Taxidermy Customer Portal: Let Clients Track Their Own Mount

By MountChief Editorial Team|Updated Mar 2026

Picture this: November 15th, 9 AM. You're in the middle of your second intake of the day, a nice 10-point buck, customer standing there watching, and your phone rings. It's the guy who dropped off his deer two weeks ago. He wants to know if you've sent it to the tannery yet.

That call costs you 8 minutes. It costs you focus. And it's going to happen ten more times today.

A taxidermy customer portal gives every customer a live tracking link for their mount. They check it themselves, anytime, without calling you. Shops using MountChief reduce inbound status calls by 90%, that's getting two hours back every day during deer season.

TL;DR

You're in the middle of your second intake of the day, a nice 10-point buck, customer standing there watching, and your phone rings.
Shops using MountChief reduce inbound status calls by 90%, that's getting two hours back every day during deer season.
Shops receive 8 to 12 status calls per day during deer season peak.
During a 60-day peak season, that's 120 hours, three full work weeks, spent answering the same question.
Think of it as the tracking page for a UPS shipment, except for a deer cape going through a 6-month production process.
Where's My Mount charges $30/mo for a client portal.

The Problem With "Call Me If You Need Anything"

Taxidermists are craftspeople, not customer service reps. But without a system, you become both.

Shops receive 8 to 12 status calls per day during deer season peak. Each one takes 5 to 10 minutes. That's up to two hours of daily production time lost to phone interruptions. During a 60-day peak season, that's 120 hours, three full work weeks, spent answering the same question.

And the customers calling aren't being unreasonable. They spent $600 on a deer mount. It's been four months. The tannery is a black box they've never heard of. Nobody told them what "at the tannery" means. So they call.

The solution isn't getting better at managing calls. It's eliminating the need to call.

What a Taxidermy Customer Portal Does

A customer portal gives clients a dedicated URL or QR code that shows the real-time status of their mount. Think of it as the tracking page for a UPS shipment, except for a deer cape going through a 6-month production process.

At each milestone, the portal updates automatically:

Intake confirmed, customer sees their specimen is logged, deposit receipt, estimated completion range
Shipped to tannery, customer sees which tannery, when it shipped
At tannery, confirmation their hide arrived
Returned from tannery, hide is back in your shop
In production, active work has begun
Finishing, final stages
Ready for pickup, notification sent, pickup instructions provided

Each update happens without you doing anything beyond the scan or status change you'd be doing anyway.

How MountChief's Portal Differs from the Competition

Where's My Mount charges $30/mo for a client portal. It's portal-only, you still need a separate intake system, a separate job tracking system, and you're manually pushing status updates to the portal. Dual-system overhead defeats the purpose.

MountChief's portal is built directly into the shop management workflow. When you scan a QR tag to log a tannery shipment, the portal updates. When you mark a stage complete, the portal updates. There's no separate portal management, it's a natural output of the work you're already doing.

No App Download Required

Customers don't install anything. They get a link in a text or email at intake. Tap the link, see their status. Works on any phone.

That matters for adoption. If customers need to download an app, half of them won't. With a direct link, adoption is near 100%.

Customizable Visibility

You control what customers see. Show photos, hide them. Show estimated dates, adjust them. Add custom messages at any stage. The portal is professional and branded to your shop, not a generic third-party page.

Setting Up a Customer Portal in MountChief

Every new job automatically generates a tracking link
At intake, send the link to the customer via MountChief's built-in SMS or email
As you update job stages, through normal QR scans and production updates, the portal reflects those changes in real time
Customers get push notifications at key milestones
When ready for pickup, the customer gets an automatic notification with your address and hours

Setup time from signing up to first customer link: under an hour.

What Customers Actually Think

The most common customer feedback: "I didn't know it would be this professional." A lot of hunters have been dealing with taxidermists who answer the phone occasionally and give vague timelines. Getting a real tracking link changes their perception of your entire operation.

The second most common feedback: "I checked it myself instead of calling you. Saves me time too."

When you give customers a way to self-serve, you respect their time and they respect yours. The professional presentation of a portal is also a referral driver, hunters talk to hunters, and "my taxidermist gives me tracking updates like Amazon" is a powerful thing for someone to say at deer camp.

FAQ

How does a taxidermy customer portal work?

A taxidermy customer portal gives each customer a unique link or QR code that shows the real-time production status of their mount. Updates happen automatically as the taxidermist moves jobs through production stages. Customers can check status anytime without calling the shop.

Will customers actually use a tracking portal?

Yes, and at high rates. Because MountChief's portal requires no app download (just a link), adoption is near universal. The customers who would normally call are exactly the customers who will check a link instead. Shops report 90% reductions in inbound status calls after implementing a customer portal.

Can I customize what customers see in the portal?

Yes. MountChief lets you control which milestones are visible, whether production photos are shown, and what messaging appears at each stage. You can add custom notes, adjust estimated dates, and brand the portal to your shop. Customers see a professional, shop-specific experience rather than a generic third-party page.

How does this apply to solo taxidermy shops?

The principles in this guide apply to solo shops just as they do to larger operations, though the scale differs. A single-person shop may have lower absolute volume but faces the same documentation, compliance, and customer communication requirements. The practical advice here scales down to any shop size.

What is the most common mistake taxidermists make with taxidermy customer portal?

The most common mistake is treating taxidermy customer portal as an afterthought rather than building it into the standard workflow from the start. Shops that encounter problems in this area typically did not establish clear processes before season, which means every situation becomes a one-off decision rather than a standard response.

Try These Free Tools

Put these insights into practice with our free calculators and planners:

Sources

National Taxidermists Association (NTA)
US Fish & Wildlife Service
Small Business Administration (SBA)

Get Started with MountChief

Customer communication is one of the highest-leverage investments a taxidermist can make in their shop's reputation. MountChief's customer portal activates automatically at every intake and keeps hunters informed throughout the 8-14 month process without adding work to your day. Try MountChief to give your customers the transparency they want.