I need to know the average income of a full time taxidermist.
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$485,000, a little more with a decent season.
I have seen this question on here many times, but I've never seen a straight forward answer. This is definetly a consideration to new taxidermists that would like to go full-time, so it would be nice to hear some real responses. It would also be nice to know what area you're located in also. And I realize so many things come into play when asking this question, but we just want to hear some numbers. Now I'm not asking anyone to put what they claimed on their 1040 or anything, but a narrow range of what they made. Something like: Kansas City, Missouri area, I made a profit in the range of $40k - $50k last year.
Thanks,
Chuck M.
Big question, right? Few make a real living at this, why lack of educating the public in their area's.
Most are living of their spouses income and benifits, health insurance etc. Now this does afford for a nice second job, esp. after putting in 40 hours per week elsewhere. On the other hand few are geting their overtime pay worth. Sure some will claim "I jsut do this for a hobby." and by-Joe they are right, hobbies cost you money and they are not netting anything from taxidermy. They take Momma and the kids out to eat on that deerhead deposit, thinking well I will use that bird Joe's gonna pick up next moth to order supplies with, then oooops here come a bill for something or its taxes time and they are left using their wages and profit to cover expenses again & again.
So do you want to know Gross income, net income, or profit.
Big question, right? Few make a real living at this, why lack of educating the public in their area's.
Most are living of their spouses income and benifits, health insurance etc. Now this does afford for a nice second job, esp. after putting in 40 hours per week elsewhere. On the other hand few are geting their overtime pay worth. Sure some will claim "I jsut do this for a hobby." and by-Joe they are right, hobbies cost you money and they are not netting anything from taxidermy. They take Momma and the kids out to eat on that deerhead deposit, thinking well I will use that bird Joe's gonna pick up next moth to order supplies with, then oooops here come a bill for something or its taxes time and they are left using their wages and profit to cover expenses again & again.
So do you want to know Gross income, net income, or profit.
I am a part time taxidermist and have been for about 10 years now.The region where I live ( central Ohio ), isn't a great place for supporting a full time taxidermy business mainly because of the lack of game,and the number of other taxidermy shops, but I manage to make approx. $5000.- $8000. per year which is a good extra income.I do know a couple of full time taxidermists in Ohio, one in Northern Ohio near Lake Erie and one in southern Ohio, both of whom make approx. $50,000+ per year.I was interested in maybe moving to Montana and starting a full time shop.I posed the question on the " wanted " forum about how much income do full time taxidermists make in Montana.I really can't believe the response.One person said that the average full timer makes approx. $20,000.I find that impossible to belive with all the game and fish that is harvested out there and all the outfitters that bring litterally hundreds of non-residents there to hunt.If you only make $20,000 per year in Montana, it has to be because you are NOT going after the work!
Rob
Thanks for the response. John, I would be interested in profit. I personally want to know how much someone makes after all expenses. The big question I ask myself is, "Can I support my wife and 2 kids comfortably while being a fulltime taxidermist?" I've been reading these forums for about 2 years now and maybe the question I SHOULD be asking is, "Will I have free time to spend with my wife and 2 kids if I become a fulltime taxidermist?" :-)
I have dreams of opening a huge shop, with a handfull of employees, making our own forms, creating new products, becoming a supplier that understands the taxidermist and their needs, and passing all this down to my 2 sons. Just a dream I guess....
Chuck, I'm not a full time taxidermist. At least not by title. I always wanted to be, I started about 3 1/2 years ago. The first year was slow as to be expected. The next year was double the first and this year was triple last. I usually spend at least 6 hours a night on taxidermy, and most all Saturday. I figure I would need 4 times the work I have right now to equal what I get from my "full time" job and benefits. If I were going to do that I would have to make a jump somewhere and hope I landed ok. Sounds like your in the same position as me with a wife and kids to add in to the thing. At the rate my business is growing I don't doubt that I could make it. The question is how many years would my family suffer because of my selfishness. I don't have much time with them now. Most full time taxidermist I've talked to say you will have to work a 12 hour day just to get 8 hours work done. I'm sure that's true with all the b.s. the customers want to do. Lotta babble here, just thought maybe I'd tell you what I'm thinking since it sounds like were in the same boat.
