After more than two decades in the taxidermy business, Mount Gilead native Casey Watterson has claimed one of the most prestigious awards in the field.

Watterson returned recently from the World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships with a gold medal in the Master’s Level Warm Water Fish category for his walleye entry.

“It feels validating,” Watterson said of the win. After 22 years of perfecting his craft, the award serves as formal recognition of his skills. Yet, even after such an achievement, Watterson remains focused on improvement.

“I want to continue to push myself as an artist,” he said. “There’s not ever a point where you get really satisfied with what you do.”

At the championships, there were nearly 700 entries representing more than 45 states and 10 countries. The event, held this year from Aug. 2-10 in Coralville, Iowa, alternates between a U.S. and international location each year.

There are four levels of competition at the event: Commercial, Professional and Master’s, and Master of Master’s. Within each level are anywhere from 20 to 30 different categories with classes of competition like foul, fish, mammals, full-body, and shoulder mounts.

Watterson competed in the Master’s Level Warm Water Fish and Reproduction Fish categories. His reproduction black crappie fish won him third place.

Watterson began his journey with taxidermy after he was disappointed by another taxidermist’s work when preserving some of Watterson’s own wildlife trophies. After 10 months of intensive training at the Pennsylvania Institute of Taxidermy, Watterson returned to Ohio and started Lone Leaf Taxidermy – and he hasn’t looked back.

“It’s kind of a dying trade,” he said. While Watterson says the demand for taxidermy is high, fewer people are entering the trade. Watterson is doing what he can to resolve that issue by teaching his own taxidermy classes where students can learn how to preserve their own animals or go on to start their own businesses.

He is active within the taxidermy community, providing support and education for beginner taxidermists and serving as a judge at two to three competitions each year.

“I like to view myself more as an artist than a taxidermist. I think to be successful in it you need to have more of an artistry to it,” Watterson said. “We offer more unique pieces than what most people will do.”

While Watterson does provide services for traditional-looking pieces, like a shoulder mounted white tail, he has made a name for himself creating more complex pieces – like a full-body African lion mount.

“Each animal has its own difficulty. You look at an elk and its sheer size is a challenge. You look at a wood duck and it’s very delicate, very soft gentle hands is what you’ve got to do. Fish you’ve got to paint,” Watterson said.

To him, the complexity of a piece is what keeps his job interesting. Otherwise, “I kind of feel like it’s a factory and I would get bored,” Watterson said.

But at the heart of his work is making sure to preserve valuable memories for his customers.

“I think for me, when I’m working on this guy’s bull elk over here,” Watterson said, indicating a shoulder-mount bull elk in progress. “This guy has waited his whole life to hunt this animal. He’s trusted me to put it together for him, and I’m going to do everything I can to make it a memorable experience. … That’s completely why people get it done. It’s because of the memories.”

Hannah Bryan is a correspondent for the Morrow County Sentinel. She can be reached at [email protected].