How many of you feel the same way?

[Amy]

Nina,

I've stuck with mammals and I have never done a bird or fish for a customer. It depends on how much you intend to work, and how much work you can get in from your area. For a few years, I did not get in enough work to keep a consistent income throughout the summer and this was when I did a lot of wholesale mammals for other taxidermists. Now, this past season was the biggest one ever for my shop. I have enough deer heads and life size mammals in that it will take me until next season to finish them all. If I had a ton of birds and fish on top of it all, I would either be working 15 hour days, or extend my turnaround time a lot, which would not make me or my customers happy.

One person can only do so much, unless you want to work yourself to death. You have a good situation in that you can establish yourself while you are still living with your parents, and get your name out there. Getting well known in an area seems to take a few years. By the time you have to worry about being on your own and paying bills, you should have a steady flow of work coming in.

[DDavis]

Nina I know I lost work by not mounting everything , Some people look at it if you can't mount my fish or bird then you wont get my deer . If you don't mount the fish and birds have them wholesale out .

[Greg Livbucks]

Wholesale! Money for nuthin'.

[Rooster]

Sub them out! I only work on mammals but wont turn any work away

[Samantha.]

I dont work on fish and i only work on birds that are going into a predator scene.
Sure I am turning away alot of work but my heart is just not in those creatures and I'm sure it shows.
Do what you want to do, you can always have a go when you feel ready.
Or sub them out as suggested...now if i could do that I would.

[Jon S]

Come on Nina - grab an airbrush and paint a couple of repro fish!! You be a fishhead before you know it. 

[Becky P]

Heck Jon, as good of a flat artist as she is, she could hand paint them and do a terrific job.

[Nina]

I'm scared to mess with fish because of the painting. :/
Me and my airbrush don't get along. I have gone through at least four of them because they all get clogged up or break! lol

[txoutdoors]

I guess i am the odd one out. I only do birds. I plan on expanding into other animals as time allows but i really want to focus on perfecting one animal before moving on.

[Dave Hyer]

I started with just Deer and small game, but I never really felt like a good Taxidermist. In my opinion, a Taxidermist can handle all phases of Taxidermy. They may specialize in  one area, but I still feel allot better about my self since I started doing fish and Birds. I paid people that I knew were among the best to teach me, and I still have allot to learn, but I really like being able to handle any job that comes along. I also think that for the time and money spent, fish are a real money maker.

[candyman]

Nina  if you specialize in deer and become very good - word will get out and the heads will come in. See if you can find other taxidermists in your area that you can give birds and fish to and maybe get lucky and find one thats not into deer to give to you. If your gonna do it fulltime - you have to start thinking like a business person. You dont have to work hard - WORK SMART. Then down the road maybe the fish and birds will come around to you.  DONT TRY - DONT FAIL   good luck