animal I thought was interesting enough to mount. An antelope I got in Arizona many years ago. It still resides above the fireplace.
Some years back, we bought a house from a hunter. We called it the Dead Animal House. He had 3 bears in various poses, plus deer, fox, fowl, and probably other stuff I’m forgetting. We joked about it and we’re pretty sure we got such a good deal on the place because other house hunters were grossed out by all the critters.
Personally, I don’t want them in my house. Then again, I don’t want photos of wildlife in my decor either. And there’s no way I’ll have any of my pets stuffed - ick! I’m probably considered heartless by some, but when we’ve taken critters to the vet for the last time, that’s it. We let them take it from there, and all we keep at home are photos and memories.
Each to his own. You’re free to keep all the trophies and specimens you want, but please don’t expect me to admire them. ick.
Heh, when selling our old house my library had several mounts, nothing exotic or rare though. Some friends came by and said “You’re going to remove these before staging, right?” It hadn’t occurred to me that someone might actually pass just because of the previous contents of the room but I guess it happens. I’d have moved them if it had stayed on the market but the offers were immediate and we closed in just a month. I suppose it is something to consider though.
I think I have seven plus some ducks in the house now, although one’s a caribou shed and another I bought in an antique store. I just like the look they give a room, especially a library. There are none in any bedroom.
Well, of course. Otherwise funeral homes would offer tours, right? There isn’t anything pleasant, sanitary, or ethical about what happens to drain, pickle, cocoon, or plug up a human body. It’s quite possibly the most unethical money grab in the US. Here’s a relatively sanitized PBS documentary for the curious: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/undertaking/etc/synopsis.html
I *am *totally creeped out at open-casket funerals. I attended my first “viewing” ever, last year, when my husband’s great-aunt died, and I felt awkward the whole time. Am I supposed to walk up and look at the body? Why? Maybe one gets used to it after attending many funerals, but I thought it was horrible.
I worked evenings at a funeral home while in college to make a little coin. It was a real eye opener to see the embalming process. Each evening I’d show family and friends to the viewing room, shut the caskets at closing, spend the night answering calls and then open the caskets each morning. i guess I got used to that but I’ve told my wife don’t let me be embalmed. What’s the point? Come see me quick if you have to then get me in the ground.
My uncle used to do taxidermy and I was amazed as a child. He did all kinds of animals, mostly things he had killed hunting. So I think it is a cool and beautiful art form.
Good point. Every body rots eventually regardless of how good the technology. That’s what dissuaded me from keeping dead kitty. Out of sight; out of mind helps, I suppose.
What I meant was that under the surface of our loved one are what some would call atrocities before he’s in the ground. And we’ve paid for them!
Our current culture has allowed medicine to co-opt our traditions in dealing with death and, in doing so, has created an alienation from what is a natural part of life, I think.
The Victorian house I own has sliding wooden doors to close off the “parlour.” That room was kept unheated and only opened for special visitors to keep it nice.
It’s other use was for the laying out of dead family members. Cool was good because they didn’t embalm.
A playmate of mine had a mother who was an undertaker (three generations of women!) We used to sneak upstairs in the old house where they lived and where she worked and open the sliding heat grate in the floor above the embalming room.
When she finally caught us there was hell to pay. “I could lose my license!”
Nope. That would be poor Maria Pastrana and her unfortunate offspring. Anyone can get away with abusing the corpse of an animal. It takes a true showman to do so to human beings.
My pet was once a warm, moving family member. Stuff he would be nothing like the animal I once knew and loved. The eyes would be dead, the body would be cold and I would be constantly reminded that my pet was dead.
Other stuffed animals are just reminders of what they looked like in life. Those animals I only ever saw fleetingly so they can look quite natural stuffed. I don’t expect them to be warm to the touch.