Come check out our huge selection of Nautical, Hunting, and Lodge Decor. And Lots of great little gift items.
HAND MADE PURSES & TABLE RUNNERS
DOUG ALLEN BEACH GLASS
Jewelry & hand made pictures from THE SANDUSKY BAY
PAT'S COUSIN ALAN KUNDTZ as the 1st Ohio State Brutus
JIMS STORY - HOW HE GOT TO WHERE HE IS TODAY
I tried doing taxidermy as a teenager on my own (about 13) but put it aside for other interests. About 20 years later (1982) I caught a 27" Walleye and wanted to get it mounted but the wife said no. Pat had never seen good taxidermy and could only envision an icky old mount on the wall.
I looked up the company I had gotten information from in my teens; and low and behold, 20 years later, they sent me the exact same literature(?). I knew that in that amount a time taxidermy had to have evolved. Digging a little deeper, I found a company called John Rinehart Taxidermy Supply & School out of Wisconsin. They sold a home course as well. Now this was happening way before the internet, computers, cell phones, VHS, CD, etc. I received a picture film tape and a film machine to use with a cassette. I turned the cassette on and watched the pictures in the film machine. When the cassette beeped you turned to the next picture. That was my taxidermy class.
I contacted several local Charter Captain friends and asked a few extra Bass & Walleye to practice. When I finished with a few, I would call them back to critique the work (especially the colors). In the mean time, Pat got information on some taxidermy organizations and together we started taking my mounts to the Ohio conventions for OTTR (Ohio Taxidermy Trade Register) for judging. Between the two of us, we would catch all the seminars on taxidermy mounting. Pat would take notes for me on one while I was sitting in another.
My business and clientele grew rapidly. At that time, we lived in a dead end street home subdivision that did not allow any business signs. Three years later, I was full time. I had taken over our 2 1/2-car garage already, and then our family room became the showroom for lots of taxidermy mounts. Finally, Pat turned our oldest child's bedroom into an office when she moved out.
We both got very involved in the State Assoc. First, I became a board member with Pat coming along for the ride to the Delaware, Oh meetings. Then I became the Secretary/Treasurer and Pat did the OTTR News letter. Later I became President & Pat became Secretary/Treasurer and newsletter editor for OTTR.
I worked very hard on improving the quality of my mounts while trying to come up with ways to streamline the work. I took many ribbons at the shows for many years, but started realizing one thing, as I would later tell other taxidermist at seminars I gave. "You can't pay the mortgage with ribbons nor eat them." I tried teaching that besides putting out a quality mount. You need to do it in a timely manner actually to make money.
Here I am 43 years later. We moved the business out of the house in 1993. Added a huge walk-in freezer a few years after that, getting rid of the lineup of chest freezers I had accumulated. I was to the point that I was asking my local customers to keep their mounts in their own freezers until I was ready for them. In addition, I was borrowing freezer space from a couple friends. The walk-in freezer makes it more economical electricity-wise and much easier to organize the mounts.
Just after 2000, we knew we needed to do something. At that time, I had four other employees besides myself and we were stepping over each other in the shop. That was when I started looking at Log Cabins. The 1,500 sq. ft. log cabin opened in 2003. We attached it to the front of the existing 3,000 sq. ft. facility.
SO HERE WE ARE...ITS 2025 AND WE ARE STILL GOING STRONG. WE HAVE HAD OUR UPS AND DOWNS DUE TO THE ECONOMY, AS LOTS OF OTHERS HAVE HAD, BUT WE HAVE NEVER QUIT.
PLEASE PLAN ON STOPPING BY OUR SHOP TO SEE ALL THE BEAUTIFUL
ANIMALS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD!
TO OUR PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS
When we started commercial taxidermy we made a serious commitment to QUALITY above all else. We use only the finest materials available. All of our skins are professionally tanned so your mount will last a lifetime. QUALITY is never an accident.
It is the result of Continuous Education, Hard Work, and Skillful Execution.