My grandpa had a taxidermied squirrel in his basement rec room when we were kids; the thing looked like a diseased rodent reject mounted on a tree branch. It was on the far side of the room near the bar and my brother and I were terrified of the thing. My grandpa would say, “don’t go near or behind the bar when you’re playing down here, OK?” Oh, sure thing grandpa. If playing “near or behind the bar” involved getting close to that . . . thing . . . then you can damn well be assured we won’t be playing “near or behind the bar.” When my grandpa died, our dad wanted to take the thing home with us; even as two young adults we begged him mightily to drop the idea.
However, if grandpa’s taxidermied squirrel was half as cool as these below, we might have wanted one for ourselves.
Killer Squirrels, With Guns: Rick Nadeau’s Custom Taxidermy
http://blogs.laweekly.com/stylecouncil/art/squirrels-with-guns-rick-nadea/