Taxidermists generally agree the most challenging mounts to consistently do well are those involving birds. That’s where Heath Hoogerhyde and his business, All Feathers Taxidermy, located near Grand Rapids, Mich., are making a successful quantum leap.
Making a dead bird look like a live bird is a difficulty to be overcome in ways that vary widely from bird to bird. Unlike a hole in fur or other hide that can be sewn to disguise damage, broken feathers stay broken and, as they are unique to each part of the bird, their absence can scarcely be overcome. Making a dead bird look lifelike involves many steps, some of the most important of which precede and lie outside of the taxidermists’ control. How roughly a duck is treated in the act of collecting it is partially beyond even the hunter’s control, for that matter. The bird has to be thoroughly dispatched, in the first place which, by definition, requires significant damage. Then it has to be found and retrieved to the hunter’s control. From that point, it has to be handled as carefully as can be to head off further damage, an act whose practicality is limited. Then it has to be preserved and transported to the taxidermist.
Once that handoff is made, the taxidermist must do his best to clean and preserve what remains, then he must apply a significant amount of his own art to the end product. Beyond everything else, the eyes of any mounted critter must look lifelike, and there’s no small amount of practice and skill necessary to doing that well. Even with everything else done perfectly, a bird whose eyes don’t look right just doesn’t look right at all, no matter what else has been overcome or disguised.
All of these considerations lie behind Hoogerhyde’s venture, All Feathers Taxidermy, whose intent and product are just what the name would suggest.
Self-directed feather mounts are familiar to most turkey hunters, most of whom have mounted a fan or a cape from one of their own birds. Hoogerhyde’s business deals with turkeys, but ducks are the chief reason for the effort’s existence. Hoogerhyde, an avid waterfowl hunter, has kept himself well supplied with feather mounting fodder. There are 41 species of ducks hunted in North America, and Hoogerhyde is four species away from having collected all 41 for himself.
“I have been very fortunate to be able to handle these birds,” he said. “My chief objective is to capture the spirit of the duck in the feathers. I use the contrasting colors in the feathers to portray the bird the right way. I’m able to make the colors pop by contrast.”
The taxidermy business is still a sideline for Hoogerhyde. His regular, everyday job involves customization of vehicles.
“I self-taught myself how to do the feather taxidermy, and I finally got good enough to offer them to clients,” he said.
The taxidermy and the automotive businesses both call upon similar talents for Hoogerhyde. In the vehicle business, he specializes in full body wraps, ceramic coatings, caliper painting and other customized work, the goal being to make the client’s vehicle look better than it otherwise did. The taxidermy business fits the same description. By capturing the spirit of a bird through the artful preservation and display of its most beautiful and recognizable feathers, he is able to circumvent all concerns related to making a dead bird look alive while producing an end result that is much easier to display, and much more simple to maintain. Full body bird mounts require regular, active preservation to avoid destruction by mites. Further, full body mounts require much more room to display than could be imagined by anyone who hasn’t displayed one. The feathers-only products, on the other hand, may be placed anywhere a framed photo would go.
Hoogerhyde’s taxidermy business is still in its earliest developmental phases. He doesn’t have a dedicated website yet. He has been doing all of his marketing through social media channels, including Facebook and Instagram. He presently offers the work itself, and he offers tutorials. The lessons are available as virtual classes. Separately, he has produced tutorial videos that are available for purchase, teaching how to do the mounts for yourself.
“The tutorial videos are generic and basic, but they give you what you need to know,” he said.
To see what he has to offer, search “All Feathers Taxidermy” on Facebook or Instagram using the search field in the case of either.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
