A Day in the Life at Ritual Taxidermy

People have all sorts of reactions when I tell them I'm a taxidermist. But the most common response?

Curiosity.

Taxidermy is a detailed, months-long process. Without firsthand knowledge, it can be tough to wrap your brain around what it takes to bring a specimen back to life. So today, I thought I'd share a few words to shed some light on the process.

One of the things I like about my work is that it's always changing. I'm writing this in mid-June, and you might assume that this is a slower time of year for a taxidermist. Not quite. Fall and spring bring the most foot traffic to the shop. But we stay busy all year long, and here's what a typical day looks like right now. 6:00 - 7:00 am My alarm clock is about 65 lbs of pure tenacity. Boone, my West Siberian Laika, is an early riser and my right hand in the shop. After fueling up on coffee and doing some reading (Cache Lake Country: Life in the North Woods by John J. Rowlands is an excellent read), I gear up to start the day.

7:00 - 9:00 am

Today I'm putting some finishing touches on some turkey legs. I'm fortunate to have both an indoor studio in addition to my larger facility. So I usually do the detail work inside. But since it's a nice day, I head outside.

Like all things taxidermy, turkey legs are a multi-step process. It starts with an injection of a preservative under the skin that takes a few weeks to cure. Next, I use an airbrush to add some color and make the legs look like they did at harvest.

Sealing the paint with clear coat is the final step before they're ready for installation. In this case, they are wrapped in leather and hung beneath a fan mount with a multi-beard display. Once I wrap that up, I tackle some paperwork and eat some breakfast.

9:00 am - 12:00 pm Right now, I'm doing all of my tanning in-house. This allows me to maintain quality control, and it also greatly reduces my turnaround times. But before I can start tanning, there are several things I need to do over several months to prepare a hide for preservation. After the initial manual fleshing, deer pelts are salted and left to dry for a few weeks. This pulls the excess fat and moisture from the skin. From there, I can move on to pickling. The dried pelts are submerged in a low pH solution to stop bacterial growth and prevent deterioration. Oddly enough, the chemistry skills I honed as a long-time brewer translate pretty well to taxidermy. Once pickling is complete, I can begin the pre-tanning process. This year, I purchased a fleshing wheel, and it's been a game changer. Parts of a deer's skin can be very thick, especially around the neck. The fleshing wheel allows me to thin the skin with precision, ensuring a consistent finish when it comes time to tan.

12:00 - 2:00 pm Some of you may have seen my recent post about an upcoming merch order (more on that soon). This was my first time working with a printing company, and it's taken some time to get things right. We received a batch of shirts that were missing parts of the design. So I had to choose another vendor and start the process over. In the end, it'll be worth it. But let's just say I'd much rather be working the fleshing wheel than talking to customer service. Next, I move onto some other marketing tasks. I'll be an exhibitor at the annual Woods-Water Outdoor Weekend in Imlay, Michigan this year. So I got my registration finalized, picked my spot, and booked a hotel. If you're in the area, it's Sept. 5th - 7th, 2025 and definitely worth checking out.

2:00 - 3:00 After a late lunch, I head out to the craft store to pick up some materials. Most of my materials come from the major taxidermy suppliers. But sometimes I need things like felt, and I usually purchase those locally. This time, I grabbed some leather cord and beads for a special request I got from a young lad who got his first bird this year.

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm Back home, I let the dogs outside and sit in the shade in the yard for a bit. My wife works from home too, so sometimes, we're able to take a break at the same time. We talk about what we're working on and what else needs to get done that day. With two businesses, three dogs, and an old house that always needs work, it's a juggling act for sure. But it's a team effort. 3:30 - 5:30 pm

As the day winds down, I start on some clay work. In this video, I'm building ear butts to create the muscle structure that will allow me to affix the ear insert to the form. Throughout this process, I use multiple reference photos of live deer along with an ear butt cast. The ear inserts I use were created by world-renowned taxidermist and sculptor Cary Cochran, whom I was fortunate to meet during my training. Cary's inserts are cast directly from whitetail deer cartilage, so they help provide an ultra-realistic look.

5:30 - ? I usually try to call it quits around this time; it really just depends on what's going on. When you live in your workplace, it can be tough to fully unplug. But today, we decide to throw some beers and brats in the cooler and head to the lake down the road to cool off. Lawn mowing can wait until tomorrow (at least, according to my wife).