Summer Off-Season Guide: Catch Up and Prepare for Fall

By MountChief Editorial Team|Updated Mar 2026

Summer gets called the off-season, but that's only true if you don't use it right. Most shops enter summer carrying 20 to 40 outstanding jobs from spring seasons. Deer season is four to five months away. The window is narrow and the opportunity is real.

Off-season efficiency improvements compound into 35% better fall season performance. That's not a number to skip past. Shops that use summer to get organized handle November and December differently than shops that coast into fall with a cluttered bench and an unclear job list.

This guide walks through the full summer workflow: closing out spring jobs, managing your backlog, setting up for fall, and making the system improvements that only happen when things aren't on fire.

TL;DR

Making that switch during deer season, when you're taking 15 mounts a week, is painful.
Making it in July when you're taking 3 per week is manageable.
Week 1: Set up MountChief and enter all current outstanding jobs into the system.
By August 1, you should be fully operational on the new system before a single deer comes in.
Some are running 20+ weeks on turnaround right now.
Week 2: Use the system for all new intake.

Take Stock Before You Do Anything Else

The first thing to do in June is generate a complete job list. Every outstanding mount, where it is in production, what's at the tannery, what's waiting on a form, what's done but not picked up. If you can't produce that list from memory or from your records in under 30 minutes, that itself is the first problem to solve.

If you're on paper, this means a physical walkthrough and hand count. Every job gets a status: intake, at tannery, returned from tannery, in production, finished waiting on customer, delivered. Write it down somewhere organized. If you're using MountChief, run the open jobs report and look at it honestly.

What you're doing here is identifying your true backlog. Not the backlog you think you have, but the actual number with actual statuses. Most shops discover surprises in this exercise: a cape that's been at the tannery two months longer than expected, a finished mount that's been sitting unclaimed for six weeks, a job that's stuck at "in production" because you're waiting on an eye delivery that you forgot to order.

June: Close Out Spring and Chase Stalled Jobs

June should be about finishing and delivering, not starting new work. Take every turkey mount, bird, and spring fish job and push them to completion. Set a target: by July 1, spring season work is done or has a specific reason for delay documented.

Chasing Tannery Returns

If you have capes at a tannery that are overdue, June is when you follow up. Don't wait. Tanneries are busy in spring processing the same deer capes that came in during November and December. Some are running 20+ weeks on turnaround right now. A polite but direct inquiry gets things moving in a way that waiting does not.

When you contact the tannery, give them specific lot or job numbers. If you've been tracking tannery shipments in MountChief, you can generate a list of overdue items sorted by ship date. That kind of organized inquiry gets a faster, more specific response than "do you have my stuff?"

For a complete guide to managing tannery relationships and accountability, the tannery relationship guide goes deep on how to get faster turnaround and hold tanneries accountable without burning the relationship.

Completing Unfinished Production Work

If you have jobs in production that have stalled, figure out why in June. Common stall reasons:

Waiting on a form back-order
Waiting on a specific eye or hardware
A job that was started and set aside for a "harder" time that never came
A job where the customer made a late change request that you haven't resolved

Document the specific reason each stalled job is stalled. Then resolve it, one by one. Most stalls are solvable in one phone call or one supply order.

Contacting Customers with Finished Mounts

Any finished mount sitting in your shop past the promised pickup date is taking up space you need for fall. Contact those customers now. Send a text or email: mount is ready, pickup by (date), storage fee applies after that date per your policies.

Some will come get it quickly. Some won't respond. The ones who don't respond after two contact attempts need to be handled per your abandonment policy. Don't let completed mounts pile up through summer because you didn't make the calls.

July: Systems, Migration, and Setup

July is the best month of the year to change your systems. Intake is low, you have time to think, and fall is still far enough away that you can make mistakes and learn from them before things get busy.

Summer is the optimal time to migrate from paper to software before the fall rush. Making that switch during deer season, when you're taking 15 mounts a week, is painful. Making it in July when you're taking 3 per week is manageable.

Migrating from Paper to Digital

If you're still on paper, July is the month. Here's a practical migration approach:

Week 1: Set up MountChief and enter all current outstanding jobs into the system. Don't worry about historical records right now, just open jobs. For each one, enter the customer info, species, mount type, current status, and any tannery tracking info you have.

Week 2: Use the system for all new intake. Every job that comes in from now on is digital from the start. Get comfortable with the intake workflow before you're doing 10 a day.

Week 3: Set up your customer portal. Add the portal link to your shop signage, your business cards, and your intake confirmation text. Start pointing current customers to it.

Week 4: Set up your tannery tracking. Enter your primary tannery as a vendor, log any current outstanding shipments, and set up the portal access for your tannery contact.

By August 1, you should be fully operational on the new system before a single deer comes in.

Pre-Ordering Fall Supplies

July is when you order for November. Specifically:

Deer forms: Order your primary shoulder mount forms for the most common sizes at your shop. An 18-inch neck circumference form for an average whitetail buck, for example. Order enough to cover your projected intake without back-orders. Back-ordering forms in October is a timeline killer.
Eyes: Stock up on the eye colors you use most for deer, turkey, and anything else in your regional species mix.
Tanning supplies if you tan in-house, order your pickle and oil volumes for fall.
Intake tags and supplies: If you're running QR tags, order the tag stock you'll need for peak season.
Freezer bags and wrap: Stock more than you think you need. You'll use them.

