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In the 1990’s there are very few family traditions. Never mind one that is almost 100 years old. In today’s world, a family tradition has become obsolete. Hawkins Taxidermists of Canada is an organization that has survived the advances of the corporate world. They have remained with their fundamentals of superior products with outstanding customer service that has been built over the past century. Four generations of Hawkins quality taxidermy began in 1909. J.P. Hawkins first displayed his taxidermy skills in Barnsville, Minnesota town hall. After moving his wife and family to Foam Lake, Saskatchewan and later Stonewall, Manitoba he established his talents as a taxidermist at each location.

In the early forties with his son Ken, J.P. Hawkins & Son Taxidermists was opened at 1425 Main St. Winnipeg, Manitoba. Once president, Ken began the public relations aspect of the firm by participating in the Winnipeg Game and Fish Association, the Manitoba Wildlife Federation and the Big Game Trophy Association. He also directed relations to Canada’s hunting and fishing lodges, catering directly to the United States Sportsman along with their Canadian clientele.

Soon after their move to their present location 1380 Notre Dame Ken’s son-in-law, Dennis Deegan became president and general manager of the company. He sparked the greatest period of innovation and expansion in the company’s history.

The art of taxidermy has gone through years of evolutionary improvements. Hawkins has been one of the leaders in that innovation.

Traditional skin mounts before the 1960’s were plaster based. This process made it very difficult to form an accurate body. To counter this problem Ken Hawkins started to experiment with different materials. He ended with hand carved, high density Styrofoam. This new method reduced the weight by 90% making shipping more economical. This museum quality method is the standard for the industry today.

In the 1970’s Hawkins made a giant transition from paper mache to urethane foam injected taxidermy manikins revolutionizing the industry. This made forms more economical, consistent, stronger and in the end a more realistic life like replication. The process allows us to manufacture custom forms for both our taxidermy and supply customers, ranging from deer to life size polar bears.

The greatest innovation Hawkins has done for the Canadian sport fishing industry was the Perma Trophy. In the mid and late 1970’s, the taxidermist industry started to feel the effects of increased angling on trophy fish stocks and a need to preserve them. Requests for trophy fish mounts started to show a decline as increasing fishing pressure and improved angling technology added pressure to Canada’s fishery.

To address these concerns, the company began to seek ways to provide alternative services to their clients. One option was to create a lifelike fish mount that would be artificial and not require the killing of a trophy fish. Most artificial mounts were created for salt water fisheries. However, those programs did not involve the release of the fish. Not only were conservation concerns not being addressed, the quality was not sufficiently high to meet Hawkins standards.

Time and effort were spent with clients trying to sell the idea of having a fish mount artificially made. At first, the idea was ridiculed but as prototypes were displayed, interests grew. The industry was assured that Perma Trophies would not be produced and sold as a readily available retail commodity. Access to the program would be through individual lodge owners and outfitters in the industry therefore providing the needed credibility for the program. Today it’s to a point where even a trained eye can be fooled by the authenticity of the Perma Trophy mount.

The Future