Waikato taxidermist blends conservation and artistry in trophy mounts

Waikato taxidermist Mark Walker with some of his work. Photo / Catherine Fry

It was after many years and several careers, including shearing, orchard ownership and the police force, before Waikato taxidermist Mark Walker followed his lifelong passion for the art of taxidermy.

Fourteen years later he happily spends his days immersed in this fascinating and skilful work.

Brought up on a King Country sheep and beef farm, Walker lived the rural life of farming, hunting and fishing and was no stranger to processing his catches.

“I trapped possum on the farm for their fur when I was in my early teens, and I caught a ferret,” Walker said.

“Te Kuiti taxidermist Barry Aldridge helped me mount that.

“In those days we built the body frame using wood, wire, wool and wrapped it in string before applying the skin of the animal.”

Walker has hunted all over the world and his taxidermy mounts have won many awards and competitions.

His “hobby” increased during his time in the police force, until the day came when he needed to make it his fulltime job.

Walker mounts animals for local clients, as well as animals sent to him from hunters who have hunted overseas.

He has also mounted trophies for international tourist hunters from all over the world.

Waikato taxidermist Mark Walker, in his workshop. Photo / Catherine Fry

“What they have in common is a desire to preserve a memory of a certain hunt and display it.”

He said hunters in New Zealand usually hunted wild game for food so by mounting the trophy none of the animal was wasted.

Walker refused to mount pets and said the family’s own pets were buried at home.

Modern taxidermy

An understanding of anatomy is one of the many skills required for taxidermy. Photo / Catherine Fry

New Zealand clients send skins from African game, Canadian bears and wolves and other trophy kills.

The rules for importing animal remains are complex and extremely strict and if they aren’t adhered to, they won’t be allowed to enter New Zealand.

Locally, Walker often receives a complete animal or a skinned head and carries out the preparation work himself.

Nowadays Walker has technology at his fingertips and more sophisticated ways of mounting the animals than using wire and wood.

“We buy in mannequins of the animals which can be adjusted and sculpted into different poses.”

Mark Walker sculpting a mannequin ready to apply the skin. Photo / Catherine Fry

The skillset required includes hide preparation and tanning (skinning, fleshing and salting), sculpting, anatomy knowledge of each animal, welding, painting, sewing, and the artistic ability to construct a realistic habitat on which to mount and tell the story of the animal.

“Very little of the actual animal is used in the taxidermy,” Walker said.

“The ear cartilage, teeth, eyes and mouth are all fake.

“We make the mannequin fit the skin and then add all the realistic touches, using prosthetics and painting by spraying or by hand.”

Walker said it takes about 16 hours of work to mount an average deer head, but something larger, like a full-size, whole-body Alaskan moose took him 192 hours.

“The process has a less pleasant side as well as the artistic side and if you don’t love the process, you don’t do it!”

The importance of conservation

Taxidermist Mark Walker says New Zealand hunters usually hunt wild game for food so none of the animal is wasted when mounting the trophy. Photo / Catherine Fry

Walker described himself as having a passion for animals and a passion for conservation.

Bearing in mind what he does for a living, that sounds like an oxymoron.

He uses his seven experiences of visiting and hunting in Africa within a 500,000-acre (202,342-hectare) conservation area to illustrate his point.

“Humans have expanded, stopping the natural movement of African game animals across the plains with man-made boundaries.

“The animals keep breeding, and the delicate balance of their ecosystems is destroyed.

“They are competing for food and water resources and fighting for territory.

Deer mounts nearing completion. Photo / Catherine Fry

“We need to be responsible for preserving these habitats and that means carefully regulated culling of species that aren’t endangered.

“To me, that is conservation and is helping stop the extinction of more species.”

On the property Walker has hunted on, regulated hunting takes place only when there is a specific need to, such as too many male lions that season.

Hunters from all over the world pay to hunt and take home the trophy head and the local villages receive everything else.

“They use absolutely every body part you can imagine and virtually nothing is wasted,” he said.

“It’s the unregulated poaching that is the issue.

“Animals, including endangered ones, are killed indiscriminately for their valuable parts and the rest is left to rot and I can’t condone that.”

In New Zealand, Walker is on his local Maungaotama Stream and Wetland Restoration Trust committee.

“It’s a tiny conservation project compared to the African one, but we’re trying to improve the water quality for the whole catchment and preserve the wetland habitat.”

The group has planted 60,000 natives around the wetland and is pleased to see native bat populations increasing, along with birds such as kaka, kererū and kotoreke (marsh crakes).