Newton’s law says an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Taxidermy combines both sides of this law when it displays an animal in motion…even as it is frozen in place.
“A strutting turkey is one of the most challenging displays to create,” said Brian Almberg, Worthington, who owns and operates Almberg Taxidermy. “One needs to get all those tail feathers properly shingled. Otherwise, the bird doesn’t look alive.”
Taxidermy is Greek for “skin arrangement.” Its origin goes far back into the past. As demand for quality leather and hides grew, taxidermy methods became more sophisticated. Nearly every town had a tannery business in the 1700s. By the 1800s hunters brought trophies to upholstery shops where upholsterers sewed up the animal skins and stuffed them with rags and cotton. This is where the term “stuffed animal” came from. Today the process is called “mounting.”
Almberg’s career in taxidermy began on his childhood farm outside of Worthington. “I was fascinated with outdoor wildlife,” Almberg remembers. “I spent every free hour I could get at our creek, trapping animals and catching minnows and crawdads. When I was 10-years-old, I visited cousins in Kiester. They had a mounted deer and I spent a lot of time studying it. At that point I began to consider a career in taxidermy. I even started practicing on birds that I hunted on our farm.”
Almberg graduated high school in 1983 and attended taxidermy school in Wisconsin. “Taxidermists need to know anatomy, dissection, sculpture, painting and tanning,” Almberg said. “School gave me enough training in those areas to let me know I had the ability to practice taxidermy. The rest I learned with experience.”
Besides teaching the foundations of taxidermy, school allowed Almberg to network with other taxidermists. “I made a lot of good friends around the country,” he remembers. “When I had time, I traveled to help them out. For example, I made a lot of trips to Colorado to assist one of my classmates. This gave me additional experience with western animals, like elk, mule deer and mountain lions.”
In between time Almberg started growing his own taxidermy business, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. “My goal is to customize every trophy to the client’s specifications. It should look as real as the day it was taken,” Almberg said.
Besides trophy displays, Almberg prepares animal-hide rugs and antler reproductions for clients. “Sometimes a group of hunters track down a deer and they all want to share in the trophy,” Almberg said. “That’s where replica antlers come in. Other times collectors purchase racks from sportsman. The offer is too good to refuse, but the hunter still wants to keep a memento of the trophy so they get a reproduction made.”
It takes about four weeks to get a trophy ready for mounting. “First, the animal’s skin is delivered,” Almberg said. “I remove whatever meat and fat cling to it through a process called fleshing. I also prepare the ears by turning them inside out and trim up the nose and eyelids. The skin is then salted. This draws all of the moisture out of the hide. Once it is dry, I tan it, which means turning it into leather. Then I measure the hide and order a proper-sized form. Forms are available for pretty much any animal in a variety of sizes. The hide gets pasted to the form, which usually needs some sculpture work done to it to get the fit just right. Finally, the hide is sewn up and eyes and nose are added. I also use artificial teeth because real ones can dry out and crack over time.”
The taxidermy process is similar for both fish and mammals, although fish mounts take less time because some species require that the bulk of the fish to be a fiberglass form. “Saltwater fish are usually almost all fiberglass,” Almberg said. “Their skin is oilier than freshwater fish, which makes it nearly impossible to completely dry out. As a result, the fish decays over time. If you see a swordfish mount, the only parts that come from the original fish are maybe its sword and the dorsal fin.”
So what’s left of everything in between? “Remarkably, not much,” Almberg said. “Many people may believe taxidermists end up with a lot of waste material, but that is not the case. It is a remarkably clean profession. Since I start with skins, not much is left over. Plus, I don’t use hardly any chemicals other than salt and glue.”
Almberg has applied his skills to many different animals throughout his career: pronghorn, mountain goat, sheep, moose, deer, game birds, reptiles, fish and snakes to name a few. “I probably prepare about 150 animals a year,” Almberg said. “The biggest animal I’ve done was an eland, which is an African antelope. It can grow to over 1,700 pounds. The smallest job I did was a shrew hide for a high school class. I was even supposed to prepare a hummingbird once, but it was too damaged to work with. Birds like that are a protected species. They can’t be hunted, but people bring them to me if they are accidentally killed. The mounts must then go to learning institutions.”
The most unique animal Almberg worked with was a 206-pound alligator gar. “The head alone on that fish was 26 inches,” Almberg remembers. “The alligator gar is basically a throwback to the time of the dinosaurs. It has armor plates and spines. Its scales are so sharp Native Americans used them for arrowheads. When you work with a fish like that you need a hammer, chisel and bolt cutters to finish the job.”
Big, small and weird animals — Almberg has worked on them all, along with the fantastic. “I’ve never created a jackalope (a jackrabbit with antlers), but I have done the mighty Piking,” Almberg joked. “I came up with the Piking while fishing one day. I reeled in a pike and thought…what would it look like with horns?” Creating such fantasy creatures is called Rogue Taxidermy. “The Piking was created for Minnesota Vikings fans,” Almberg said. “Besides the horns, the fish has purple coloring. One of my Pikings even made it to Norway. They are big Vikings fans in that country and one of my fish was given to some of their visiting soldiers as a gift.”
The Piking illustrates Almberg’s interest in all facets of the animal kingdom. “I even collected butterflies and have an amateur interest in cryptozoology,” Almberg said. “Cryptozoology covers creatures like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. In fact, one of my goals is to eventually create a Bigfoot mount using data that has been gathered from supposed sightings of the creature.”
In the meantime, Almberg has had a chance to practice his creative and sculpting skills on less mysterious creatures. “I recently sculpted the King Turkey Day Statue for the City of Worthington,” he said. “I came up with a caricature model, complete with cartoon eyes and sneakers. It went over well and I hope to expand on the project.”
“Recreating animals (real or imagined) in the most realistic way possible is one of the most rewarding parts of taxidermy,” Almberg said. “The other rewarding aspect of the job is to make a living doing work I enjoy that encompasses the things I’m interested in. Some people might have a problem with hunting and by extension taxidermy, but it’s a valid art form and hunting has its place in our culture. People are a part of nature too. We are stewards of the planet and need to take care of it, but we also have the right to use its resources in responsible ways.”
When he isn’t practicing taxidermy, Almberg enjoys hunting with his son, Evan, and collecting fossils and Native American artifacts. “I recently built a new shop,” Almberg added. “My goal is to eventually have a display of Native American artifacts for visitors to enjoy.” To learn more about Almberg Taxidermy visit www.almbergtaxidermy.com, call 1-507-478-4350 or email brian@almbergtaxidermy.com. Almberg’s studio is open Monday-Saturday 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Other hours are available by appointment. The site is located five and a half miles west of Worthington on Highway 35.
