Josh Lindsey has been an avid hunter all his life, but he could never afford to save his greatest trophies, so he took matters into his own hands.
“It really started when I killed a Redhead duck, and my brother-in-law (Bankston Johnson) urged me to mount it,” Lindsey said. “He bought me the stuff to do it and I just gave it my best.”
“When I finished, it looked like a duck,” Lindsey said with a big grin. “I couldn’t believe it.”
From there, friends began bringing him ducks to be mounted.
“They were buying the supplies and killing the ducks, and I was practicing, getting better with each one I did,” Lindsey said. “Then I was asked to do a deer. I killed a little buck myself and practiced on it, and it has just taken off from there.”
Lindsey, a 2002 graduate of Calhoun City High School and the son of Keith and Vicki Lindsey, said he was always fascinated by art as a kid and in school won several awards for his drawing and painting. He even considered furthering his education at an art institute.
“I never thought art would revisit me, and now 12 years down the road it has. I never dreamed I would be doing this.”
Lindsey was living in Hernando when he first tried taxidermy at the urging of family and friends.
He taught himself the craft by watching YouTube videos and reading various taxidermy websites.
“I discovered the very basics and then really taught myself different techniques once I started,” Lindsey said. “You’ll never stop learning at this. I get better with every one I do.”
He enclosed his garage at his Hernando home and opened a small taxidermy business while assisting a local taxidermist as well.
To truly test himself, and as a tool to improve, he entered some taxidermy competitions and found success.
He entered the Whitetail Classics in Cordova, Tn. and won first place Professional Game Head Judges Choice and overall Professional Best in Show. He followed that with a third place finish in the professional category at the Southern Regionals in Olive Branch.
“I plan on attending the national championships in July in Springdale, Ar.,” Lindsey said. “If things go well, I’m hoping to bring home an award from there.”
“At one time, I set a goal for myself to place in a national championship. Now that’s not good enough. I want even better.”
Lindsey said the labor of taxidermy work is something anybody can do, but it takes an artist to complete a realistic mount people will be proud of.
“It takes someone with an eye to make it look just right,” he said. “Anybody can learn to mount a deer, but to make it look right you have to study and have a good perception.”
Lindsey believes his ability is God given and honed by those early years of studying art and his passion for the outdoors.
“A whitetail deer is one of God’s most beautiful creations,” Lindsey said.
Deer make up 90% of what he does now, although he has had experience with alligator, snakes, ducks, wild hog, turkey and various fish.
“Wild hogs – that’s a trip,” Lindsey said shaking his head. “But I’d have to say turkey is the most difficult.”
“With a turkey every feather has to be placed. Duck is tedious because it’s so small, but turkey is difficult because you have to handle every feather.”
“I’ve done several different fish – crappie, bass, catfish. I haven’t had anybody bring in a salt water fish, but my wife caught one on a trip, and we saved it so I can do that one.”
His favorite to work on is still deer, and he typically spends 14-18 hours on each mount.
“Most anybody could do one in four to eight hours, but for the detail I want, I put a lot more into each one,” Lindsey said. “My competition deer has almost 90 hours in it. It’s all about the detail.”
Lindsey plans to do that detail work going forward in his new Vardaman based store “Braggin’ Rights Taxidermy.”
“I’ve wanted to come back to Calhoun County and began looking around Calhoun City and Vardaman and found this building,” Lindsey said.
He’s opened shop in the former Southern Belle building on the west side of Main Street in Vardaman.
“I talked to several local people to find out where they take their deer to get mounted, and everyone seemed to be getting out of it, so I saw an opportunity here,” Lindsey said. “My business has doubled each year in Hernando, and when I moved to Calhoun last year it continued to grow.”
Lindsey, 30, and his wife Jessica are preparing to move back to Calhoun, and as of this week his Vardaman store is now open most afternoons late while he works another part-time job.
His plan is to add hunting and fishing goods in the store and hopefully be open more days and hours later in the year.
“I’m in the process of getting all our permits together right now,” he said.
“This is what I love. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
