Northwest Taxidermy - Gary Aittama's

Northwest Taxidermy - Gary Aittama's Providing fine taxidermy for discerning clients. 28 yrs exp. Retired Air Force, Award winning

A custom built sculpture for a Mexican Coes deer with a skin on it. Got an Airzona coues to share also. I’ll show more ...
03/03/2025

A custom built sculpture for a Mexican Coes deer with a skin on it. Got an Airzona coues to share also. I’ll show more behind the scenes on that post. Lovin it!

The boss and I are back in the studio following a short noticed week long trip to the north shore of Oahu. Here’s one of...
03/03/2025

The boss and I are back in the studio following a short noticed week long trip to the north shore of Oahu. Here’s one of the highlights. We got lucky and were able to hire one of the states top charter boat captains to take us fishing. We didn’t really care what we’d catch on such a short noticed booking, the whole trip was random.

The day before the trip I google “most desired salt water trophy fish”. Blue Marlin comes up on the machine. I pull up a pic of one to see what they look like and show Rebecca. The rest of the evening were talking about catching blue marlin. Occasionally I show her the pic to keep it fresh in our minds.

We get to the dock and meet the Captain. I show him the pic and say this is what we’re hoping for but we’d be happy to catch anything. He tells us it’s been a bit since they’ve caught blues but they catch striped marlin a bit more often. We’re like that works too!

We head out, get to the spot and start fishing. It didn’t take long to hook up with a fish, seeing it come out of the water, spinning and flipping was surreal. Half hour later Rebecca gets the first blue marlin in the boat. We went 3 for 5 on them loosing a couple at the boat. I also caught a really large mahi mahi that went 40 lbs.

The entire trip was magical, one of the best I’ve ever been on. Thoughts becoming reality, manifesting some call it. Many similar stories happened on our stay there

One of my biggest joys of this job is hearing client stories that follow the same theme. Think it, believe it, achieve it. A pearl of wisdom from your crazy taxidermist. Luv it!!

Afognak Island bear ready to ship out. My wife built the spring time tidal flat he was taken on based off of client pics...
01/17/2025

Afognak Island bear ready to ship out. My wife built the spring time tidal flat he was taken on based off of client pics. Custom sculpted head made for him based off of skull measurements and field pics. Included a pic of efforts made to first narrow the head, then I had to shortened the back an inch and a half to get the ears in the right place and reduce the head height close to an inch that was the foam work, then clay. Needless to say I learned a ton. I could have just covered the stock head. Skin fit it, my wife said it looked like a cartoon though, dang wife opening my eyes daily. Uniqueness of each bear is crazy. The real bears skin and clay sculpted nose were used,old school. Not a chunk of plastic that isn’t quite right for the unique bear. It all starts there. 😬. Really pleased with the results, worth the struggle. Biggest lesson learned, the bones don’t lie. There’s a level to this insanity..Never compromise my friends!
Luvin it.

The “Trash King”, last seasons largest antlered local buck is heading home today. I had this one on display in here duri...
12/21/2024

The “Trash King”, last seasons largest antlered local buck is heading home today. I had this one on display in here during November. I posted a pic of the custom sculpture I mounted the skin on a month or so ago. Never compromise my friends. Included a few different angles to show off his hardware. How about a share? I’m curious to see how many people this machine can reach. Lovin it!

We moved that big bull out the door this a.m. There’s a pic of the hunter, Mike who lives in Tri Cities with it. He bui...
12/19/2024

We moved that big bull out the door this a.m. There’s a pic of the hunter, Mike who lives in Tri Cities with it. He built his own wood base for the piece, cuts down on cost too, bonus. Rebecca did a little habitat scene too. His bud that came up for the ride with him said, “He was excited to get here, speeding the whole way, and he normally doesn’t. Lol….ya gotta Luv it! Handful of parting pics included. Really beautiful piece, would of liked some sunlight on it for pics. Clean smooth and even, just how I like em’.

I was looking through some old pics, came across this one I mounted 7 or 8 years ago. We’d dubbed him the“Giant”. Sasca...
11/30/2024

I was looking through some old pics, came across this one I mounted 7 or 8 years ago. We’d dubbed him the“Giant”. Sascathwewan buck, looks like logs sticking out of his head. Crazy, lol.

Whitetail Mania! Long day, that’s a wrap on it. I thought I’d share a moment/story before I head in. I’m sitting here p...
11/26/2024

Whitetail Mania! Long day, that’s a wrap on it. I thought I’d share a moment/story before I head in.

I’m sitting here prepping whitetail capes today…and thinking I’d sure like to get a couple more great capes for clients in need. Thinking…hmm. Spencer usually brings one in most years…he’s been coming by here for a decade or more I recon. And he gets these really beautiful far north Idaho bucks. Always decent bucks that he’s not planning to mount. He sells me the cape. I swear they are a different deer compared to one say from just 75 miles
miles south. The deer up near the border are bigger, heavier haired and have a considerabley different overall head shape.

