Columnist Susan Snyder: Outdoor shop displays great stuff

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005 | 8:15 a.m.

Donna Lawson recalled the day she walked into work with a stuffed deer hoisted on her shoulder.

"You don't do that at J.C. Penney," said Lawson, a former Penney's employee who is now visual display manager for Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World at the Silverton.

"J.C. Penney gave me a good background in merchandising," Lawson said. "But I've always been interested in the outdoors. I'm the camper-hiker kind of girl. I like the quiet."

If you don't like, or are offended by, stuffed animals of the taxidermy and mounted variety, you are about to do one of two things: Skip to the comics page, or write me a nasty e-mail.

Whatever. This is not to debate the morality of hunters' mounted game. Even PETA wouldn't know where to start in this place. (I only eat animals that are vegetarians.)

Fact is, stuffed wildlife mounts are gathering dust in museums and private collections all over the world. And Bass Pro Shops has an entire staff of people whose sole responsibility is to find them and buy them for display in the chain's enormous stores.

Elaborate displays that show wild animals as they would appear if breathing and in their native habitats is a hallmark of the Missouri-based chain's 26 retail outlets, Larry Whitely, a company spokesman, said.

"We have a lot of people who just donate them to us," he said.

It's not so much a theme as sensory overload. If your jawbone works, it will drop. At least 78 mounted animals are displayed in the entry alone. There are 16 full-size mammals, including a bison, 32 mounted heads of mostly antlered critters, 29 game birds, such as pheasants and wild turkeys, and one honest-to-goodness bearskin rug.

Tried to count the fish, but I lost track at 30. And I hadn't even walked into the actual store, yet. Lawson says there are more than 500 mounts.

Many are accompanied by plaques giving zoo-type information about the animal's habitat, eating habits and mating rituals and also mentions whether it is an endangered or threatened species.

The plaque for a pride of African lions near the checkout stands reveals that four subspecies of lions are extinct and suggests conserving the king of beasts is best done in national parks and managed ranges.

The aisle separating men's and women's apparel on the store's main floor features the mounted spoils of Robert Sweet, a European big-game hunter, Lawson said.

"That giraffe was in a crate for 40 years," John Padilla, group sales manager, said of the Sweet collection's full-size centerpiece. "It's a Maasai giraffe. There are seven types of giraffes in the world, and ... (laughing now) don't ask why I know that. I know all these little bits of information."

A pair of bull moose are suspended in battle near the fly-fishing corner. A second-floor balcony shows one lion setting up half a dozen gazelles for the kill by a second lion crouched behind a bush.

Lawson pushed a shopping cart loaded with a length of rope, some leather and a springbok skin for a gun display she was designing. Minutes earlier she had pointed to the logos of conservation groups with which Bass Pro works. The hope, she said, is that customers appreciate more about wildlife when they leave.

"We believe in conservation and in hunting for using it," she said, "not for trophies."