i would just like someone to tell me what they think about my work other than the costumers who dont know any better. im 15 and have been doing taxidermy for 3 years. www.angelfire.com/tx5/jlanigtaxidermy
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For a 15 year old, I think the work is exceptional. The ear butts on your deer need a little work as they set too low on the neck and your turkey head painting can be improved greatly with a good paint schedule. The axis deer looked as if it had been mounted on a bigger mannikin as the brisket was up the neck like my T-shirt that's a size too small. One thing I saw, however, is even for a young man and a beginner, the work is priced way too cheap on the deer. I've seen worse work from professionals that charged twice as much.
I suspect you're using DP with those prices and if you are, convert while you're still young and save having to learn that lesson as an old man.
Your work looks great
hey george, what do you mean by useing DP? i thought about going up this upcoming season to about $200. would that be alright because im still learning. ill take into consideration about the earbutts tho. thanks alot jared.
Are you using Dry Preservative (DP) or tanning. If you're tanning the hides, you should have never started near the amount you are.
i have been useing the lowlow price to draw in costumers and i just never whent up. whats a good price overall. the taxidermist down the road charges $385 and still gets over 300 deers a year. personaly i dont think hes that good but he has helped me alot when i got stuck.
jared
i have always tanned and fleshed them my self and have never had many problems. i use liqua tan. so you say because i tann them myself and of the qualty i should have already been chargeing more?
jared
Jared,
Nice work. From the pictures, I feel that a customer would be very satisfied with your work. I had a same problem with pricing too. This was my first spring doing commercial work. With the turkey season, I advertised at local sport shops, sending flyers, exc. I wasn't sure what to charge-feeling that my work was not NEAR as good as a professional for 10+ years, how can I get paid the same/near as much as them. So I started thinking $400.00 for a strut turkey. I did the math and realized that I had $100.00 in supplies and numerous hours involved in a single mount. I know that us "newbies" can't charge for 20 hours when it takes a "Pro" 10. However, I went to local shops and realized, Hey my work is almost identical to theirs, and they are charging $500.00. So, I finally decided that I could settle for $450.00 and still be making enough to enjoy my work (part-time). I know people out there that can get $600-700.00 a turkey and that is great. Someday I hope to be there. But, it all takes work and disipline to become the best. Well, with all that said; no less than $275.00 for a deer head. If you can get more great! Go for it!
Good Luck,
Brady
Heads & Tails Taxidermy
www.geocities.com/headsandtailstaxidermy
Check out this website. It breaks down the costs of mounting a deer head. It will make you realize how important that extra $50.00 is! Kenny Bauman does a great job in this article.
Good Luck,
Brady
http://www.TaxidermyReference.com/KennethBauman.html
Considering the amount of experience you have, your work looks very good. It's great to see another young person seriously interested in taxidermy. I'm 16, and have been doing taxidermy for three years as well. If you ever want to chat with someone about taxidermy, feel free to send me an email.
But yes.. you need to raise your prices! I get $300 for deer
Amy Ritchie
www.AmysTaxidermy.com
Hello Jared, I too am around your age, (almost 17) and want to see your work. However for some reason your webpage does not come up on my computer. It sends me to a search engine. I hate it when it does that if you could, could you send your pix to wwtaxidermy@yahoo.com?
I would really like to see your work.
Just viewed your site last night...keep up the good work and follow George and Yoxman's advice...you're going to go far in this business like Amy is already doing. Bet yer folks are reall proud of you too. Thanks for posting.
~ ETCC
you all have been so much help. i have heard that alot of the discussions around here are about getting paid enough for our work. im glad to here responses from people who acually know what their talking about. i will for sure rethink my deer pricing for next season. thanks for all your help!
jared
You've fallen into the same trap most of us did when we began. We undercut our peers to get customers and ended up with cheap customers. When we recognized the fact and correct it, the cheap customes went away.
It's much better to have quality and dependable customers than it ever is to have cheap ones.
Where's your fish? ;)
Your deer look nice. Much better than many of the "professional" bozos around me.
Be confident (not cocky) in your abilities and keep excelling. I'd update the website if I were you to reflect this confidence. There's a bit too much indecisiveness in your wording. Customer's want to be confident that their trophy is handled by somebody that knows what they're doing. Your pictures already reflect this.
Set your prices at what you believe is fair and stick to your guns. It's okay to let them know you're young and a part-timer, but you don't need to elaborate. Again, your work speaks for itself. If your phone starts ringing off the hook during deer season - raise your prices IMMEDIATELY!
Nominal commercial quality work. get reference and study anatomy.Work on basic skin alignment and ear positions. You are still deep into a "how-to" technical aspect of taxidermy where your most important issue is simply getting the skin onto a mannikin. Now it is time to study and find out the proper skin locations and hair patterns. Get reference materials. Starting at the bottom rung of the pricing structure is NEVER a wise decision. Double your prices. You can make more money than that as a grocery store bag boy.
Contact BILL YOX to take a day or more personal one-on-one hands-on-traing fromthis Blue Ribbon Winner...you'll upgrade your work so fast it'll make your head spin with excitement...and laff all the way to the babk next Deer Season. Trust me on this one ...it's well worth this investment in yourself. Do it now while still out on Summer School Vacation.
~ ETCC
You exhibit the beginnings of a good taxidermist, but take some extra training and time to learn the proper hair lines, colour schedules and positioning/anatomy...in the end, you will be glad you did. ONCE you have done that, then increase your prices to relfect the increase in quality of your work. Your website is fine, just be sure to correct the spelling mistakes...I would drop the background as I think it clutters your link icons...and go to a solid or less complex background, as you overwhelm the viewer with too much...surf the net and look at some other sites to get ideas...if you want to be a professional...you have to make sure that everything related to you and your business looks professional...
Good Luck.
i love this place! youall are very helpfull. thanks for all your advice on everything including the website it self. ill do that change immeditly. and i will have made up my mind on what to charge by next season.. what is it a couple of months? ive never tryed any fish. im not sure i could. i need to learn eventually tho. thanks again
For your age ,that is a good try ,this is just a constructive critisism,pay more attention to the ear butt placement as Geo said and also you eye angles,if you can book a course with Yox. your headed in the right path. keep it coming. Alex