Sweden Taxidermist Acclaimed for Attention to Detail
There is a small, borderline rabid, cult of outdoorsmen that is obsessed with finding shed antlers from deer. One such self-described fanatic is Bill Shoemaker, who a few years ago came upon what shed enthusiasts regard as an extraordinary find.
Near his home in Chester, Pennsylvania, he discovered the remains of an 8-pointer and 10-pointer locked together, both racks of exceptional size. Shoemaker writes in an article for the Collector’s Edition of North American Whitetail Magazine: “I now needed to find someone who could bring these deer ‘back to life.’ After some intense research, I turned the job over to acclaimed whitetail taxidermist Bill Yox of Brockport, NY, who was certainly up to the challenge.”
In fact, Brockport resident Bill Yox enjoys international fame among outdoorsmen, especially trophy hunters. At this moment there are leopard, zebra, and lion hides in Yox’s shop awaiting his taxidermical recreation back into three dimensional creatures. World renowned big game hunter Gene Wensel and golfer Jack Nicklaus have sought his services.
As one enters Yox’s studio/showroom, the striking exhibit on the back wall immediately captures your full attention – three large male turkeys perched in a tree, looking very much alive, one of them poised to peck an invisible kernel of corn from the ground while you can almost hear the soft gurgling of another. On the other side of the same wall hangs the mounted head and rack of a caribou shot in Quebec, Canada.
One has to wonder, how did this 49-year old Brockport resident, who grew up in inner city Buffalo, become a world-renowned taxidermist? The short answer is: Yox is not sure. “I honestly don’t remember how I first learned, but I do remember my first effort – a downy woodpecker. I was nine.” He also recalls his first paying customer. “When I was 15, a guy from church paid me $15 to do a raccoon head.” He also remembers that his early work was done on his mother’s kitchen table.
When his parents divorced, Yox relocated to Hilton with his father after graduation from high school in 1980 and began working at Eastman Kodak Company. Even before being laid off in 1986, he was “doing taxidermy on the side.” In 1987 Yox married and bought a house on Redman Road in Brockport. Since then he built a showroom/studio and home across the street. There are four Yox children ages 13-19; the oldest of whom attends GCC.
In the 26 years since leaving Kodak, Yox has evolved from a man who “stuffs heads on Redman Road” to an acclaimed artist, judge, teacher, and a breeder of whitetail deer. Part of his genesis to artist came with a gift from Dean Ziegler who created a whitetail museum in Ohio. “Dean gave me a tiny fawn who grew up into a huge whitetail buck named Jasper. Jasper became my reference that helped me transcend from “stuffing” to artistic recreation. He allowed me to study the live animal in unbelievable ways. Ultimately Jasper became an invaluable prop for teaching.”
Yox’s awards and accolades are too numerous to catalogue, but he especially covets his Best in World, second place award in the World Taxidermy Championship in 1991 for a whitetail shoulder mount.
As with any profession, there are some aspects one enjoys more than others. In Yox’s case, fish fit the latter category. “I don’t do fish anymore at all. All those iridescent three dimensional scales – no thank you.” And what creature does he most enjoy working on? The whitetail deer, which he breeds and raises in his second business venture: Sterling Farm Whitetails (named after his eldest son), which he has operated for 10 years in the many barns and pastures surrounding his house and show room.
And just in case he doesn’t have enough to keep him busy, Yox also participates in a radio program on WHTK called the Outdoor Guys, judges innumerable taxidermy competitions and teaches whitetail workshops, this year in Oklahoma and Michigan. As Yox looks back on his years of practicing taxidermy, he becomes philosophical. “When I started in this business, I thought I had to mix with the crowd. You know, hunt and fish with my customers.” In retrospect, he feels socializing, while fun, did not enhance his material success in the field and in fact created backlogs in his finished product. What greatly enhanced his success was his gradual shift away from commercialized, generic work to highly individualized, customized composition. “Nature has her own composition and I work very hard to capture that element. I have discovered people who care are willing to give me the extra time and pay the extra money necessary for quality work.”
On a final note, Yox became sentimental at the close of the interview for this article. He asked to pay a special tribute to someone who had a profound effect on his career. Many local shed enthusiasts will smile to remember Bill Alhart, who died unexpectedly a year-and-a-half ago. “Bill and I were known as ‘Shed antler nuts’ and he played a huge role in my success in taxidermy. And I guess he sort of contributed to my back log, too.”
(Published in “West Edition Suburban News,” New York, Issue No. 10, March 8, 2009)
By Pat Woityra