Wednesday, January 14, 2026
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Serving Kosciusko County and parts of Elkhart, Marshall & Noble Counties Know Your Neighbor . . . . . 2➤ Entertainment . . . . . . . 6
Vol. 55, No. 29
Milford (574) 658-4111 • Warsaw (574) 269-2932 • Syracuse (574) 457-3666
114 W. Market, Warsaw, Indiana 46580
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Text and Photos By LILLI DWYER Staff Writer Taxidermy has come a long way since the days of mummifying animals in ancient Egypt and stuffing hides with rags and sawdust in Victorian England . “It’s 100% an art . I always tell people this, taxidermy is practiced by many but mastered by few,” said Arlen Lehman, owner of Turkey Creek Taxidermy . He taught himself the trade and has operated just outside Milford for 28 years . In taxidermy, an animal’s hide is removed, tanned and attached to a form with hide paste, the eyes replaced with glass replicas . According to Lehman, the tools of the trade have improved over time . “I’ve got old mounts in where they didn’t have forms . They used plaster, like what you used to make a cast with,” he said . His showroom features typical deer mounts and a variety of other wildlife, ranging from elk to otters to starlings - even impalas and wildebeest from African hunting expeditions . In many cases, taxidermists will outsource the hides to a tannery before mounting . Lehman uses the services of Christy Borkholder, who owns Weldy Hill Fur & Hide Tanning in Nappanee . Borkholder has been tanning professionally since 2004, and while much of his work is for taxidermy mounts, there are some unexpected reasons to keep a fur forever . “We do cowhides . A lot of that is 4-H kids with their steers, they might want to keep the hides for remembrance . . . . Somebody’s last cow or his first one . There’s something special about it,” he said . There are some who wish to have pets taxidermied, Lehman said - he has even mounted a pet monkey - but most
owners are prohibited by the cost . There aren’t many standardized forms for cats and dogs available on the market . Beyond living room walls, taxidermy also appears in museums and nature centers for educational purposes . Lehman has done work for Elkhart County Parks, and when a snow leopard died at a sanctuary in Southern Indiana, the animal was given to him to be preserved . The rare leopard something most people would never lay eyes on - can now be seen in its mounted form . Taxidermy requires precise measurements to get the placement of the hide exactly right, but in some ways, it is more art than science . Borkholder said he is always experimenting with different mixtures of salt and acid to better preserve hides . After soaking long enough at the right level of acidity, the hide is meant to last indefinitely . For Lehman, the artistic aspect of taxidermy is what he enjoys most .
MAJESTIC BEAST — A taxidermy snow leopard stands in Arlen Lehman’s home. An animal sanctuary in Southern Indiana gave him the deceased leopard for preservation, as snow leopards are a rare and protected species.
“To me, if a taxidermist isn’t artistic, if you don’t understand colors and you don’t understand the anatomy of the animal from the inside, then your end result’s going to show it . It’s like being a painter . You can either paint a good picture, or you go, ‘Oops .’” Tim Hochstetler of Nappanee runs Custom European Mounting . These mounts include the bare skull of an animal, sometimes hydrodipped with different designs like camo or forest patterns . A lifelong hunter, taxidermy has become something sentimental for Hochstetler, especially now that he has children of his own . Recently, his 11-year-old son, Galen, hunted his first deer and Hochstetler prepared the skull for the family to keep . “It’s not that it’s a monster of a trophy, but to me it’s the experience with the kids - get them out in the field and be with them when they shoot their first trophy . It’s to preserve that, to have something to remember,” he said .
PRESERVED — Christy Borkholder of Weldy Hill Fur & Hide Tanning stripped and tanned this cowhide. Some of his work comes from 4-H’ers who want to keep a piece of the animals they have raised.
KEEPSAKES — Some of Tim Hochstetler’s European mounts are on display. One deer skull, top right, belonged to the first deer his son, Galen, ever hunted. Taxidermy can be a way to keep mementos of experiences hunting with loved ones.
ARTISTRY — A display of otters at Turkey Creek Taxidermy shows the creativity taxidermists can exercise through their work.