Willie Ungerman has been named the top taxidermist at the National Taxidermist competition held recently in Layton. Taxidermists from all over the country came to the event to bring their products and have them judged. Ungerman said, “There were people there from all over the United States, including Alaska, New York, Iowa and some from Canada. There are several categories you can enter. The Division of Excellence, the open divisions including head mounts, life size mounts, birds, fish, mammals, etc. The bear I entered was in the large mammal, life sized division.
“You’re judged on the anatomy and the appearance of the animal. They have a judging criteria sheet and they look at everything. The eyes, nose, mouth, ears, feet. Everything has to be perfect. There are 100 different things you’re judged on. They add up all the points from all the different areas. I was the highest point scorer in that category so I won best of category and received the highest point total overall of all the competitors and received the National Title.
“I have been a taxidermist for 15 years. I’ve always wanted to compete in the National Contest but it was always held somewhere else and I wasn’t able to go. But, this year it was held in Layton and I was able to attend.
“I always attend the state competition each year.
“I think the life size pieces I work on are the most difficult. Each animal is different. With the life sized pieces you have to get everything just right. Everything has to fit perfectly. You want the mount to look as lifelike as possible. All the anatomy, the body has to be shaped correctly from the head to the toes. You take a lot of measurements and then order the mannikin to best fit the animal you’re working on. They have all types and sizes of mannikins. I’ve had some I had to cut apart and put back together just to get the shape right. You find out how the people want their animal mounted. Do they want the animal to face the front or the side? Do they want a life size or a head mount. Do they want the mouth open or closed?
“On the bear I won the prize with, I had to take the teeth and file them off, he also had a broken incisor. I tried to make him as accurate as possible to the bear in real life. I completely reshaped his teeth. He was an old black bear. He was also missing part of his lip which I replicated. The bear belongs to Corey Bell. He shot him in Huntington Canyon. They give maybe 10 permits a year in that unit. It’s a premium tag.
“Our family owns a meat shop and each year I would see animals coming in and then we’d send them out to other taxidermists to be mounted. I started thinking, why can’t I learn how to do taxidermy and then when the shop is slow I can work on the animals. So that’s what I did. I used to have to find work in the summer when the meat shop was slow. I attended school in Missoula, Mont. at Missoula Valley and learned how to be a taxidermist.
“Now it seems like the meat shop doesn’t slow down, so we’ve hired a couple of people down there so I can concentrate on the taxidermy during the summer.
“It takes about 15 hours to complete a deer. Elk are 15-20 hours, life sized animals take a week or more. The bear for Corey I worked on for a month. It took a lot of time to resculpt the mouth. When an animal comes in first you cape out the hide, Then you trim all flesh, eyes, ears and any of that. Then I ship the hide to Santaquin to be tanned. There’s a guy there who tans the hides. The hides come back, then I go over them and fix any imperfections, I sew up holes, I measure everything and then order the form. Then I put on the horns, eyes, ears and sew and tack everything down and put the animal back together to make it as lifelike as possible. Putting the animal back together now, is just like second nature, you just can tell how everything should look. I think the life sized pieces are the hardest.
“I really enjoy taxidermy work. It’s fun. I’ve been invited to go to the World Show, it’s held every other year in different places. People come from all over the world to that show. Some of the people on the Nationals board also are on the board of the World Show. They were really impressed with the number of people who participated in the Utah show. They’ve said they’ll be back in Utah every third year for the National Show. Utah is centrally located for those from back east to come here and those from the western states.
“In the 15 years, I’ve been doing taxidermy the deer are the most popular. I’ve mounted 1,000-1,200 deer. Around 400 antelope, 600 elk, 100 fish, 200 birds, 200 life sized mounts 20-25 bears, 30 cougars. I do a lot of deer for people that are their kid’s first deer, so they have it mounted. A lot of the mounts aren’t huge animals, they just mean something to that person. There are some trophies.
“When our family hunts we donate the meat to a family in need. I have thought about training people who want to learn to taxidermy. I have an assistant and he has been working with me for a year and a half now. He also wants to be a guide for bear hunts and cougar hunts. I tell him now is the time in his life to try out his different ideas. He’s just graduated from high school and doesn’t have a lot of expenses.
“Don’t be afraid to try new things. Take a gamble on yourself. There’s money to be made in the hunting industry,” said Ungerman.
The Ungerman children have been involved in the business Daicee Ungerman who is going into eighth grade has taken her work to the state shows where she won awards in the junior division. Alexis is interested in painting and may get more involved in the artistic side of the business as she gets a little older.
Ungerman said his taxidermy projects don’t seem like work because he enjoys what he does so much. You can reach Big Willie’s taxidermy at 749-1402.
Big Willie’s is top taxidermist at Nationals
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