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LOVE IT.

super creepy

Me too.
Although the squirrel scurrying up the wall is a bit creepsville, no?

I'm so nervous about the backlash in this topic. Didn't we already go through this a couple weeks ago?

Vintage is fine (although definitely not my cup of tea). New? No.

I think it is nasty.

I have one word for it....ICK!!

It adds a kind of old-world charm that I love. Makes me think of gorgeous old hunting lodges in the woods.

You're STARTING to pick up on it?? Where have you been? The taxidermy trend was completely played out over a year ago (that and the whole twee decorative deer/bird thing- see Etsy, Threadless, etc).

The NYTimes even did a piece on how over it was at the end of last year...

I second the creep factor of the scurrying squirrel.

if its good enough to eat...why not stuff it and keep it around! like the crazy raccoon guy in Boston. i'm serious. he walks around with a stuffed raccoon and talks to it. he consulted it recently about some purchases at Best Buy...so, there you go. (so weird and gross)

I find it super creepy, but Rowdy is okay 'cause he's man's best friend. Plus he doubles as a clothes rack. Okay, THAT is kinda mean AND creepy.

LOVE IT.

ehhhhh... pretty weird. It depends on what it is. I dug the bear above the painting in a recent LA home tour, only because it was in motion. My cousin has a full on bear in his house, the whole body... and when I heard that he had it in his house, I was a little weirded out- but it actually looked good when I went by to visit.

It's definitely not for everyone though, I don't think I could do it.

Does Zack Braff come with the vintage taxidermy? If that is the case, then I say bring on the stuffed animals!

If it's old and already stuffed, what else are you going to do with it? May as well have it around.

Sorry, the NYTimes declared deer antlers over, not taxidermy. But still, same difference- and I concur.

Not for me. But the squirrel on the wall is actually pretty dang funny.

creepy. I had a traumatic experience of staying w/ my best friend out in the necks of maryland. her husband was an avid hunter and had his "trophy" pinned up on the wall. there was nothing that gave me the eeby jeeebies as bad as waking up in the middle of the nite to find several deer heads and a pheasant staring back you. I had to stifle a scream..............

Gross.

Icky, even if vintage.

I love Rowdy, but that's about it.

LOVE IT!

Ummmm... NO!

Definitely nay for me. The new age-ist in me thinks that surrounding yourself with dead things isn't very good for the general energy of your home.

(and yes, for me, this includes saying no to leather and dried flowers)

Anyone who wants it is welcome to the stuffed duck my hubby shot about 15 yrs ago...is that vintage enough? It's not allowed out of the basement.

I think it's kind of awesome, but then I was raised by a hunting family. We're from Texas and we stuff dead animals. I love the idea of a trophy head on my wall. In fact I've been on the look out for a deer or moose for quite some time now.

I grew up in a house with some vintage taxidermy- a Hawksbill Tortoise. We have to keep documentation regarding how old it is because they are endangered now and it was from the hotel my grandfather grew up in. Kind of creepy, but beautiful.

lol... though to think about it, how am i getting away with using a lot of wood?

Oh well, still... nay to taxidermy, vintage or no.

The previous owner of my house had them ALL OVER the place...creeped me out on the house tour...

Creepy. Give it to a museum. (Though I admit I find the owl kind of cute, and the wall-climbing squirrel is slightly entertaining.)

I found this old book on cat care where some sort of exotic wildcat was sitting on the couch. The pelt of the same kind of wildcat was spread over the back of the couch! With the caption (I kid you not) "Grow your own leopard rug."

Veering off topic a little, in South Dakota they sell jackalope heads which are really kind of cute. There was this priceless moment when Mom noticed the antlers were glued on and asked the sales lady, totally seriously, "Jackalopes aren't real, are they?" And the lady very kindly replied, no, they aren't. Long after I stopped believing in the Easter bunny, I still believed in jackalopes. I was twelve then... but Mom was in her thirties.

I dunno... is this cool? http://animoscrypt.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/benthamo.jpg

Yes? No? Maybe so?

I say no.

A friend's grandmother used to keep a stuffed tiger (shot on safari back in the day, I'm sure) and when people would comment on it, she's say, "Daddy was a Princeton man." Loved it!

Also I once hid a bunch of taxidermy (rented for a photo shoot) in a friend's bedroom to surprise him, ha!

