You’ve just taken the trophy of a lifetime. How should you go about selecting a taxidermist to preserve your life long memory? After being in the Taxidermy industry for 25 years I can say that most people do not have a clue how to select a taxidermist. Most are under the impression that a taxidermist is a taxidermist, that the cheapest one is the best one. Nothing could be further from the truth. Selecting a taxidermist is not like buying a gallon of milk. If you can buy a brand of milk at one place for a certain price, you should be able to buy that same gallon of milk any place for that same price.

Choosing your taxidermist should be more than opening the phone book, calling all that is listed and asking, “how much do you charge?” Price is important, but you must consider what you are getting for the given price. Taxidermy is a skilled profession and not all taxidermists have the same level of skill. This may be the result of a God given talent, experience or just the training they have acquired.  Taxidermy has come a long way in the last 20 years, and what I learned 20 years ago does not exactly,  “cut it,” so to speak, in modern day society. To be a good taxidermist you must keep up with the times.

The best way to pick a taxidermist is to go to their shop and look at their work. What should you look for while at the shop? Well the first thing you should look for is quality.  The mount should look natural, clean and neat with no odor. The eyes, nose and hide should look soft, not harsh or painted. Look at the ears; are they sharp on the edges?  Feel the ears; are they thick and bumpy or are they smooth and thin? Is there any drumming? ( This is where the skin dries away from the ear liner causing air pockets).  If there is drumming, the ears will eventually crack. Are the ears a soft pink inside or are they white or even unpainted? The inside of an ear on a live deer is a pale pink due to blood flow.  Is the nose jet black and flat with no texture, or is it a soft black/gray with the texture rebuilt? (Take a close look at the nose of the deer you have just taken). The nose has texture and is a soft black color. What about the inside of the nose?  Is it filled in or does it look as if it could breathe? Can you see the seams or stitches?  Life-size mounts should look like the animal could get up and walk right out of the place. The mount should be in a complimentary base, not just on an old board or driftwood. The entire piece should appear very realistic, as if the separate pieces belong together. A quality mount may even have a very nice furniture grade wood exterior. Yes, this will cost more, but it is a life long investment.

Also, take the time to ask questions.  Ask things such as, “Do you tan your hides or do you send them out to a tannery?”.  In-shop tanned hides have more individual care given than mass production tanned hides. If in shop tanning is done, ask what type? Is it a pickled and oiled hide, or a cream tanned?  A pickled and oiled hide has less shrinkage and hair loss than a cream tanned hide. Also, remember:  Never settle for the use of dry preservative on anything other than a bird.

A good taxidermist knows that the customer is to be valued and respected, so your mount should be done your way!  Some taxidermists will tell you that you have to get your mount done a certain way, and that this is your only option  because there may only be one manikin that your hide will fit. However, if you are dealing with a well-educated taxidermist, with great skill, you should be able to get it however you want it. By altering a manikin and changing the size and shape, a good taxidermist can give you whatever you desire.

What happens if you do not choose the right taxidermist? Can it be fixed?  The odds are slim.  Deer and horned animals can be remounted with a new cape, but this will cost you a second mount and a new cape. There's not much to be done in repairing fish either.  What you have is what you will have to live with.  The same goes for a life-size, or bird mount. The best you could hope for would be selling them at a  garage sale.            

Do your homework and don’t get caught up in the price game. The difference between a custom high end mount verses a below average mount may only be a few dollars. With a custom high end mount, you can always smile and remember your achievement, and show your trophy off with pride.  However, with a below average mount, the closet usually ends up being your trophy’s new home, never to be seen or admired. Granted most people don’t usually save for the day they get the trophy of a lifetime. It is not something you can count on happening.  In reality, let’s face the facts.  Taxidermy is not a necessity in life. So you may be asking yourself,  “How do I pay for this?”.   Most taxidermists take six months to a year to complete a piece, so you usually have that long to pay. Personally, I offer payment plans, such as monthly payments, or whatever your budget will allow until your mount is paid for. The bottom line is,  if it means anything to you (which is usually why you're getting the mount in the first place), you can manage to pay for it, one way or another.

If a Taxidermist’s biggest selling point is his price and not the quality of the work, ask yourself why. I would much rather buy something from someone based on what they can do for me rather than how much they can save me. Remember, once-in-a-lifetime comes once-in-a-lifetime! Do not tarnish a great memory for just a few dollars. The bitterness of low quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.


Look at the above photos which one would you prefer hanging in your home or office? The difference between the work of Photo A versus Photo B would be the quality of the materials used, and the amount of time spent on the mount. Lesser materials and less time results in cheaper work, cheaper work results in fewer details and corner cutting. Quality takes time. Time is money. All in all, the price difference between examples A and B was less than one-hundred dollars.

Article submitted by: David McBride
McBride's Taxidermy, Clearfield