Donations from a generous taxidermist will become the centerpiece of a distinctive hunting display on the WVU campus in Morgantown.
Officials with WVU’s school of forestry and wildlife are attempting to create a series of natural habitat dioramas at the Morgantown campus.
"We are trying to get it set up for the Percival Hall lobby on the Evansdale Campus,” said WVU Wildlife Professor Dr. Jim Anderson. "We have plans for about 20-displays. About five of them are fairly large and the rest are smaller."
Anderson says one of those dioramas will be used to celebrate the hunting heritage of West Virginia.
"A West Virginia hunter/trapper scene will have a historic rifle, a trapper, some first, and a few other species of wildlife all around a little campfire," said Anderson. "The idea is that all of these species are important from a hunting standpoint. We’re pushing pro-hunting and pro-outdoor hunting displays. We want it to be dedicated to the sportsmen and women of West Virginia."
The proposed displays recently received an enormous boost when longtime Barboursville taxidermist Robert Estler donated 400 of his mounts to the university. Estler has been doing taxidermy since the age of 12 and he’s now approaching 90.
"It’s a fantastic collection," Anderson said. "Everything from a full black bear mount to a whitetail deer, hummingbird, bald eagle, pretty much every mammal you can think of from West Virginia."
Anderson adds the value and quality of the work is exceptional. The mounts will serve a dual role at the university, one as part of the wildlife displays in the lobby, but also to allow the students studying wildlife to get an up-close look at a host of species. The work will enable them to get a detailed study for identification purposes.
"How the feathers lay and how the fur looks are not things you can always see out in the wild from a distance," said Anderson.