Joe Bobs Wildlife Taxidermy and Creations

06/13/2025

Been working on some tanning this week. This calf unfortunately died very early. She makes a nice throw or wall hanger now. Have some deer thinned and pickling that I’ll tan and break later this coming week.

05/01/2025

This buck is painted and ready to go home. Done with my first year of customer deer. Appreciate everyone who trusted me with their trophies! Can’t wait to see what they all bring me next year!

I’ve been prepping a 🦊 to mount next!

04/20/2025

Next buck to go home is this guy. Both eyes were infected and the hunter cut a pretty long ways up into the brisket area unknowingly because this was his first buck getting taxied.

04/18/2025

This big 8 went home tonight. This made me a fan of an upright pose again.

04/12/2025

Next on the stand is this 10 point. He was taken by a late onset hunter and it was his first deer!

03/29/2025

03/26/2025

Next buck on the stand. This was this hunters first buck ever. His father in law thought he was putting him on the bad side of the farm. 😆

03/20/2025

Proud to know some of these folks now. Very helpful group of people that share lots of information they’ve gained over the years!

03/18/2025

Big 8 shot by a youth hunter on the mounting stand. This one’s gonna look sweet.

03/16/2025

Last night at the awards banquet for the Illinois Taxidermy show I was not expecting anything at all with all my second place ribbons. However the Illinois Trappers Association made the decision that my mount was the recipient of the furbearer of the year award!

This meant a lot to me because there was master taxidermist that had incredible mounts that they had chose my badger over!

The representative from the Trappers Association told me he thought that my mount “ looked exactly like what a badger would look like in the wild”. He just loved it.

I would also like to congratulate my buddy Mike Stewart for all the awards he won at his first show. River's Bend Reproduction's does some serious fish painting!

03/15/2025

I competed in the Illinois Taxidermy Associations yearly competition this weekend.

I came away with a 2nd place in the commercial division for a deer.

2nd place in the professional division with a Badger.

3rd place in professional division with an otter.

And 2 second place ribbons in the Masters division for a coyote skull and a badger skull.

I’ve come away with a whole new perspective of competing in taxidermy and a lot more skills and knowledge that I’ll put into my future mounts.

02/15/2025

This is my first attempt at an otter. This mount incorporates a lot of taxidermy skills that I’m trying to sharpen such as open mouth, form alteration, extreme poses, reproduction nose, and pe***ng mount to base. I learned a ton and enjoyed this a lot. Grateful for the trapper that allowed me to work on this! On to the next!