I have to make a change in my current career as a sales person and have been wanting to start a taxidermy studio as a full time carrer and was wondering if anyone knows what a good taxidermist COULD make in alabama we have long seasons and i have been a very avid hunter for years and have several trophies. Only one of the mounts i have look very good and the guy that did it has offered to teach me and i plan on goning to the NTA and what ever other course i can find. I do plan on doing top quality work SOON. HELP!
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I take it that youre wanting to learn. If thats the case SLOW DOWN!
I dont think I would quit a job to start a studio unless, I already knew the ups and downs, and ins and outs of this thing we call taxidermy. According to your post, somenone is going to teach you.
Thats great, and I wish you luck; but it takes PATIENCE, and ALOT of TIME to learn this profession. I dont think any one person can ever learn it all. We as taxidermist are always learning new, and more
efficient ways of doing our work. If you do already know how to mount wildlife, and dont mind the thought of doing it everyday, and sometimes every night; 6-7 days a week, during the summer, and winter, with no paid holidays; then go for it! Good Luck, and hang in there!
you forgot to tell him about the fishing and hunting. Charlie, you might want to start thinking now about some new hobbies. Once you're a taxidermist, those two ain't gonna cut it.
Learning to do quality work takes time! You will make many mistakes but you'll learn by them.What you want to avoid is to have your customers pay for your mistakes while you're learning.You want to develope a good reputation,so hold off on the shop until you can do good quality mounts.
I'm glad i kept some of my early mounts and didn't try to pawn that off as quality work or i'm sure i would have lost some customers and messed up my reputation.
Customers come in and look at a tanned skin and a manikin and think all you have to do is pull it on and sew it up. There's more to this than meets the eye.
Good luck to you.
I am in the northeast part.
-Brandon
If you are learning from scratch, you'll be in for a ton of frustrations. It is easy to watch someone mount an animal. Doing it is quite another story. It is great to be excited. I too loved thinking about what my studio will look like and all the neat stuff I get to buy. All the beautiful critters I will get to work on. But wait until things get a bit more complicated. A fish spoils, a cape gets holes, bird skin tears etc....... Go for it, but take it slow. Begin by approaching it as a hobby, then go from there. It takes years of practise. With all due respect, don't fool yourself by thinking your work will be great right away. In fact you may find out you really hate it. By then you will have spent all this money. Think about it!