2023 Convention & Competition Information

This year’s whitetail deer judge will be Dean Ursitti from Laplata, Maryland. Dean is a World Class Whitetail taxidermist and has owned Creative Whitetails Taxidermy for over 30 years. As both a judge and a competitor, Dean has won many prestigious award at the State, National, and World level. These include the 2003 Third in the World Whitetail Award, 2001 National Champion, 2001 NTA Award of Excellence, three-time Eastern Regional Champion, two-time Breakthrough Award Winner, six Judges Choice Best of Show Awards, and many more.  

This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from one of the best!      

Most people call me Perk or Perky. My wife Edna and I live in a cabin in the woods 12 miles outside of the little town of Bloomer in northern Wisconsin along with our two grouse dogs Brauny and Magnum and a Newfie named Echo. We have a son and daughter in law who live about 12 miles away in Chippewa Falls. 

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I started dabbling in taxidermy when I got out of high school. A few years later I took some lessons from a taxidermist here in Wisconsin. I joined the WTA around 1990 and started competing. I went full  time in 1994 and never looked back. I do all phases of taxidermy, but a big part of my workload is skin mount and reproduction fish. I’ve been very fortunate to win many awards including North American Champion. I also sculpt fish forms for Matuska Taxidermy Supply in Iowa.

In my free time I chase ruffed grouse all over northern Wisconsin. I call it a hobby, but my wife calls it an obsession. I also enjoy duck and turkey hunting. Fishing is an addiction also: walleye, smallmouth, lake trout, salmon...I’m not too fussy.

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I’m very honored to be judging the UTNY show this year and am looking forward to meeting all of you.

Bob has been doing taxidermy for 45 years. He was a member of both the New York Taxidermy Association and the Empire Taxidermy Association and played a role in the unification of the two associations into the UTNY. He also created the logo for the United Taxidermists of New York. Bob was one of the first UTNY board members under President Dennis Mortenson.
 
Bob is a six-time recipient of the Best All Around Taxidermist award. He has won awards in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Canada and at both the nationals and world show. Bob has judged many state shows, most recently the NJGSTA this past July. He lives in Binghamton, New York, with his wife of 29 years, Cindy.

World Champion Taxidermist Tom Weickum came from a hunting and fishing family. Tom’s interest in taxidermy started at the age of six when an ad in the back of Boys Life magazine sparked his imagination. Years later Tom recalls career days in elementary school where he took his class down the street to his local taxidermy shop. The taxidermists there were receptive to the interests of a young boy and it was there that Tom immersed himself in the art form that would later become his career. Tom worked at that shop after graduating high school in 1982. After nine years, he started Rocky Mountain Artworks. In 1995, Tom started sculpting forms, which took him in a different direction in his field. "God bless our troops and God bless America."