Bridgewater outfitter is also accomplished wildlife sculptor

By Voscar
Special to the Pioneer Times
Looking at the bronze creature, with its long sweep of antlers curving up toward the sky, it is almost as though he had twitched an ear or an eye had blinked. The city of Caribou was named for this beautiful animal that has been recreated from several fist size chunks of clay molded in the talented hands of David Hentosh, a wildlife sculptor. As an icon for the city, the woodland caribou stands at the entrance to Caribou’s Downtown Mall as a symbol of the creature that was once plentiful in northern Maine.
    Hentosh, the owner of Smoldering Lake Outfitters, a hunting and fishing guide business, makes his headquarters at his lodge-home on a back road in Bridgewater. He is also a very skilled artist at creating wildlife in bronze and received a commission about two years ago to create a life-size woodland caribou for the city of Caribou. He had been approached by Rob Kieffer, a committee member for beautifying Caribou’s Downtown Mall.
I first met David when he approached me to photograph some of his smaller bronze wildlife pieces, a cub bear and a Canada Goose among them. I have enjoyed working with and seeing Hentosh at various art shows with his wife, Keri, a Caribou girl. Hentosh has a broad background in working with wildlife, in one form or another. He says “My interest in animals, especially wildlife, goes back as far as I can remember. Growing up in a farming community my life revolved around animals, whether it was working on the farm or exploring in the woods. The natural world around me was as much a part of who I was then, as who I am today.”
Hentosh says that when hunting wild animals, he is able to learn much by observing how a deer might stand when it hears a startling sound or a buck’s reaction to a doe when she wants to play. These observations are embodied in his bronze work.
Funds for the Caribou statue project were raised by the sale of 12 miniature statues of the caribou. The life-size creation took 18 months, from the original sketch, making the armature, molding the behemoth in clay, waxing the model, and painting it with rubber for the mold. The ceramic mold was then made and taken by Hentosh to a foundry in Colorado, where he supervised the casting and welding of 40 sections of the bronze into the final monument.
However,not all his critters are of such large proportions. Several years ago, he gained national attention when he was commissioned by Barbara Walters’ daughter, Jackie, to create a statue of Walter’s dog, Cha Cha.It was a surprise to Walters when the presentation of the statute was a made on the ABC television show, “The View”, with Walters as one of the hostesses.
Before his college years Hentosh began practicing taxidermy, then in college he studied veterinary sciences. He switched to wildlife management and it was while he was college that he met Forest Hart, a well known sculptor, and was introduced to, as he says,”the world of bronze sculpting.”
Recently Hentosh and the owner of Oxbow Lodge in Oxbow, Tom Aasbo, joined forces, and formed “Wildlife Interactive,” to produce a high definition DVD of moose hunting in northern Maine. The 90 minute DVD, “Answer the Call,” features 10 moose hunting experiences in the County. Working with their sports minded guests, the production took two years to complete. Hentosh says,” The hunters are ordinary people having extraordinary hunting experiences.”
The DVDs are being distributed throughout Canada through Canadian Tire, Walmart and Tractor Supply. The United States outlets include Cabelas, Gander Mountain, Bass Pro, Kicking Bear, Walmart and Ben’s Trading Post in Presque Isle.