I am thinking of taking on taxidermy as a hobby as i work shift work and half of my time is spent sitting at home doing nothing but pounding the hunting forums. I would like to learn taxidermy and possibly take it in as a part time business venture. my question is what does your pros daily tasks encompass? Many of the taxidermists around my area are over worked and the backlogs are almost one year and i would like to take a piece of this market....any suggestions would be great!

thanks

First ,just because a taxidermist s backlog doesn't mean hunters and fishermen are going to flock to you, if you don't know how to mount anything yet.

learning taxidermy is not something you take up and two weeks later your a pro, speaking for my self I've being at it for 40 years and I have seen many that have come into the market because they wanted to take a piece of my market, well they failed misserably, there are only 3 taxidermist in My city, Miami Fla, at one time we had 12.

And even cutting my prices in half they could not compete with the quality and service I offer.

For instance, as soon as a customer walks in, my wife is on the expresso machine making them coffee, if they come with kids, we take them on back to the swings and other games they can play, or they can stay in the show room looking at animals, this has served as a tool of making the customer feel comfortable with you.

Then i spend time talking to the guy and seeing what his idea is on the mount he wants, he views mounted deers in every position, sometimes I just continue to work and let them sit by me while Iam Fleshing or doing something else they never seen before, this shows them they are getting their money's worth, that is not just simply injecting the animal with formaldehy as some think.

Then i don't lie to them I tell them what my backlog is and ask if they are willing to wait if not they can take somewheres else.

The first thing you need to do is to get proficient in taxidermy before you think of a business, that is how all of us got started.

good luck.

I realize that i have to first learn the trade before ever trying to offer services for hunters, etc but i do plan on starting this strictly as a hobby at this point but was just wondering what to expect IF i was to start offering services.

Bowyer, quite frankly, if the local guys are "overworked" and "backlogs" are almost one year, well, theres no peice of a market to get! Thats not a backlog, thats a normal workload. Im sure theres room for another taxidermist in your area, but the descriptive you used doesnt sound like its calling for one.

Just start out by learning how its done, and enjoy it as an art, or a new hobby and allow it to grow into whatever its meant to be for you. Daily tasks are obvious...take apart, preserve, put together specimens, deal with customers, learn as new methods and materials become available, balance your work schedule with taxidermy, family and free time. Thats just for starters. It gets a bit more complicated soon enough. Try to enjoy it first.