Hi, my name is Ken Cutsinger. I'm a Wildlife Officer in Campbell

County & I've been doing taxidermy for about 15 years now. My shop, Ken's Natural Taxidermy, is in LaFollette.

So what is taxidermy? The word "taxi" means to move & "dermy" is derived from dermis or skin, so taxidermy is moving skin. All animals are done basically the same. They are skinned out so you have the skin separated from the naked body. The hide or skin is preserved & then usually mounted on a foam mannequin. For fish, the 1st thing that is done is to measure it, basically length & girth. I make an incision on the back side of the fish & clean all the meat out; the brains & eyeballs too. Next I soak the skin in a degreaser / preservative solution for a few days. After mounting, I let the fish dry for about a week. Drying will leave some shrinkage around the head, throat & fins which is then filled back out with an epoxy compound. Artificial eyes are set now also. The drying also causes the fins to become brittle so a fin cream is applied to make them more flexible & repair any tears. The fish will now be a light brown or tan color. I use an airbrush to put the color back into the fish & a nice gloss to give it a fresh wet look.

Now, what do you do to prepare your trophy for the taxidermist? First of all, leave it whole. You want to treat it just like a raw piece of meat. Keep it on ice until you can get it to a freezer or the taxidermist. The best way to wrap it for freezing is in a WET towel & then a plastic bag or just a plastic bag will work. Never wrap it in a dry towel or newspaper, that will draw the moisture out of it & cause freezer burn. A fish wrapped in a soaking wet towel & plastic, can last for months in the freezer. To care for it after it's mounted, just keep it dusted off & occasionally wipe it with a slightly damped cloth. A few things I've learned about trophy stripers is that they grow to about the mid 40 inch range, then they just get fatter! The longest I've ever mounted is 50" but it wasn't as heavy as some 46 inchers. I usually check their

stomach contents & have never found a game fish.

My New Years Resolution is to fish more (with my kids too). Hope to see you out there! If you have any questions you can call me at:

423-566-5934.