I was intrigued when my 11-year-old granddaughter, who was spending the day with my husband and me, suggested that we visit The Wildlife Sports and Educational Museum in Vail Mills. “I’ve never been there before,” Lilli said, “but everyone tells me it’s really cool.” With an endorsement like that, we had to go.
Located at 3747 State Highway 30, just off Route 29, I had no idea what to expect. But as we pulled into the large parking lot and spied the beautiful wildlife murals painted on the former Grand Union’s front wall, I sensed we were in for an adventure.
Entering the building, we found ourselves in a huge gift shop containing everything from T-shirts and outdoorsy tin signs to locally-made leather gloves and deer head mounts. Eager to see the wildlife displays, we paid our entry fees (cash only, $10 for adults, $5 for kids 7-17, free to children 6 and under), pushed through a door, and promptly found ourselves face to face with what is purported to be the largest Whitetail Deer trophy head exhibit in North America, comprised of more than 160 mounts.
All of the animals displayed in this amazing museum are true works of art, created by well over 60 talented taxidermists who have spent years learning to skillfully prepare, preserve, and mount animals in the most lifelike way possible. Anatomical knowledge is essential to taxidermy. Not for the faint of heart, it’s a messy, time-consuming, and meticulous art.
The Wildlife Sports and Educational Museum is “dedicated to the preservation of the art, artifacts and memorabilia of the centuries’ old sporting traditions of hunting, fishing and all sports afield, and to fostering interest in these traditions for future generations.” In addition to countless animal mounts, the museum houses extensive displays of historic hunting, trapping, and fishing gear. The place is huge: 14,000 square feet and growing. By the summer of 2023, a recently-built addition, currently being completed by a handful of volunteers, will double the size of the museum to 28,000 square feet. The new section will be largely devoted to African animals. One display will show seven lions, two of them feasting on a downed Cape buffalo. Another will spotlight a delightful group of giraffes in their natural habitat.
The original building houses the largest collection of mounted trophies in New York State, including large and small animals, fish, birds, and snakes. It also holds an astonishing variety of large animals from around the world. Often staged in gripping battle scenes, where only the fittest or luckiest will survive, these lifelike images can appear frightening. But the museum strives for realism, and within the animal kingdom, danger is ever-present.
The Wildlife Museum is the brainchild of Bob Kazmierski of Johnstown, a lifelong taxidermist who, over the past 20+ years, has invested his life’s savings and retirement into transforming his dream for a wildlife museum into a reality. Without any State or local funding, despite repeated requests, Kazmierski has forged ahead with his plan, purchasing and renovating a rundown supermarket, acquiring and displaying hundreds of individual mounts and collections and, then, constructing a brand new addition—and purchasing even more animals to fill it!
Kazmierski’s interest in taxidermy began in childhood. “When I was eight years old, I used to watch through the window as a taxidermist neighbor across the street worked. Sometimes he’d invite me in,” Kazmierski recalls, “and I’d study how he put things together and made the animals look lifelike.”
Intrigued, the boy went to the library and took out a book on taxidermy, which his grandmother read to him. “By the time I graduated high school, I’d done a lot of mounting but I wanted to learn more, so I offered to work free of charge for a couple of local taxidermists.”
When nothing materialized locally, Kazmierski cast a wider net, applying to two nationally renowned taxidermy studios: The Jonas Brothers in Denver, CO, and D.M. Wooster Taxidermy Studios in Whitney Point, NY. He was thrilled when the latter company, located near Binghamton, offered him a position.
“I went down and studied Wooster’s mounts, worked with excellent taxidermists in a professional studio, and learned a lot. When their work slowed down, I returned to Johnstown and continued working on my own. I also got a job one summer at the NYS Museum in Albany. That really piqued my interest in museum work.”
Currently, the Wildlife Sports and Educational Museum is open just Saturdays, 10:30-4. But when school lets out in June, it will open seven days a week, staffed by Kazmierski and a small band of dedicated volunteers.
“We might have a partial opening of the new building this spring,” Kazmierski muses, “or we might wait and just have one Grand Opening when the entire building is complete. It all depends on how the work progresses. We’re all volunteers, so things take time. The Benjamin Moore Company in Johnstown helped by donating paint, and we’re very grateful to them for that.”
Well into his golden years, this creative, industrious man could be kicking back and taking it easy. But that’s not how Bob Kazmierski is wired. In addition to working tirelessly to bring his dream of an even bigger and better Wildlife Museum to life, this extraordinary octogenarian still runs his own taxidermy shop in Johnstown, makes all the leather gloves sold in the museum gift shop, and travels regularly to trade shows and fairs to promote taxidermy and outdoor sports.
The guest book at Kazmierski’s Wildlife Museum is filled with glowing comments from visitors of all ages. Before my family left that day, we added our own enthusiastic thumbs-up. We returned a few weeks later with Lilli’s younger brother, and now we’re all eagerly awaiting the Grand Opening of the new addition! If you’re looking for an unforgettable adventure, check out The Wildlife Sports and Educational Museum in Vail Mills. Without a doubt, it’s worth a trip from anywhere.
To learn more or to schedule a group tour, visit wildlifesportsmuseum.com; phone 518-883-4933 or 518-762-7925.
