Annual Planning for Taxidermy Shops: Season-by-Season Roadmap
Shops with annual plans grow revenue 28% faster than shops that react to each season. That gap isn't about working harder. It's about knowing what's coming and preparing for it before it arrives rather than scrambling to keep up after it hits.
The taxidermy business has a rhythm. It's not the same month to month, and it's not random. Every year follows a predictable cycle from the post-season slowdown through the spring bird rush into the summer preparation window and finally into the fall peak. If you know the cycle, you can work it. If you don't, each season feels like a surprise.
Off-season is the best time to invest in systems that pay back during peak season. That's the core idea behind annual planning. The quiet months aren't downtime. They're investment time.
TL;DR
- Shops with annual operational plans enter each deer season 30 percent more prepared than reactive shops.
- Implementing new software in June gives you 3-4 months to learn it before you need it under season pressure.
- Pre-season outreach to your past customer list 6-8 weeks before deer season is the highest-ROI marketing you can do.
- Setting your intake cap before season starts prevents the overcommitment that causes most turnaround problems.
- July and August are the ideal months for offseason system improvements before fall volume begins.
- A completed annual plan means every month has a defined operational priority rather than reactive decision-making.
The Taxidermy Annual Calendar
Here's the full year, month by month, with what's happening in your shop and what you should be doing:
January: Recover and Review
Deer season is winding down or already done in most of the country. You're exhausted. The shop is full of capes waiting for the tannery queue to move. This is the worst time to make big decisions and the best time to close some jobs, collect balances, and breathe.
What's on your floor: Late-season deer capes, some early-season holds from October and November that are deeper in production. Possibly elk from western states. Late waterfowl in some markets.
What you should be doing:
- Close out intake from the season and review total intake volume
- Complete a post-season financial review: revenue, per-job margins, tannery spend
- Identify what went wrong (bottlenecks, missed notifications, unhappy customers)
- Send pickup reminders to customers with completed mounts from early season
What you should NOT be doing: Taking on new major projects or buying expensive equipment without a plan.
February: Annual Review and Business Planning
The best month in the year for sitting down with your numbers and making real decisions. You have complete data from the previous season. You're not in the middle of a rush. You have time to think.
Business planning tasks:
- Review pricing for all species against your actual cost of production. Have material costs gone up? Has your tannery rate changed? Adjust your prices before spring turkey season if needed.
- Evaluate your software and systems. Is there anything that slowed you down last season that a tool or process change could fix?
- Set revenue targets for the coming year and the specific actions that will achieve them
- Plan any capital investments: new beetles, a walk-in cooler, studio improvements
This is also when to reach out to your tannery about next season's rates. They have time to talk in February. They don't in October.
Use MountChief's shop management tools to pull last season's job reports, per-species revenue, and tannery spend. Having those numbers in front of you turns guesses into decisions.
March: Spring Turkey Preparation
Spring turkey seasons open in March in some southern states and April-May nationwide. If you're taking turkey work, this is when you need to be ready.
Tasks:
- Confirm turkey pricing is set and posted
- Check form supply for turkey (full-body strutting forms, head forms for fans)
- Update your website with turkey mount pricing if applicable
- Post on social media that you're accepting turkey mounts for the season
Turkey mounts have shorter turnaround than deer, which customers expect. If you can do fans in 2-4 weeks, market that specifically. It's a competitive advantage in spring when hunters want to get their bird mounted before the memory fades.
April: Spring Production and Turkey Season Peak
The peak of turkey season for most of the country. You'll likely see 20-60 turkey intakes over 4-6 weeks depending on your market.
Tasks:
- Manage turkey intake volume with consistent intake forms
- Keep production moving on deer backlog while taking in turkey work
- Send status updates to deer customers who've been waiting since November
This is also fishing opener season in the Midwest and Northeast. Fish mounts typically come in when weather permits fishing, which means you may see early fish intakes in April and May.
May: Transition Month
Turkey season winds down. Fishing season picks up. Some shops take in fish actively from May through September.
Tasks:
- Complete turkey production and deliver finished mounts
- Set up or confirm your fish intake process is ready
- Order fish forms and supplies if you're expecting volume
If you offer spring fishing fish replicas or skin mounts, make sure your intake checklist is ready with measurement fields, coloration photo requirements, and the replica/skin mount selection.
June-July: Production and System Investment
This is the quiet window. Deer season is six months away. The pressure is off. This is the most valuable time of year to invest in systems, training, and infrastructure.
What to do in June-July:
Systems and software: If you've been thinking about improving your shop management system, do it now. Implementing new software in October is a nightmare. Implementing it in June gives you 3-4 months to learn it and customize it before you need it under pressure.
Beetle colony maintenance: Midsummer is beetle season maintenance time. Assess your colony, feed it, and plan for the volume it needs to handle starting in September.
Employee training: If you have employees or apprentices, this is when to invest in training. Get them to a seminar. Practice specific techniques. Build their skills before the rush.
Marketing for fall season: Start your pre-season marketing plan now. What are you going to send to past customers in August? What social media content will you post in September to announce you're open for deer season?
August: Pre-Season Marketing
Eight weeks before deer season in most states. Hunters are scouting, practicing, and thinking about fall. This is when to reach out to past customers.
