Taxidermist David Footer has passed

[jeffkn1]

!25 years ago, J. Waldo Nash was the premier taxidermist in the Rangeley area. 115 years ago he taught Herb Welch the tricks of the trade and Welch passed them on 40 or so years later to David Footer, who had an international following when he died. David's daughter, Julie, now carries on in his stead. God only knows how many camps in Maine have trout or salmon mounted by one of these four.

https://www.sunjournal.com/2021/07/02/o ... -a-footer/

[Trout120-1]

What a shame. He was a true artisan.

[headwaters]

What a lineage! Thanks, Jeff.

[spruce grouse]

The Footer Special is one of my go-to flies for Maine landlocked salmon and brookies. He certainly was an institution.

[Fred Kretchman]

Thanks for letting us know... I met David for the first time at a small show in Gunstock, NH, some 25+yrs. ago.. He and Polly were a joy to visit with. I spent several days over the years visiting them and watch David work his magic in his shop... On one Winter day, David opened his shop window when we first arrived, and dusted the snow off the plywood shelf outside the window.. it was really cold, but he put some birdseed in his hand and held it out the window, and called (or maybe it was a whistle.)... Anyway, within a minute he had a flock of chickadees feeding from his hand! He was a kind and generous person. He gave me some beat-up old bamboo rods that were given to him by Herb Welch, and I fixed them up so he could use them. I have a 5 lb male brookie he mounted, along with a Footer Special streamer fly in it's jaw... I think of him each time I look at it... Glad Julie is continuing on with his work... She is a wonderful and kind person who learned the trade from a real master.
Fred

[oquassa]

Sometime in the late 1980’s David and Polly were coming to Rangeley, Maine to pick up some old mounts that needed restoration. I arranged for them to stop by my cabin and deliver the mount of a Labrador brook trout I had caught a few years earlier. Well that morning, before they came, I caught and kept a 25” landlocked salmon from Upper Dam pool. They gave me my brook trout mount and I gave them the salmon for mounting. Polly laughs and says “We will eat it tonight.” I still have both mounts.

[bob2935]

One of my favorite fly-fishing collectables is a David footer mount of an 18-pound wild brown taken at the upper 900 stretch of Caledonia’s Spring Brook. It was taken by an older fly fisherman that took me under his wing as a teen and we had many years of enjoyment fly fishing Oatka Creek and Spring Brook. The brown was taken in the 1970’s and my friend Bill who was an avid collector of cane knew of David Footer and drove the fish on ice all the way to Dave’s shop. Many years later I got the mount after Bill passed away. It’s no coincidence that the Spring Brooks 900 section is in my back yard for the last 25 years.

To complement the mount is an original water color by another good friend and lover of Spring Brook Thomas Aquinas Daly. The piece is of Spring Brooks 900 and it is the spot where my friend Bill took this trophy brown. Just today Tom and I fished together under the bridge and has fun taking a several 12 in. to 14 in. browns in 26 and 28 midges. Kind of cool that this brown is now in our fishing room along with several Daly originals. What a great combination. Wish I took better pictures as my photos in no way due justice to each artists skill.

Would love to have a Footer brookie. I have seen several and they are works of art.
Bohemian Bob