Looks good

...nearing completion of the alligator gar.



Still need to do detailing. Very dark colored fish.


Hand carved body. Fins and head removed. Tongue removed, molded and reattached!




Truly a different species from the norm of bass and crappie!!!

you sir are an artist! amazing attention to detail

Thank you! He has work yet, but I'll finish it very soon.

Instead of crushers, alligator gar have these incredibly horrid grippers!





I removed the entire inside of the mouth to be able to replicate as much as possible.

Completed!!!

Very nice sir.

Wow - amazing work, how many gar mounts have you done?

7 in the last 2 years, but this is my biggest. I was in several sports shows the last few years. I noticed some of the gar guides had some big fish and the work was hideous. Several had been supported with wood after skinning and filled with canned foam. The bodies were extremely distorted and had to be set on tables because they didn't have support enough to mount on a wall. I asked a guides wife if it smelled when they got it and she said that it stayed in the garage because it reeked! I talked to a guide and told him that if he had a client that wanted a gator gar mounted that mine would be something he would be proud to display. Two months later.......voila! It's like a moose mount......not everybody has the space, the cash or the opportunity.....but if you do, it will be the center piece of the room!
Thanks for the compliments!!!!!!

In general I like animals or fish on the wall slightly better than my mom on a wall but you did this species justice nice job! My mom is getting old she could represent!

How much? Inquiring minds want to know. Looks good.

My rate is $16 an inch on skin mounts.

I don't know how your rates compare to other taxidermist but they should be more cause your work is worth it. I grew up in east texas and was exposed to way to many botch jobs that messed with my head!

You got molds or only do skin mounts?

I can buy replicas from folks that have molded them. I do all the time. It would cost you a fortune in material and labor to mold a large alligator gar. The folks that do have to sell reproductions to recoup their expense! I mold heads of some fish to improve the quality of the mounts or complete them sooner. Heads take the longest to dry and some fish have extremely oily heads. Techniques have changed a lot.

Way over my head getting into technique, people ask me from time to time though.