Welcome to Rumbelstrup, Vermont. I'm Erica Heilman. This is a show about

taxidermy.

High on the mountain, windlow and free, thinking about the days that used to be.

Rodney and Theresa Elmer have been preparing and mounting trophy animals for over 20 years at

Mountain Deer Taxidermy, their shop in Northfield, Vermont.

Deer, Moose, Bear, an occasional 20-foot long snake. In this interview,

they describe the art and the psychology of taxidermy and also the role that hunting plays in their lives. Welcome.

I went on a caribou hunt and when I came back of course I needed to have my I shot a real trophy and I had to have it mounted and a friend of mine

pointed me to a tax and I'm and when I got in his shop and stuff I said oh this is cool I didn't know

anything about it and I had a real trophy too it was a big one and once we I got in that

shop said this is cool I got to check this out so and he told me just

getting those kits from Cabellas give it a world and you know it's not rocket science

by any means and it's like anything you're gonna learn about it you want to do it you'll make

it happen so while he was working on my caraboo I went hunting and ended up getting a

deer and when I got the deer I told her this is what I want for Christmas I want one of those kids

because I want to give this a try and didn't take me long and I'm kind of a

chainsaw carpenter duct tape and staples kind of guy and I can just make it all

kind of happen one way the other and I ended just make it all kind of happen one way or the other and I ended up

doing that and I wasn't too long and I thought well I can have a sideline and

maybe I can make a little spare money that doesn't take away from the family and I could go on a hunt every year and pay for some of my hunting and play for my playtime.

So I started doing that and then one thing turned into another and you're doing them for relatives and then a friend at work and

next thing you know you set up some prices and you're starting to do it and I did it part

...