The Trophy Shop
What does it take to be a taxidermist? Our correspondent spends three days in the studio with one of the world's most underappreciated artists
By T. Edward Nickens ¿¿

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The cat comes to the shop in a garbage bag the color of dead spruce. The bundle is slightly smaller than a basketball, and it's hard to imagine something further removed from the majesty of an Alberta cougar.

"It wasn't a big lion,-¿ Gary Padlesky says, untying the knot in the bag. "But the guy who brought it in was tickled pink.-¿ The hunter had spent over a week in the Rockies near Alberta's Jasper National Park. Early on his guides cut a set of big tracks in the snow, and they spent days following the trail as temperatures soared. They continued tracking over bare ground until a blizzard halted the hunt. Finally, on the last day, the guides cut another track and bayed the cougar in a matter of hours.