There are roughly 250 working days a year. The average guy on here is charging 300.00 for a deer head. I would say an average shop will net 30-40 percent of the gross. If you figure 250 three hundred dollar jobs that works out to 75,000 gross.35% net would be 26,250. In reality most one person shops are going to be lucky to make half that, unless they specialize in higher dollar and quallity products with much less volume. To do this figure 3-5 years min. to develop a decent customer base either way. Taxidermists as a whole are more or less starving artists, there are a few that do make a good living but that is more related to business sense than being the best taxidermist in the business.
The income may not be too high in Montana as there are over 70 licensed taxidermists within a 25 mile radius of my shop. That does not include the unlicensed taxidermists that mount for friend, etc. I know of 8 in my town of 3,000 that are unlicensed alone. That is why I am semi-retiring from the business this year and have been pursuing other ventures using the Internet! Alot less time with higher income potential and time to enjoy it.
TimB
You've gotten some excellent responses, especially from Troy and Doug. It is true that most taxidermists are part time and also that there are very few wealthy full time taxidermists. Because taxidermy is so labor intensive there are not many around who can or are willing to put in the time needed to turn over enough projects to make a real good living. I attended a seminar once where the demonstrator stated that he figures he has to average about three birds a day or the equivalent of that to make a good living. It takes me (a part timer) between 4 to 6 hours for one bird. No doubt the full timers cut that down a lot, but thats still a very buzy day.
That was a jewel. I thought for a minute you were using my checkbook there. No matter how they candy coat it, that's exactly how most of us "full timers" live: hand to mouth.
Dereck, you need to subscribe to Breakthrough magazine. Each year they conduct a survey of their subscribers and print everything you always wanted to know but were too smart to ask. And Ron, I'm pretty busy, but I could break away for a few months if the pay is commensurate with what you make in a year. LOL
I spent over $9000.00 last year, earned $10,000. still on the books is $1100.00 owed to me by another taxidermist for some work. I do ok because, my health insurance is low, my perscriptions are paid for, my shop is paid for, I have additional income from training horses (2, 1st place and a 4th in the regional show) I have bought-trained and sold several others at a fairly good price. So for me taxidermy is what I can do in between training, showing and seeing the Doctor.I have enough residual income to support myself without doing taxidermy day and NIGHT.
Yea, I take frequent breaks to drop in the forums, since I dont sleep a lot, I drop in early in the am too.
I took in 25 deerheads this year @ $325 seriously over priced my ducks and fish, I figure "Why work day and night and die for dead animals. if you don't live for now and enjoy life now, you may not be able to enjoy life tomorrow."
I scuba dive, race sail boats, float the river, trail ride have been lucky enough to gone to the edge and back and lived through it. Sure I hurt everyday and take pills to cover the pain, but I intend to make the best out of this life I can and not worry a hell of a lot about tomorrow. Should I die tonight I will have lived a good life and not been bogged down in dead animals and terrible screaming customers that I am short tempeered with because I was up till 3 a.m. finishing their mount and only had 4 hours of sleep.
I guess what I am trying to tell you is TAXIDERMY IS A LUXURY, CHARGE FOR IT THAT WAY!
Now lets go chase mamma around the house, and make another mouth to feed.
Thanks a lot guys. Your info has helped a lot.
Thats fuzzy math your practicing there...eh?
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I like your words John, "TAXIDERMY IS A LUXURY, CHARGE FOR IT THAT WAY!" For now I'm happy doing this only as a hobby, so maybe I'll just keep it that way. Didn't I hear someone once say, "Don't mix your hobbies with your business"? Maybe that's just what I should do. I don't ever want it to become something that I dispise doing. And the last thing I want is for my family to suffer. They're already suffereing enough with half the garage being blocked off with my taxidermy stuff. But, I'm actually getting my wife interested in this stuff too.
Anyhow, I better go before I type too much. Thanks again for the info!
Chuck M.