Extremely creepy and gross.

guy in boston?! wow. his raccoon is named raquel. they used to come into the record store all the time like seven or eight years ago. is he still around?

Big NAY

oh hey..is that a leather handbag you have? how's that dead calf slung over your shoulder feel? pretty good right?
taxidermy, eating meat, wearing leather....all pieces of the same puzzle my friends.
why be creeped out? this way you have pets but none of the expense or mess.

the only vintage i say yay to is the stuffed pheasant that my grandfather (Baba) had in the basement of their house. I remember as a kid I was fascinated by it and used to run my fingers down the feathers. it's now at my uncle's house and with Baba being gone, it's something that reminds me of him.

side note:
my bf and i had dinner at his friends house and they had a full-sized bob cat on the wall along with numerous skins and heads. being a animal lover/activist.. i was totally disturbed.

I used to go to a bar on W. Alabama that had a lot of unusual taxidermy plopped around among the cases of beer -including a monkey who was literally spanking the monkey, a buffalo, the hind ends of various animals, etc. Every time I see taxidermy I think of that ratty old bar.

However....a friend's bachelor's residence had an awesome fairly small bathroom with a buck head mounted over the toilet. An old leather cap was hung from an antler. The deer was shot by his grandfather and the hat was made from the deerskin. It was an interesting coversation piece and a lovely classic bathroom. Very Ralph Lauren meets Daniel Boone. Taupe on taupe walls and paisley, antique fixtures/cabinet.

NAY!!!

Creepy and disturbing--but isn't that the reaction people are going for when they display it?

No thanks.

Although that's partly because I live someplace where it might not be taken ironically...

I'm all for this but only because I'm a taxidermy enthusiast, and also assist for a taxidermy sculptor (kateclark.net). The only thing that worries me about vintage taxidermy is that you don't know where the hell it comes from! Some of it could very well be freeze dried, also known as your pet's next favourite snack. A lot of vintage taxidermy could also have pest infestations, especially those not encased in glass. Beware!

sick.

NO!

I was at an antique mall and saw some really crazy bear skin rugs. I think having an actual furry animal would be weird though (and my cats attack anything that is furry), but skulls and antlers look nice I think. My friend has a collection of animal skulls in her room that are pretty cute and look more like sculptural objects than creepy furry animals with fake eyes.

Amy Sedaris started this trend
http://www.amysedarisrocks.com/aboutamy.htm

Yick! I'm not much of a soapbox kind of person but I'm trying to keep dead things out of my house instead of inviting them to sit on my dining room table.

ick! NAAAAAAY!

Butterfly specimens aren't that nice either, by the way. Or lacquered butterfly wings. I really don't like dead stuff, and I get that the people who do really like it to get the delight from the kneejerk reactions they cause. Or to be weird and curious, and there's some sort of trend as to be a "throwback" to an era, to dress like old ladies with the clunky shoes and patterned dresses and eccentric large jewelry and crochet little fewfaws, wear your gramma's aprons, use words like "swoon" and "smitten," and keep dead squirrels in a jar on your shelf. You know, it's not really the 1940s and '50s, right? I believe it's all part of the same fashion package, and it's all annoying in quantity, and it's all proportionally cute in small doses.

that may well be the only way to enjoy a squirrel...stuffed and under glass

Just because it seems slightly relevant, up in Madison, Wisconsin there's this crazy guy who runs a mortuary and in the basement he has a, for lack of a better description, "Dead Squirrel Museum" filled with dioramas made from taxidermied squirrels. I've been there and its horrifying and yet oddly intriguing in both concept and practice.

http://mmtao.org/~mattk/photos/2003/200304squirrels/index.html

I work in animal control and deal with roadkill on a daily basis, so dead animals do not creep me out at all. the only souvenirs I have brought home are a pair of antlers that I spray painted white, and a barn owl feather. if I had the resources, though, I might consider preserving one or two cute owls or hawks. not a full deer head or posed squirrels or anything.

I think that's spelled f-a-d. A few years from now that will look as embarrassing as it would have a few years ago (unless you go all out, in which case it will look interesting in a car-crash kind of way).

It reminds me of working at the natural history museum.

I loved working at the natural history museum. Good memories.

Supposedly "ironic" taxidermy decor is both desperately trendy and mindlessly cruel. Dead animals and parts thereof should be mourned, not gawked and smirked at.

