You can do really well if you do good work and your prices are reasonable. My buddy is a taxidermist and he takes in over 200 whitetails 100 elk and over 150 bears a year, and thats not counting the exotics he takes in. He had a guy that had 40 animals that he wanted done and he signed a contract with him the total bill was over 48 thousand dollars, cause alot were life size.He told me his cost was about 22 thousand. He had to hire another guy just to keep up, not only that but I help out fleshing and he pays me. Ive done a few mounts myself at his shop of my own stuff and they turned out killer. But He does work almost 7 days a week and alot of times he doesnt get out of there untill 11 at night.......one other problem is getting people to pay for there stuff......get big deposits to cover your expenses. or you will be owning alot of animals. Good luck if you want more insight I could hook you up to talk with him he's a good guy and would probably help you.
Brett