Master: Tom Lagana Apprentice: Joey Lagana Dorchester County Master-Apprentice Grant Recipients 2009
Master taxidermist Tom Lagana picked up his trade, which he learned from his father, as a 10-year-old hobbyist. “It progressed from there,” he said. He now operates Blackwater Taxidermy with his son, Joey, which occupies them four to five months out of the year. Both Joey and Tom hunt and, like many hunters, use taxidermy to preserve the specimens they themselves have harvested. The taxidermy process begins by establishing a firm idea of what the customer wants and then precisely measuring each aspect of the animal’s anatomy. Then the Laganas skin the animal— whether waterfowl or deer— and mount the skin on a custom-made mannequin. According to Tom, most of the final products are trophies for individual hunters— commemorating a special hunting trip— rather than record-breaking catches.
