Taxidermist (cougar)

[BullElk]

travis roundy in Utah. all of the ones ive ever seen him do are phenomenal.

 

[Extrapale]

Josh Bryan in Newberg Oregon. Check out his facebook for photos.

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[Bryan B]

Phil Soucy

 

[MTbowhunter36]

Check out Mike Ballard of Rugged Edge Taxidermy in Bigfork Montana. He is a lion hunter and amazing taxidermist who really captures the look of a lions face and the way their body is formed. My son and I were each lucky enough to take book lions over the last couple years, and after lots of searching, Mike rose to the top of the heap.
Congrats on your trophy. I'm sure it'll be a beautiful mount.

+1 for Rugged Edge.

Mike does great work. Granted, he hasn't done any mounts for me, but when I was there I saw his work and it's great. He did my bear and wolf rugs.

Heck, he even gave me a mountain lion back strap when I picked up my wolf.

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[Fishn4eyes]

Phil Soucy Studios for cats for sure!

 

[SLDMTN]

Another one for Mike Ballard @ The Rugged Edge in MT. His eye work is some of the best I’ve ever seen. I have a bear going down there presently. Here’s a wolf he did for me.

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[OR Archer]

In Oregon I’d go to Josh Bryan or Brody Turner.

 

[Shaghickory]

Check out Mike Ballard of Rugged Edge Taxidermy in Bigfork Montana. He is a lion hunter and amazing taxidermist who really captures the look of a lions face and the way their body is formed. My son and I were each lucky enough to take book lions over the last couple years, and after lots of searching, Mike rose to the top of the heap.
Congrats on your trophy. I'm sure it'll be a beautiful mount.

Im

 

[SLDMTN]

I’ll update this with another bit of work from Mike at the Rugged Edge. Great work and communication as always.

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[Shaghickory]

Check out Mike Ballard of Rugged Edge Taxidermy in Bigfork Montana. He is a lion hunter and amazing taxidermist who really captures the look of a lions face and the way their body is formed. My son and I were each lucky enough to take book lions over the last couple years, and after lots of searching, Mike rose to the top of the heap.
Congrats on your trophy. I'm sure it'll be a beautiful mount.

Im looking for a cougar taxidermist....anyone else using Mike Ballard?

I’ll update this with another bit of work from Mike at the Rugged Edge. Great work and communication as always.

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Congrats on a great looking bear. Mike is on my short list to life size an Alberta cougar...Im too far away to visit his shop so am trying to do from long distance. inputs such as yours are very valuable...thank you!

 

[Shaghickory]

Check out Mike Ballard of Rugged Edge Taxidermy in Bigfork Montana. He is a lion hunter and amazing taxidermist who really captures the look of a lions face and the way their body is formed. My son and I were each lucky enough to take book lions over the last couple years, and after lots of searching, Mike rose to the top of the heap.
Congrats on your trophy. I'm sure it'll be a beautiful mount.

Have you got your cougars back from Mike? i have one that Im considering asking Mike to do, but wanting to make aure Im making the right decision in going with him.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I finally had a great opportunity and ended up shooting a nice tom with my bow and now I am looking for a taxidermist that can make the cat look natural I have seen the god awful mounts does anyone have a recommendation on a taxidermist. the going rate around town seems to be over 3000 does that seem about right ? I live in oregon

This guy is in Dairy, might be near you, does great lions! http://mitchcaintaxidermy.com/portfolio-items/cougar-with-deer/

 

[ODB]

Pay more than less and make sure you get a good taxidermist. Cats might be the hardest animal to get right. Especially the face. Most of the low end guys give the cat a look like he’s worried or surprised.

The same goes for engraving. These are on a Rigby rifle. What on earth are these lions so worried about????

 

[roosiebull]

Josh Bryan in Newberg Oregon. Check out his facebook for photos.

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Josh Bryan does the best cats in this state imo…. Tim Tuttle would be my second choice, but for real looking lions, Josh is the only one in the state I would pay to do it.... it's a lot of dough regardless, if i'm spending that much I want a realistic depiction, Josh's lion mounts are the only ones that "look alive" to me.

there are some others that I think do a good job, but they just don't have those realistic details that wow me.

 

[roosiebull]

Phil Soucy Studios for cats for sure!

he is a talent with cat mounts for sure!

 

[Shaghickory]

Thank you for your inputs. And agree that cats are tough to make real...thats why im asking for advice. Soucy does great work if youre able/then willing to dig deep in your pocket. I looked at Jeff Bryan...to my eye, his bobcats are as good as they get. ...and he is good on cougars...but I still Like Ballard too. its great to have options.

 

[roosiebull]

Thank you for your inputs. And agree that cats are tough to make real...thats why im asking for advice. Soucy does great work if youre able/then willing to dig deep in your pocket. I looked at Jeff Bryan...to my eye, his bobcats are as good as they get. ...and he is good on cougars...but I still Like Ballard too. its great to have options.

I will do a little recon tonight when I get out of the woods, I did some serious checking from every resource I could find on lion taxis, and had a lists of the best I could find, I’ll try to get you a couple more names to look into. I plan on a life size some day, but I want it to be the perfect cat. We have beautiful lions on the coast, even big toms have cool color contrast... some of the females are ridiculous colors.... when I kill that cat, whatever it is, I’ll know it

 

[roosiebull]

tim brown
cory wright
brian snyder

those are a few more names I came up with when looking into it.... when I get a life size, it will be Josh Bryan doing it, after I did some research I went to the sportsman's show and saw a lot of their work in person, and I liked Josh's lions the best for my taste.

in this scenario, it's not bad to have options, but very few make a lion look real. I had my first lion shoulder mounted by our local taxi, and wouldn't have him do another lion... wasn't terrible, but certainly didn't depict the animal well either... like most taxi'd lions you see.

keep us posted! I still have a big tom lion in the freezer, kind of indecisive on what to do with it, but I probably should do something or euro it and clear some freezer space

 

[Shaghickory]

Thank you once again...and yes, will keep you posted.

 

[Jetboy]

Shean Shea in Reno did a fantastic job on mine. Life size lion mounts are usually $3500ish depending on habitat, form manipulation etc. around Reno.
View attachment 123494View attachment 123495

That looks great


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