As one of only a handful of full-time taxidermists left in Australia, Mr Keogh feared he would be shunned for a practice seen as barbaric and macabre by many.

But that has all changed for Mr Keogh, who farms cattle on a property near Williamsdale, just south of Canberra.

Taxidermy has enjoyed an unexpected resurgence in the lofty worlds of high fashion and art.

Stuffed animals and antlers grace the pages of fashion magazines, and are used as trendy decor in modern bars and galleries.

Celebrities Kate Moss and Courtney Love are counted as taxidermy devotees, while famous street artist Banksy uses stuffed animals in his work.

At the stylish SmartBar, opened last month at the Melbourne Museum, stuffed animals take an important place alongside alternative music, wine, finger food, and mingling Melburnians aged in their late 20s or early 30s.

These new fans of taxidermy, who Mr Keogh affectionately refers to as ''Yuppies'', have brought a new-found appreciation of the art behind the preserving of flesh.

''I think these days, it's quite acceptable, a lot of people, a lot of magazines, you see deer antlers, deer mounts … people have them in houses as hat racks and bits of pieces,'' he said.

''Once upon a time I wouldn't tell anybody, but now I basically say it's animal artistry, because it is an art form.''

And that art form is not without trial for Mr Keogh.

He has been hunting since he was first handed a rifle by his primary school teacher at the age of eight.

In the decades that have passed, he has hunted and perfected the ''hidden trade'' of taxidermy.

Mr Keogh finishes about 80 to 90 pieces a year, each of which takes months of work. He has camped out on a glacier for 10 days to get a kill, and will spend weeks at a time in the bush, tracking his target.

That time spent watching the animal in the wild is crucial to the finished product, according to Mr Keogh.

''The hard thing about it is to get the realistic look,'' he said.

''I think to be a really successful taxidermist you have to be a hunter, you've got to have a vision of that animal out in the bush.''