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Whether fur, fin, or feathers, taxidermy workmanship at Yescavage Taxidermy Studio has satisfied owner TomYescavage’s customers for more than two decades.
Why did you become a taxidermist?
I’ve been fascinated with animals since I was a kid, and have enjoyed the outdoors and hunting with my dad and three brothers for as long as I can remember. From the time I was about 12, I began skinning what I’d hunted and then I’d rebuild them. Of course the animals were dead, but it was like they were coming alive again when I’d finished with them. Working on animals like this came naturally to me, and over time I got better and better at ‘recreating’ the animals we’d hunted. I eventually became a licensed electrician for my livelihood, but taxidermy work fascinated me too. So about 20 years ago, I went to taxidermy school at the Pocono Institute, and became state and federally licensed by the PA Game Commission and later by the PA Department of Agriculture. Before long, I was doing taxidermy work for others on a part-time basis and loved what I was doing. In years past, the taxidermy business wasn’t a prominent or large industry. Today, things have changed and my business has grown. This summer, I plan to retire from my electrician’s work, expand my shop and studio, and I’ll be doing taxidermy full time.
What kinds of animals do you work on?
Customers bring me everything from the local white tailed deer and black bears to coyotes, turkeys and squirrels, Rocky Mountain elk and Alaska Mountain caribou, Barren Ground caribou from Canada, and more. The animals I’ve done have come from all over North America and Canada. I also do fish taxidermy and reptiles. Depending on my clients’ requests, I’ll do head and shoulder mounts, half-sized mounts and full body mounts. Some of them include extra trimmings, like artificial foliage, that help make a finished mount more like a piece of art than just a head hanging on the wall.
What are some of the basics of your work?
To start properly — and legally — every animal that comes into my shop must be properly tagged, and the customer must be properly licensed. If anything is amiss, I’ll refuse to do the work. Every year, a state auditor checks my records so I maintain a strict regimen of registration noting every animal and its hunter. Once a customer tells me what kind of mount they want, I’ll choose a fireproof polyurethane base form that’s as close to the size, shape, and final position of the actual animal that’s brought in. There are various crucial measurements for each animal to ensure its skin fits the specific form. Taxidermy work is an exacting process. It’s an art that involves a wide variety of skills like tanning, cutting and sewing, hand painting and airbrushing, so I work with dozens of different companies for my supplies. When it comes to the tanning, for instance, I do my own cutting, pre-shaving, and salting of the skins before they’re sent to the tanner. I care about the value of my customers’ hides, and my doing this step helps prevent any shaving mishaps. Bottom line — I pride myself on the realism of my finished mounts. Nothing leaves my shop unless it looks like it did in nature. That includes the fish I do, too. Many taxidermists use artificial parts, but other than glass eyes, I use the actual fins, skin, gills, and teeth for my fish mounts.
What is your customer base?
My customers come from all over the U.S. and Canada, and word of mouth has always been my best resource for new clients. But once I go full time later this year, I’ll have a website to better show my work.
Whether fur, fin, or feathers, taxidermy workmanship at Yescavage Taxidermy Studio has satisfied owner TomYescavage’s customers for more than two decades.
Why did you become a taxidermist?
I’ve been fascinated with animals since I was a kid, and have enjoyed the outdoors and hunting with my dad and three brothers for as long as I can remember. From the time I was about 12, I began skinning what I’d hunted and then I’d rebuild them. Of course the animals were dead, but it was like they were coming alive again when I’d finished with them. Working on animals like this came naturally to me, and over time I got better and better at ‘recreating’ the animals we’d hunted. I eventually became a licensed electrician for my livelihood, but taxidermy work fascinated me too. So about 20 years ago, I went to taxidermy school at the Pocono Institute, and became state and federally licensed by the PA Game Commission and later by the PA Department of Agriculture. Before long, I was doing taxidermy work for others on a part-time basis and loved what I was doing. In years past, the taxidermy business wasn’t a prominent or large industry. Today, things have changed and my business has grown. This summer, I plan to retire from my electrician’s work, expand my shop and studio, and I’ll be doing taxidermy full time.
What kinds of animals do you work on?
Customers bring me everything from the local white tailed deer and black bears to coyotes, turkeys and squirrels, Rocky Mountain elk and Alaska Mountain caribou, Barren Ground caribou from Canada, and more. The animals I’ve done have come from all over North America and Canada. I also do fish taxidermy and reptiles. Depending on my clients’ requests, I’ll do head and shoulder mounts, half-sized mounts and full body mounts. Some of them include extra trimmings, like artificial foliage, that help make a finished mount more like a piece of art than just a head hanging on the wall.
What are some of the basics of your work?
To start properly — and legally — every animal that comes into my shop must be properly tagged, and the customer must be properly licensed. If anything is amiss, I’ll refuse to do the work. Every year, a state auditor checks my records so I maintain a strict regimen of registration noting every animal and its hunter. Once a customer tells me what kind of mount they want, I’ll choose a fireproof polyurethane base form that’s as close to the size, shape, and final position of the actual animal that’s brought in. There are various crucial measurements for each animal to ensure its skin fits the specific form. Taxidermy work is an exacting process. It’s an art that involves a wide variety of skills like tanning, cutting and sewing, hand painting and airbrushing, so I work with dozens of different companies for my supplies. When it comes to the tanning, for instance, I do my own cutting, pre-shaving, and salting of the skins before they’re sent to the tanner. I care about the value of my customers’ hides, and my doing this step helps prevent any shaving mishaps. Bottom line — I pride myself on the realism of my finished mounts. Nothing leaves my shop unless it looks like it did in nature. That includes the fish I do, too. Many taxidermists use artificial parts, but other than glass eyes, I use the actual fins, skin, gills, and teeth for my fish mounts.
What is your customer base?
My customers come from all over the U.S. and Canada, and word of mouth has always been my best resource for new clients. But once I go full time later this year, I’ll have a website to better show my work.