Reviewing and Updating Your Pricing

Fall is your highest-revenue season. Make sure your pricing is right before it starts. Common mistakes to check:

Pricing that doesn't account for current tannery fees (which often increase year over year)
Labor rates that haven't kept pace with your actual time on each mount type
Deposit rates that aren't high enough to protect you if a customer backs out
Pricing for species you added but never formally priced

If you've been meaning to raise your deer shoulder mount price, do it in July. Set the new rate for the new season. Post it, update your intake software, and be consistent.

Setting Up Your Deer Season Intake Workflow

Before you take a single deer in November, your intake workflow should be mapped and practiced. This means:

Knowing exactly which fields you'll capture at intake for every deer
Having QR tags or whatever physical tagging system you're using ready to go
Knowing your tannery's current turnaround quote so you can give customers accurate timelines at intake
Having your deposit policy clear and your payment processing ready

Run a practice intake on a dummy job in your software. Make sure the workflow is smooth enough that you can do it in under five minutes on a busy night with five hunters waiting.

August: Finish the Backlog and Pre-Season Communication

August is the time to close the gap completely. Every spring and summer job should be done or in a known, documented status by Labor Day.

Final Backlog Review

Run your open jobs report again. Anything still open gets one of three statuses:

In final production with a specific expected completion date
At tannery with a documented expected return date
Stuck with a specific documented reason and a resolution action assigned

Don't let "in production" remain a vague catch-all. By August, every open job needs a specific next action and a date.

Preparing Customer Communication Templates

Before deer season starts, set up the text and email templates you'll use throughout fall. At minimum:

Intake confirmation (sent same day as intake, includes portal link and estimated completion)
Tannery shipment notification (sent when the cape ships, with expected return)
Tannery return notification (sent when the cape comes back, with updated production timeline)
Ready for pickup (sent when the mount is done, includes balance due and pickup options)

Building these templates in July and August means you're not writing them at 10pm during deer season. MountChief's automated status update system fires these templates automatically when a job status changes, so you're not manually sending them either.

Social Media and Marketing Before Season

If you do any social media for your shop, August and September are when hunters are getting excited about the upcoming season. Post your pricing, your intake policies, and your deposit requirements. Show finished work. Remind people that your calendar fills up and early drop-offs often get faster timelines.

Shops that communicate clearly before season opens set better customer expectations before they ever walk in the door.

September: Final Preparation Before Season

Two months before peak deer season intake in most states. By now your systems should be in place. September is about dialing in the details.

Confirm Tannery Capacity

Contact your primary tannery in September and ask directly about their fall capacity and current turnaround quote. This is the number you'll give customers at intake in November. If your tannery is already running 20 weeks on deer capes in September, quote customers accordingly. Don't promise 6 months if your tannery needs 8.

If you've had tannery problems in the past (lost capes, damaged hides, long unexplained delays), September is the time to evaluate alternatives. Switching tanneries mid-season is painful. Switching in September, before the rush, is manageable.

Set Your Intake Capacity for Fall

Be honest about how many mounts you can take in per week and still deliver on the timelines you're promising. If you can realistically process 8 deer mounts per week through your shop, don't accept 15. Overbooking is the most common cause of late deliveries, and late deliveries damage your reputation in ways that are slow to heal.

Some shops cap intake by pre-booking spots. Others work on a first-come, first-served basis but communicate wait times transparently. Either system works if you're honest about it.

Check Your Freezer Capacity

You'll need freezer space for incoming deer capes that accumulate before tannery shipment. Make sure your freezers are running correctly, have adequate space for peak intake weeks, and that you have a backup plan if a freezer fails. A chest freezer failure during peak intake week could mean hundreds of dollars in damaged specimens. Service your freezers before season, not after.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I manage a taxidermy backlog during summer?

Start with a complete job audit: every outstanding job gets a documented status and a specific next action. Prioritize completing jobs that are furthest along, then chase overdue tannery returns, then contact customers with finished mounts that need pickup. Set a target to have all spring work closed out by July 1. Don't start fall preparation until spring is genuinely done, not nearly done.

What systems should I set up during the off-season for deer season?

The four highest-impact systems to set up in summer are: digital intake to replace paper forms, tannery shipment tracking with documented return dates, automated customer update templates, and a pre-ordered supply inventory for forms and eyes. Getting all four in place before November means you're operating on systems during peak season rather than building them while under pressure.

How do I use slower months to improve my taxidermy business?

The summer months have a different opportunity than the busy season: time to think rather than just react. Use it to evaluate what broke last fall and fix it, to train on new techniques or products, to review your pricing for accuracy, and to contact existing customers about outstanding work. The changes you make in July show up in November's efficiency. Shops that improve their systems in summer consistently outperform those that coast through the off-season.

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 summer offseason guide?

The most common mistake is treating taxidermy summer offseason 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.

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

Pre-season preparation is what separates shops that handle peak volume smoothly from those that fall behind on day one. MountChief's intake, tracking, and communication tools are designed to handle the pace of your busiest weeks. Try MountChief before your next season opener.