The Wildlife Sports and Educational Museum — Attraction in Town of Mayfield

Wildlife Sports and Educational Museum in Amsterdam, NY. DISCLAIMER: This 5 stars is for the gift shop. I went here 2 times this past summer 2024. I have passed it over the years. There is a huge tall guy outside who stares at you when driving by. Creepy. The first time we went I had just been up at Lake Pleasant with my 2 kids to pick one up from Camp. We were on our way home heading to Dave's Hot Chicken. I decided I would try this place just to see. Upon driving up to the place I was shocked at how empty the parking lot was. As a matter of fact, there was a minivan in the parking lot with all 4 tires popped. I immediately thought of a horror movie and coming out of a side emergency door would be 4 guys screaming and running for their lives being chased by a huge black bear only to find their van inoperable. Of course this didn't happen. Approaching the place I found that it was closed. I couldn't even see inside the place. The outside wasn't exactly inviting. Our youngest finally stepped on the automatic door opening pad and the doors swung open with a flourish and a creepy vibe. We went in only to find an old man who welcomed us 3. We went in and even at this point I wasn't sure if I was supposed to pay to walk in or not. We walked into the gift shop. This ramshackle assortment of all kinds of deer heads, deer hoofs and nature things was almost too much. The old man was the boss and owner and he informed me of the price and cost for everyone. I was shocked. We walked around a bit and used our Chinese to discuss how I felt it wasn't worth it. I got to the book section and found a couple books about the north woods in the Adirondacks and inexplicably a book about Bill Clinton. I felt bad but we had to leave and I didn't shell out the big bucks. We saw nobody else while there and nobody came running and screaming out upon our leaving. The 2nd time I went I had picked up my boy from a camp with his boy cousins and before we arrived at Dave's Hot Chicken we stopped the Wildlife Museum for some memories. Oh boy did we have some memories. All 6 of us walked in and we had some from rural Mississippi and from St. Louis. My boy felt bad and wanted to pay the fee and the old many really wanted to work with us. I'm not sure if he remembered me from a week before but he said the 2 youngest could go for free. That was generous and this time I saw another customer. He came out and I decided I would ask him about the inside. He informed me "It was great." Which is not what I wanted to hear. We decided to spend our money at Dave's Hot Chicken. I feel bad even writing this review. I think the guy probably has a huge collection but I just could NOT justify the high prices of his converted supermarket Wildlife Museum. I can't imagine how LONG he's been in business but I think it's one of those things called a...

It is absurd that this place has less than at least a 4 star rating. I mean I get the sentiment of, oh boo trophy hunting and so on. But take a second to step out of your own ego for a moment to realize that hunting was a tremendously huge part of our history in the United States, especially in the adirondacks.

I’m not thrilled that trophy hunting was very prominent, but it doesn’t stop me from admiring the vast number of animals I’ve never seen before, especially up close. The gentlemen who were there when I went were older, and that just exemplifies that this is a bit of history from an older period in time. Appreciate it for what it is and you won’t be disappointed, but go in there with a political cause and smug chip on your shoulder and of course you’ll find it to be an unpleasant experience.

I mean really? What would you prefer? For the animals who are now dead and taxidermied to be thrown in the trash to not even be admired after the fact, or to be put on display in a museum as a way to honor, remember, and appreciate them.

For anyone who can understand and actually appreciate history, you will be very impressed with all of the old memoirabillia as well as the various taxidermied animals that you can check out.

P.S. You may not want to bring very little ones before they have a full understanding of the reality of things, but teenagers interested in history...

This definitely a unique Wildlife Museum. Meet Bob the gentleman in my photo posing at the bird display that holds a precious memory of his brother and a squirrel from college and a bird his brother caught with a unique addition to the taxidermy prize possession memory. When you enter through the unused front door and will be in the gift shop then you will be asked if you want to visit the museum, of course you do. There are plenty of donated prize mounted deer or is it considered buck mount. Anyways, you find Wildlife posed in action in battle or prowling. Bob tells us he has been a taxidermist 75 years and approximately 66 displays are his personal work. I might be off a few possibly, oh well. The painted display in the rear to the right near the restrooms, it was painted by Bob and took him 7 days. Lovely painting, he is proud of it and rightfully so. If you show up late near closing just keep in mind you better move along quickly, Bob will still close on time...lol I did not have enough time to browse the gift shop because you guessed it, showed up 30 minutes prior to closing...lol I will return to visit his gift shop. Thank you, Bob for a pleasant insight to a few of...