Tasks:
- Send pre-season email or text to past customer list: "Deer season is 8 weeks away. Book your slot now."
- Post on social media about your fall availability
- Update your website with current pricing
- Call your tannery contact to confirm your account details and any rate changes for the season
- Order deer forms, eyes, and supplies ahead of the September rush
If you've never done pre-season outreach before, August is the best possible month to start. A simple message to 100 past customers saying you're booking for deer season will generate inbound calls.
September: Archery Opener and Early Intake
Archery season opens in most states in September. Early-season intake begins. Volume is lower than November, but the jobs that come in now have longer production windows, which helps your queue management.
Tasks:
- First deer capes of the season coming in, execute your intake process consistently
- Start shipping early capes to the tannery as batches accumulate
- Confirm your deposit collection process is working
- Check your tracking link process: every customer gets a link at intake
This is also prime time for waterfowl in early states. If you take duck or goose work, make sure your migratory bird permit verification process is ready.
October: Ramping Volume
Deer season is fully open in most states. October sees increasing intake volume leading toward the peak. Many hunters take vacation weeks around October to hunt, which means intake volume can spike around specific weekends.
Tasks:
- Process intake efficiently during high-volume weekends
- Keep tannery shipments moving. Don't let capes accumulate in your freezer for longer than necessary.
- Send status updates to customers who came in during September
- Post photos of your work on social media. October content reaches hunters actively thinking about mounts.
November: Peak Season
The most critical month of your taxidermy year. Firearms deer season in major states (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa) runs mostly in November. Your intake volume will likely hit its highest point of the year in November.
Tasks:
- Execute your intake process consistently on every single job. This is not the month to take shortcuts.
- Collect deposits from every customer. Every one.
- Set realistic turnaround expectations. If you're already full, say so.
- Consider implementing a waitlist for customers you can't take immediately
- Send intake confirmation and tracking link for every new job
This is also when you should stop taking new jobs if you've hit your capacity limit for the season. A job you take in late November that you can't realistically complete until month 14 of an 18-month queue does nobody any favors. Know your limit.
December: End of Season Intake and Backlog Management
Some states have late firearm seasons in December. Muzzleloader and late archery seasons bring additional intake. Volume is declining from November but still active.
Tasks:
- Continue managing intake for late-season hunters
- Set end-of-season intake cutoff date if you haven't already
- Begin shipping capes to tannery for any December intakes that are ready
- Send season-end status updates to all customers with jobs in queue
December is also when to evaluate whether you're going to change your intake cutoff for next season based on how full your queue is.
Year-Round: Customer Communication
Status updates, notifications, and communication don't follow a seasonal schedule. They happen every time a job advances through a production stage.
The best shops have automated this so that customer notifications fire when stages are updated, reducing the manual communication burden during peak months. That automation is built once, in a quiet month like June or July, and then runs without effort through every subsequent season.
Setting Revenue Targets for the Year
Annual planning isn't just about knowing what months are busy. It's about setting specific, measurable goals for the year and tracking progress against them.
A practical framework:
- Last year's revenue as your baseline
- Target growth rate (shops that implement plans typically target 15-25% growth)
- Specific drivers: More customers? Higher average ticket? More species variety? Better repeat rate?
- Monthly tracking against your targets so you can adjust mid-year if needed
Break your annual target into seasonal segments. How much do you expect from turkey season? From summer fish work? From deer season? Knowing where your revenue comes from by species and by month helps you make better marketing and capacity decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a taxidermy shop do in January when season is slow?
January is the right month to review last season's performance, close out open jobs from deer season, send pickup reminders to customers with completed mounts, and start your post-season financial analysis. It's the worst time to make major investment decisions but the best time to give yourself an honest look at what worked and what didn't before the memory fades. Document your intake volume, per-job margins, tannery spend, and any customer service issues from the season while they're fresh.
How do I plan for the next deer season starting in February?
February is your annual planning month. Pull your prior season data, review your pricing against current material costs, evaluate your systems for any improvements, set revenue targets for the coming year, and open your tannery rate conversation before the rush. Map your year through the calendar with specific actions by month, particularly the August pre-season outreach, the September early intake setup, and the November capacity limit you're committing to in advance. Planning in February means executing in November rather than reacting.
What is the taxidermy industry's annual revenue cycle?
The taxidermy industry follows hunting and fishing seasons closely. Revenue begins building in September with archery openers, peaks in November during major firearms deer seasons, and tapers through December and January. A secondary peak occurs in April-May during spring turkey seasons and a third, smaller cycle through the summer for fish work. Total annual revenue for most full-service shops is 50-65% generated in the October-January window, which is why preparation in the preceding months matters so much.
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 shop annual planning?
The most common mistake is treating taxidermy shop annual planning 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.
Related Articles
- 5 Ways Colorado Taxidermy Shops Are Managing Trophy Elk Season
- 5 Ways Ohio Taxidermy Shops Are Winning Deer Season with Software
- 5 Ways Texas Taxidermy Shops Are Managing Deer and Exotic Season
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
Most taxidermists lose hours each week to paperwork, status calls, and compliance tracking. MountChief handles the administrative side so you can focus on the craft.