206 taxidermy mount, participating taxidermists from 34 nations and 45.000 visitors

13th European Taxidermy Championships ETC® was announced on 14th June 2022 and despite the late announcement (only 8 months before the exhibition), 106 taxidermists from 34 different countries managed to get ready with their fantastic art consisting of 206 competition mounts admired from the 45.000 visitors that attended ‘Die Hohe Jagd und Fischerei 2023’.

We are very fortunate to have an enthusiastic and energic Team and an Advisory Board with some of the most experienced people in the taxidermy community and during the 8 months we accompllised all the task needed to make a fantastic show. Furtermore we had 100% support and a great cooperation with the organizer of ‘Die Hohe Jagd und Fischerei’, RX.

As new ETC® organisers, we wanted to:

1. Modernise the ETC® and make the ETC® a strong and loud voice for the taxidermy community towards the outside world. We want the taxidermy community and the profession to be visible and recognised, so the public discovers the beautiful art the taxidermists create.
2. We want to take on the responsibility to connect people in our small community. When we meet and connect, we will understand each other no matter if you are a commercial taxidermist, a museum taxidermist, young or old, a man or a woman or something in between….And when we understand each other, we make can make friends and we can build a strong community that makes us proud about our common profession.
3. We want to unite our community so we can stand stronger and achieve things that no one can do alone. As a clever person said: None of us is as smart as all of us….
4. We want to have transparency, honesty, and team spirit in the ETC®.
5. We also take on the responsibility to share knowledge, information about new technology and insights.

Quite a few changes were done to the Rules & Regulation and also these changes gave us as organizers more preparation work:

1. Each entry judged by two (2) judges
2. The ‘Master Division’, ‘Professional Division’ and ‘Novice Division’ judged from the same set of criteria and judged equally, which means that the points given by the judging team are comparable through the different Divisions.
3. Entries that have provided photographic documentation of the working process and are deemed as exceptional work can be promoted to a higher Division than the original entered at the judges’ discretion.
4. There is added new categories in the Novice Division. Now there are 18 categories (before 9 categories). The impact of this is that the taxidermists that enter the Novice Division have more chances to win titles and the attractive big ‘Place ribbons’: Best, Second, Third of Category
5. There are no minimum points required to win the title ‘Best / Second / Third Category’ of Novice Division (before was 90 points).
6. To reach the title ‘Best / Second / Third of Professional Category’, 80 points are needed (before was 90 points).
7. We added two new categories where the participants can win the attractive “Best in Europe” title:
   • Habitat
   • Roedeer Head

We compete, yes we do…but

The main thing about the competition is not winning. But competition makes us do our very best.

We are spending days, weeks and months preparing for this competition. It’s lot of blood, tears sweat, sleepless nights and worries. The result of all these efforts is the beautiful art that was created and displayed in the Exhibition hall. And the result is also, and maybe more importantly all the things you have learned about yourself from the planning, the initial preparation, the creative process and finally the finishing process.

The Competition Chairman, Mr. Jack Fishwick, was very pleased with the quality level of the competition mounts and the sportsmanship shown from the participation taxidermists. The quality level was probably the highest ever seen on a ‘European Taxidermy Championships’. Only a few mounts did not qualify for a ribbon even that all mounts (despite of the Divisions entered) were judged from the same set of criteria and judged equally. The fact that the judge team moved more than one taxidermist up from the Professional Division to Master Division showed that sometime a taxidermist make better work than expected.

22 Special Awards several major sponsors

Due to some new sponsors, very generous people, we even were able to come to a of substantial amount of money and gifts! Thanks a lot to all sponsors who helped here so tremendously to make the ETC® that attractive! Without this support the ETC® would not be possible to organize. A special thanks goes to our Sapphire sponsors: ‘Hunters in Action Channel’, ‘Hassing Taxidermy’ and ‘Like Nature Premium Taxidermy Supply’ and the Emerald sponsors ‘Matuska Taxidermy Supply Company’ and ‘McKenzie Taxidermy Supply’.

The Award Banquet Dinner & Party

We are very happy that 160 participants supported to celebrate each other at ‘The Award Banquet Dinner & Party’. This event is an important part of the whole show and a good opportunity celebrate, to have fun together and to honor the fantastic work that the participating taxidermists have accomplished. Due to the new Rules & Regulations, there was a couple of “hick-ups” during the Award Ceremony. We apology for this situation, but we have learned from the mistake. All is afterward sorted out, so everybody has got the Awards they were entitled to.

Stay tuned – we look forward to seeing you all again in February 2025 at “The 14th European Taxidermy Championships®“, Salzburg, Austria