The years he brings a cape in we usually visit for an hour or two taking about deer and taxidermy/sculpture. Comparing the one he brings in with mounts I’m working on. He no doubt see’s the differences in things as I’ve been showing him for years.

At any rate, an hour or so later my phone rings. Hello, I say…hearing the voice I recongnize its him. Perfect timing right? I say right on, you got a cape for me? He say’s no, I got one I want to mount. Nice I’m thinking, Bring it by I say. Not knowing how big it was.

Here’s his buck. A real beauty his Dad figures 170 range. It’s worth noting, looking at the pic that thats a really big, heavy deer with unusually large long ears. Borderline freaky long. And Spencer’s 6 foot plus tall and a really big guy. Pretty great day out there working. A couple more non-client deer intakes and I’ll full. Epic season this year. Lovin it!

Side note. Every year he’s been upping his skinning caping skills. I go over what he brings in. Nice to see this one came in, damn near perfect! Ya gotta luv it!

Really half assed lighting on the “Big picture” of the muley I showed yesterday. Zoom in on his ears, lots of little sp...
11/24/2024

Really half assed lighting on the “Big picture” of the muley I showed yesterday. Zoom in on his ears, lots of little splits on the lower edges from sparing. Really beautiful buck Brady. I hope it brings you a lifetime of joy. Lovin it!!

11/23/2024

CLIENT FIELD PICTURES

I’m going to try something here…If I’ve done a mount for you please post your best field photo as comment.

This friendly WA quality bull looking over my shoulder is ready for some final brushing and detailing. Clean smooth and...
11/23/2024

This friendly WA quality bull looking over my shoulder is ready for some final brushing and detailing. Clean smooth and even just how I luv it. Rebecca’s thinking on a habitat piece for it, this piece is a floor pedestal. Really awesome bull!

Whitetail Mania!! Skinning out a bruiser whitetail and babysitting this beauty I mounted a few days back. In a few more...
11/22/2024

Whitetail Mania!! Skinning out a bruiser whitetail and babysitting this beauty I mounted a few days back. In a few more days it’ll be a bit tighter, hopefully. Still sculpting it, lots of hand time/clay. No antlers to distract your gaze. Lol. Luv it!!

I’m buying mature buck whitetail capes starting now. Needing a few. Here’s how I’d like them skinned out. Sock the neck...
11/20/2024

I’m buying mature buck whitetail capes starting now. Needing a few. Here’s how I’d like them skinned out. Sock the neck down to back of head and cut off. I’ll skin the head out. If you open the front legs make sure to stay on the far back of leg, leaving the brisket and arm pit area intact.

Lil whitetail mania going on in here. Mounting one and skinning one. Check out the insane antlers on this one, local buc...
11/18/2024

Lil whitetail mania going on in here. Mounting one and skinning one. Check out the insane antlers on this one, local buck. Split front lip fron years back too. Old buck.

This cape is for sale if you need a big Canadian cape for one you wish you would have mounted years ago. That’s a 147 in...
11/14/2024

This cape is for sale if you need a big Canadian cape for one you wish you would have mounted years ago. That’s a 147 inch buck that weighed 287 lbs. live weight. Full circle. Lol, loving it.

Seeing more Mule deer than Whitetail in here for mounts lately. This one came in today from Colarado. Extremely mature ...
11/12/2024

Seeing more Mule deer than Whitetail in here for mounts lately. This one came in today from Colarado. Extremely mature buck his head was about as big as they get. Real heavy mass on his antlers and he’s about as good looking as they get. Client left the cape attached to the head and even removed the brain matter out of the head so he could transport into Idaho. It’s extra nice when I can skin the head. Seeing whats under there helps a ton for the rebuild. Good stuff folks.

Prepping out a young Washington hunters first Whitetail for a mount today. I included a pic of squeaky clean skinning jo...
11/10/2024

Prepping out a young Washington hunters first Whitetail for a mount today. I included a pic of squeaky clean skinning job. You gotta luv it!!

Whitetail Mania! Check this brute out that came in today. Best N. Idaho buck I’ve seen so far this year. Lots of measu...
11/05/2024

Whitetail Mania! Check this brute out that came in today. Best N. Idaho buck I’ve seen so far this year. Lots of measurements taken to use when it’s time to dial in a head sculpture for him. As I always say, skin em’ clean folks. Congrats Bill, lovin it!

November 1st, holy heck where does the time go? About time to roll into Whitetail Mania! Here’s the best one from last ...
11/01/2024

November 1st, holy heck where does the time go? About time to roll into Whitetail Mania! Here’s the best one from last fall, a WA buck on a heavily modified popular form. Lots to say on this one. He’ll be here in the shop for everyone to see, no not his antlers. I want you to see what a custom sculpted deer mount looks like. Daily progression…😬. Can someone tell me what the highest level of this skin flick is? I know I’ve been telling my clients for many years now. Hopefully I’m showing them it…. Lovin it!

Address

1485 N Maverick Lane
Post Falls, ID
83854

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Northwest Taxidermy - Gary Aittama's posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category