Did j'all know that Paul McCartney will not sit on leather seats? He is a great example of living an ethical choice.

love it!

oh rowdy. you are such a great silent sidekick

Nope.

I like animals live. And in the wild.

I

This look seems gross because people treat these animals as objects, like vases or picture frames. Maybe a respectful hunter could pull this look off, but it usually seems exploitative and cheap.

bambi lovers. At least in the case of deer, without hunting (not taxidermy per se) these fellas would overpopulate, starve, and then die off. Almost happened in my community - until professional hunters were hired to thin out the population. As far as home decor, each to his own. I did like the idea of spray painting antlers white, especially if the person retrieved the antlers from road kill. Talk about reuse.

Disgusting! Why would I want dead things around my home? Let's stuff good ole Aunt Lucy and keep her around too. Yeeech!

i've always loved old taxidermy...the older the better. i can't stand the new stuff that's all flashy and made to look "real". i like them to look like trophies. sure, yell at me...sorry.

the thing is i cant stand guns or hunting. i mean, i know it has to be done, but I can't even watch when the crocodile eats that animal on Planet Earth...i'm a total wuss, but I've got style!

i've got a peacock, 4 deer antler mounts, and a pair of elk antlers that I broke off of a full elk head mount that had started to rot. I used to have half a deer, but he wouldn't fit in my apartment.

if it's weird, eerie, and vacant looking...i want it.

* Marfa: love it. sounds like my mom's friends...

* particlebored: um...taxidermy has been in fashion for hundreds of years. sure, it's considered trendy right now, but it will never be considered a "fad". that's like calling pants a "fad".

Motheaten roadkill. Meh.

Gross and tacky.

As far as "thinning the herd" goes, how nice of us to push the deer out of their natural habitat and get rid of their natural predators and then kill them because they're starving to death as a result. And hey, since they're dead, might as well stuff them and hang them on the wall. Makes me proud to be a human being.

Grotesque.

SO COOL. Want the squirrels and the owl!
(No to Zack Braff. He's kind of icky.)

What was acceptable in one era seems to be unacceptable to modern eyes.

(I'm sure future generations will DESPISE the cheapness of IKEA furniture and the people who bought it. Their landfills will be full of it by then.)

Ok, I love taxidermy, but I work in the field and if you are considering it, heed fotogrfeat warning AND this, taxidermy has and can be done with some very horrific chemicals (formaldehyde, asbestoses, aromatics... very carcinogenic) If you touch taxidermy you should wash your hands immediately after, keep it out of reach of pets, kids, or anyone eating something (ie, dont use it as a centerpiece) If you dont know how its prepared, assume its been prepared with very bad things

Also, We have been getting a lot of antique taxidermy donated to the museums and you wouldn't believe the wonderful historical significance is behind it, you might want to consider donating yours to museums where it can be properly cared for and researched, some people could be holding on to extinct animals out there

Creepy. Gross.

I'm also so sick of antlers, faux or not.

When I was little my grandfather had a bearskin rug hanging in the basement, from a bear he killed when hunting. It was creepy and gross in the 80s too.

I love it, but not the Victorian kittens serving tea, and family pets are too weird, unless accompanied by the owner.

Big Fat Honkin' NAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you decide to go out and look for "vintage" stuffed animals, please be careful as the really vintage ones were preserved using arsenic.

@Sethanie thanks for the tip. not that I was planning on cooking my stuffed game hens.

Morbid.

I don't think taxidermy has ever gone out of style here in Paris. A lady in a taxidermy store told me that it's considered "giving life back" to a beautiful animal instead of putting it in the ground. And all new taxidermy comes from animals that have died naturally.

When the Deyrolle taxidermy store had a fire earlier this year, it was major news, and thousands of people wrote to express their sympathy. http://tinyurl.com/5ks4tk
Hermes commissioned a scarf to raise funds for the restoration of the beloved institution.

My husband is a respectful hunter, following all the laws, killing only what we will eat, and praying for thanks as he was taught as a child. I also grew up in a Kansas hunting family. We have two deer head mounts which, as a mid-centruy modern loving interior designer, I initially sentenced to an eternity in the garage. Over time I realized what they represented to us- idyllic childhood, important relationships, and a coming of age for my husband. One is the first deer he killed and the other is the largest. They now reside in our den, where we spend most of our time at home, and are hung in a very prominent location and I quite like them. However, I would not want any less meaningful pieces in our home.