From steel and cement to lifelike jagged rock formations, the mountain at Scheels is nearly complete with two running streams and now plays host to more than 200 mounted or hanging animals.

The opening of the anchor store of Legends at Sparks Marina draws near quickly and the finish of the 35-foot-tall mountain on the second floor means one more crucial stage is completed.

In the midst of a rush to get a number of tasks finished before the big event, Jason Loney, vice president of store development, said the mountain takes up about 800 square feet of surface area and is handpainted.

“It’ll have about eight interactive televisions that will have documentaries about the different species,” he said.

Otherwise, all the replicas have been mounted and are ready to be seen.

Jodi and Karla Slusher of Fargo, N.D., a husband-and-wife team, created more than 40 replicas of the large game included on the mountain. Through their business, J&K Taxidermy, they acquired various animal skins according to requests from Scheels and spent about two years making the replicas.

“(We enjoy) bringing the animals back to life as best you can with intricate details,” Karla said. “We’re proud of all we’ve done. There’s a bighorn ram that’s just magnificent. He’s the largest bighorn ram on the mountain, really majestic looking.”

On Saturday, visitors and customers will have the chance to see their mounts, including elk, antelope, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, wolves and the largest of all they made for the Sparks Scheels location, a 75-inch replica rack of a bull moose.

Karla said all their animal skins came from wildlife in the United States and Canada. They must be legally acquired and it can be extensive process, especially the young animals that had to have died of natural causes and cannot be hunted.

A pair of young mountain goats are mounted and are posed in a playful manner.

“They’re hard to acquire,” Karla said. “They must have died of mortality and the kids are in good enough condition. ...Therefore, those are kind of a rare find. If something happens to them and they’re not in very good shape, for example, if an eagle got to them, they can’t be used.”

The Slushers have been business for more than 20 years and Jodi is a lifetime judge for the National Taxidermy Association, which is considered an honor after years of creating replicas with accuracy in the anatomy of the animals.

They spent the past week at the marina’s Scheels location to ensure their replicas were mounted.

“We do work for (Scheels founder) Steve Scheel,” Karla said. “We’ve known him for a long time.”

Eugene Streekstra of Florence, Mont. also has been contracted by Scheels for other locations and began his business relationship with the corporation by word of mouth.

His specialty in taxidermy is birds.



“(Scheels) told me what they had for habitat and what they wanted to achieve with the final look, so I asked a lot of questions,” Streekstra said, including whether the birds needed to face left or right or if they were to hang or perch on the mountain.

“You go to a lot of these stores and there are birds hanging, like dead ducks from the ceiling,” Streekstra said. “You want to put life into these birds. I look at photos, what they do in their natural environment.”

Streekstra delivered 62 bird replicas to Scheels for the Sparks location, including sage grouse, sharptail grouse, pheasant, scaled quail and a flock of 23 ducks, including mallards, pintails and others, that now hang from the ceiling above the mountain.

Streekstra said because of federal migratory laws, a taxidermist – or anyone, for that matter – can’t just go out and hunt and shoot down the birds. Certain fowl have to be purchased, such as wild chukar.

Streekstra said he can often accomplish the preservation and creation of two or three replicas of birds in a day. After the meat and fat have been removed, he injects the feet with formaldehyde to keep the body from shrinking down and shriveling up, he said.

“I have an uncle that’s diabetic and he saves me his insulin syringes and I protect myself with goggles,” he said.

Although he is able to make replicas of larger game, he said birds are his passion, especially waterfowl.

“I enjoy all birds naturally, like upland grouse and quail,” he said.

The mountain’s streams are now functioning and the displays are ready for many locals and out-of-state tourists alike.