Taxidermy Shop Staffing Guide: When to Hire and Who

By MountChief Editorial Team|Updated Mar 2026

The most expensive staffing mistake in a taxidermy shop is hiring before you understand why you're overwhelmed. If the problem is disorganized intake, another taxidermist won't fix it. If the problem is production backlog, a part-time receptionist won't fix it. And if the problem is manual processes that software can handle automatically, neither hire fixes it. You've just added payroll.

Hiring before implementing software is the single most common and most expensive staffing mistake small shops make. This guide helps you figure out what you actually need before you commit to payroll.

TL;DR

If your backlog is 30 deer heads and you could close it out in two weeks with focused effort, you don't need to hire.
Software at roughly $80 to $150 per month handles functions that would otherwise require 10 to 15 hours per week of administrative time.
"Customer calls during production hours are taking 90 minutes a day I don't have" is specific.
"I'm missing intake information on 20 percent of deer cape jobs" is specific.
Hiring a full-time employee to handle a 6-week volume spike is rarely the right answer.
If you're losing 2 hours a day to customer status calls, the problem is communication, not production.

The Three Staffing Questions

Before you hire anyone for any reason, answer these three questions:

1. What specifically is breaking?

Name the actual problem. "I'm overwhelmed" is not a specific problem. "Customer calls during production hours are taking 90 minutes a day I don't have" is specific. "I'm missing intake information on 20 percent of deer cape jobs" is specific. You can hire for a specific problem. You can't hire for being overwhelmed.

2. Can software fix this instead of a person?

Customer calls asking for status updates: software portal. Intake information gaps: structured intake software with required fields. Follow-up communication: automated notifications. If software can handle the function, software is cheaper and more consistent than a person.

3. Is this a temporary peak or a permanent capacity issue?

October and November volume in a deer-focused shop is not a permanent state. Hiring a full-time employee to handle a 6-week volume spike is rarely the right answer. Seasonal help or better systems often are.

When to Hire Another Taxidermist

You need another taxidermist when:

Your production backlog is consistently exceeding your customer commitments by more than 8 weeks
You're turning away jobs you want because you don't have production capacity
You can't take a day off without the production timeline slipping

You don't need another taxidermist when:

Your backlog is long because you're underselling, if you raised prices, volume would drop to a manageable level
Your backlog is long because intake is disorganized and production time is being lost to administrative work
You're overwhelmed during a 6-week deer season rush but slow the rest of the year

The test: if you added a second taxidermist and doubled your production capacity, would your revenue increase enough to cover their cost? If your current backlog represents $80,000 in unfulfilled production at current pricing, adding capacity makes sense. If your backlog is 30 deer heads and you could close it out in two weeks with focused effort, you don't need to hire.

When to Hire an Intake or Administrative Person

An intake or administrative person handles customer contact, intake documentation, job tracking, and communication. The question is whether you need a person for these functions or whether software handles them.

Software handles:

Sending status updates to customers
Storing and organizing intake records
Generating invoices
Tracking jobs through production stages
Sending pickup notifications

A person adds value for:

Face-to-face intake when customer volume at the counter is high
Phone calls that require judgment and conversation
Physical specimen handling during intake (measuring, photographing, tagging)

In most small shops (one to two taxidermists processing under 400 jobs per season) software eliminates the need for a dedicated administrative person entirely. The AI intake tools handle documentation and communication automatically.

If you're a larger operation processing 600-plus jobs per season, a part-time intake person during deer season (October through December) is often a better answer than a full-time year-round hire.

The Software-Before-Staffing Rule

Implement shop management software before you hire anyone. Here's why this order matters:

Software reveals your actual capacity. Once your intake is organized and your production stages are tracked, you'll have real data on where time is being lost. That data tells you what kind of help you actually need. If you're losing 2 hours a day to customer status calls, the problem is communication, not production.

Software changes your staffing needs. Automated customer notifications eliminate the need for someone to call customers manually. AI intake reduces the information gaps that create rework. The person you thought you needed may not be necessary once your systems are working.

Software makes any hire more effective. A new employee joining a disorganized shop absorbs your disorder and becomes part of it. A new employee joining a shop with clear systems, documented processes, and software support can be productive immediately.

The inverse is also true: hiring before implementing software tends to entrench the disorganized processes, because the new hire learns the manual way of doing things and becomes resistant to software change later.

What Position to Fill First

If your honest evaluation tells you that you do need to hire, here's the order that produces the best results for most shops:

First hire: part-time intake support during peak season

A reliable person who handles intake (greeting customers, documenting specimens, photographing, tagging) during your October-December peak frees you to stay in production. This doesn't require taxidermy skills. It requires attention to detail and the ability to follow a documented intake protocol.

This hire should be part-time, seasonal, and built around your documented intake process. If you don't have a documented intake process, create one before you hire.

Second hire: full-time production taxidermist

When your intake is organized, your customer communication is automated, and you've confirmed that production is the genuine bottleneck. That's when you hire a second taxidermist. This is a higher-cost, higher-impact hire, and it should come after you've confirmed that production is genuinely the constraint, not intake chaos masquerading as production capacity.

Compensating Seasonal Intake Help

Seasonal intake staff is typically compensated hourly. For a taxidermy shop, expect to pay $14 to $22 per hour depending on your region and the level of judgment the role requires.

A basic intake assistant who follows a checklist and operates your management software sits at the lower end. Someone who can also handle customer objections, quote prices, and make independent intake decisions sits at the higher end.

Set a clear hourly rate and scope of responsibilities before the hire. Ambiguous job descriptions produce ambiguous performance.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know when it's time to hire another taxidermist?

When your production backlog is consistently running more than 8 weeks past your customer commitments AND you've already organized your intake, automated your communication, and confirmed that production is the actual bottleneck. Not intake disorganization or time lost to manual administrative work. If you haven't done those things first, the bottleneck may not be where you think it is.

Is hiring staff or buying software the better investment for a growing shop?

Software first, always. Software at roughly $80 to $150 per month handles functions that would otherwise require 10 to 15 hours per week of administrative time. A part-time hire for the same functions costs $600 to $1,200 per month at minimum wage, before accounting for reliability, training, and turnover. Software also improves the effectiveness of any hire you make afterward, staff working in an organized system produce better results than staff working in a disorganized one.

What position should I hire first when expanding my taxidermy shop?

A part-time seasonal intake assistant during your peak period, typically October through December. This person follows your documented intake protocol, handles specimen documentation, and frees you to stay in production during your highest-volume weeks. This hire doesn't require taxidermy skills, it requires consistency and attention to detail. Build a documented intake process first, then hire someone to execute it.

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 staffing guide?

The most common mistake is treating taxidermy shop staffing guide 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.

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Sources

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

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