Good Taxidermy

31/08/2026

I had the insane opportunity of traveling to Texas last week and spending a week learning from Mr. Matt Smith, while working alongside him in his shop. He is a wealth of knowledge and has 50 years of bird taxidermy experience.

Excited to see where we go from here!

Follow my journey on YouTube if you’re curious.

youtube.com/

☀️Good Monday Morning,

Mr. Ricky Jackson traveled from Gallipolis, Ohio for his 40 Hour Avian Taxidermy Training Class.

Ricky is married and raising two great kiddos with his highschool sweetheart. When he's not hunting or doing Taxidermy out in his shop, his full time gig is running his own commercial insurance agency. He earned his degree in Environmental Science from Marshall University and focused on Ornithology (Study of Birds) which has been proven to be very handy in his Bird Taxidermy.

He has been dabbling in Taxidermy since 2012 but has gotten more serious about it in the last several years, learning on his own through the Internet, attending seminars at the Ohio Taxidermy Convention and utilizing my Training DVD's.

His dream is to open up a full-time Taxidermy shop with his brother where they will mount both deer and waterfowl. Knowing this, he called me to arrange formal avian taxidermy training before the upcoming hunting season.

Ricky lives along the beautiful Ohio River which means taking in both ducks and geese. With that said, we pulled out a Greater Canada, along with several Puddlers. He also brought an A+ stud Canvasback Drake for his eval Bird, that we mounted in a swimming pose. (More pics of it coming later this week). He reported that he has skinned and fleshed over 50 birds up to this point and it clearly showed on the Fleshing Wheel where he did a great job. The Greater Canada was a very big job, but provided invaluable training for Ricky.

It was a crazy busy week and I pushed him very hard, but he rose to the challenge, and all of our training objectives were achieved.

Ricky is a hard worker, an excellent businessman and is one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. I'm very excited to see him finally make the jump into full-time Taxidermy with his brother and realize his Taxidermy dream.

Make it a Great Week! ~ Matt

02/08/2026

Up now on the channel is a conversation I had last week with Lann Wilf, aka The “Old Biologist”, on YouTube. Lann served many years as a state deer biologist for Mississippi, before being promoted to Deer Program Leader for the State. During his tenure, he studied CWD firsthand.

We discuss:
-Ted Nugent
-CWD vs EHD
-Long term potential effects
-The captive deer industry’s hope that you will never believe CWD is real.
-Is this all just a scam aimed to strip hunters’ rights?

If you’re interested in learning more about this wildly controversial topic in the hunting world, please check it out. I have a few of these longer conversations with some knowledgeable folks coming up over the next few months, and I’m excited to share them with you.

Listen to the podcast here⬇️
https://youtu.be/D9qLTaeZmrs?is=39pYpFtQjqf6lUqP

Mr. Wilf is a wealth of knowledge- give him a follow.

THE OLD BIOLOGIST⬇️
https://youtube.com/

Appreciate the support, my friends!!
Cheers!

03/06/2026

Growing up in a deer hunting family, we chased squirrels and whitetails each November, but birds always caught my eye.

Learning how to duck hunt from a retired game warden is a pretty unique way to learn how to hunt, but that’s exactly how I learned. Jim Splete took me under his “wing” (sorry) when I was a senior in high school, and I’ll forever be grateful for his patience. He took a kid hunting and made a massive impact on my life, genuinely changing its trajectory.
He taught me a lot more than just hunting.

The Wayne National Forest was where we hunted.

These photos weren’t all taken at the Wayne, they are of old hunts with old friends back when hunting and the outdoors were such a sacred thing to all of us. The fellas in (or taking) these photos hunted the Wayne with me as we learned about life and the outdoors. These pictures remind me of old Jim, his old dog, my old dog, brothers, cousins, buddies and endless possibilities.

Now, for the second time in a decade, the federal government is poised to sell parts of the Wayne for oil and gas extraction.
Last time it was 1,300 acres- this time it’s 2,794 acres.

Nobody is talking about it.

https://youtu.be/Yzah3JqTttk

01/06/2026

2,749 acres of Wayne National Forest.
That's the number of acres our federal government plans to sell to oil and gas companies September of 2026.

Ohio Public Hunting Lands are on the chopping block, and yet no one is talking about it.

JUNE 17th Deadline.Public comment period is very short on this one, folks.PUBLIC COMMENT LINKhttps://eplanning.blm.gov/Participate-Now/?id=e6c76a19-da52-f111...

15/05/2026

Big Jimmy coming out of nowhere with the GROUSE Act???! Right on.

Today, I introduced the GROUSE Act—building on the grouse habitat program I launched as Governor.

As a lifelong outdoorsman, I know firsthand how much our wildlife and wild places mean to us.

This bill helps keep our working forest lands thriving for upland wildlife species.

07/05/2026

Curious to see the total number after the season wraps up. Still hearing a lot of folks in Gallia and Jackson counties reporting less gobbles than recent years. This sunshine should help! Good luck to my fellow hunters still holding a tag.

🦃 ICYMI: Ohio hunters have checked 11,044 wild turkeys during the 2026 spring season as of May 3rd.
🔗 https://ow.ly/9eAx50YV7kN

📊 The 10 counties with the most wild turkeys checked so far in 2026 are:
1️⃣ Tuscarawas (326)
2️⃣ Highland (314)
3️⃣ Gallia (310)
4️⃣ Adams (305)
5️⃣ Belmont (305)
6️⃣ Monroe (300)
7️⃣ Guernsey (288)
8️⃣ Brown (269)
9️⃣ Meigs (267)
🔟 Jefferson (262)

25/04/2026

Southern Ohio! Good luck to the hunters hitting the woods in the morning. Wanted to let you all know that we are doing Turkey Frames this spring!! Shoot us a message or check out our website for more details. goodtaxidermy.com 🦃

02/04/2026

Send this to a 100% disabled Ohio veteran.
But only if that vet would enjoy a three day, all expense paid Ohio whitetail archery hunt (crossbow and all equipment provided). It’s a great time every year.

The event will be held October 8, 9, 10 & 11, 2025 - Zaleski, Ohio To Be Eligible You Must: 1. Be a current Ohio Resident. 2. Be 100% Service Disabled Veteran. 3. Possess the Free Disabled Veteran Hunting License issued by the ODNR. DEADLINE TO APPLY IS AUGUST 1, 2026

21/03/2026

Thanks to the Ohio School of Falconry for having us!! Fantastic folks.

🎥 Hawks, Hunts & YouTube Adventures!

We had an absolute blast introducing Ricky & Ryan from Good Taxidermy to the world of falconry during a year-end hunt! 🦅 From field action to unforgettable flights, it was a perfect way to wrap the season.

If you love hunting, fishing, and all things outdoors, be sure to check out their channel and give them a follow—you won’t be disappointed!

Check out the video here…https://youtu.be/Nuo8pDRIYW4?si=dcTpjEk1ekWz5MhX
(Warning: This video shows falconry footage of raptors hunting squirrels and rabbits.)