A Room Filled With Dead Animals Found In North Dakota

A large ballroom filled with nearly a hundred dead animals was found in North Dakota this past weekend.

Rick Rider

This happened in Bismarck, North Dakota, but it's not what you're thinking. It's something I look forward to viewing every year.

The North Dakota Taxidermist Association held its 39th annual show and competition.

This event took place from this past Friday, March 8th through Sunday, March 10th, and has been held in Bismarck for many years.

Taxidermists from all over the upper Midwest and Canada were on hand to compete for various titles in this state taxidermy show held in a Bismarck hotel.

Just about every state in the country holds taxidermy competitions and shows like this each year.

Not only is it a taxidermy competition, but various award-winning taxidermists hold seminars to help improve everybody's work.

There are three levels of competition held at the North Dakota show every year.  The "Master" level for taxidermists at the highest level and the "Professional" division for the rest.  There's also a "Youth" division.  Some states also offer a "Novice" division for people just starting out.

After the mounts are submitted to the show, different judges in separate categories, judge the mounts and hand out the ribbons.
Mounts that receive a score of 90 or above receive a "blue" ribbon.  80 or above you will pick up a "red" ribbon.  70 or above will receive a white ribbon.  In addition, special awards are handed out for many different categories, including "Best of Show", "Best of Category", "Most Artistic Entry" and many others.

The weekend is capped off by a special banquet and awards presentation on Saturday night.

Bird taxidermy is also my side hustle and yours truly is a former "Master's" level North Dakota Duck & Pheasant State Champion.  I used to compete in this show every year, (and other states) and I've always been fascinated by the world of taxidermy.  It's an often misunderstood art form.

The North Dakota Taxidermists Association usually opens the showroom to the public on both Saturday and Sunday, so if you want to see the fascinating world of taxidermy, check it out next year.  The show has been held here in Bismarck now for many years and is usually the weekend closest to March 1st.

Here's a gallery of photos from the showroom this year for you to check out yourself.

Yet another Cougar that was in a residential Bismarck area over the weekend.

This Whitetail Deer took home some hardware at the professional level.

Best of category Moose.

One for those of you "Bear-ly" moving with the time change over the weekend.

Big Whitetail Buck with a blue!

Blue ribbon Blue Goose.

A very unique deer mount that took home some hardware.

Another big winner from the show.

A little bit of everything in this picture.

Not a crappy mount!

The face only a mother could love.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty.

Big Swan and not-so-typical Pheasant.

Another big winner from the show.

Big award-winning mount.

Congrats to my friend Dusty and US 103-3 listener for winning "Best Goose" at this year's show.

Very cool Perch and other assorted fish & game.

The big winner in the bird category.  That's a Ruddy Duck.

Common Goldeneye.

Believe it or not, this is a Mule Deer with some different coloring.

Blue Ribbon Bear.

The big bad Black Wolf.

This mount made me chuckle.

Not a big Walleye but took home some big awards.

A mixed bag for you.

A trio of "Pumpkinseed" sunfish.

A Blue Goose with a very cool base IMO.

Very artistic mount.

A more typical "Mule Deer".

A big award winner from this year's show.

A Snow/Whitefront Goose cross.