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Good discussion. All I’ll say is, what the market will bear is extremely regional. Huge difference in culture and attitude in different parts of the country, and different economy too, it will have a tremendous effect on what you can charge. Comparison to skilled trades such as the plumber, mechanic etc. are a little misleading. Deciding not to spend money on getting a deer head done won’t leave you carrying buckets of water from the creek to heat up on the fire to wash your clothes and clean the dishes.:devil:
I started out $550,then I went up to $600 the next year.The last two years I’ve been at $675 and the deer still coming in.People that you wouldn’t expect to pay $675 is paying $675 to have a deer done.I just got a full time job and did 53 hrs last week.I redid my prices yesterday morning.Deer heads just went up to $700.Plenty of hacks they can go to if they don’t like the price that goes with the quality,LOL
Should be charging at minimum 3x your cost to make a profit.
You will never get the $300 dollar guy’s to raise their prices, Most guy’s getting the high dollar have something to fall back on,Like a full time job. Over the last several years i have diversified my business letting me raise my prices and focus on what i wanted to take in. My small mamals start at $800 plus the base . I don’t get many of those 3-4 a year, fish are 12 and 14 i did 13 this year throw in 3 life size bears and 60 shoulder mounts and some skull mounts. Most guy’s cant raise a family on those numbers, But i don’t have kids at home My wife has a good job with insurance. But i also do processing and sell some taxidermy supplies so i don’t care if i take in less taxidermy work. so this year i’m going up to$495 for deer will take only 50 or maybe less.
Taxidermy is my full-time job. Deer-$645, small game-$1,045, ducks-$325. Raised 3 kids on it. Now raising 2 more!:biggergrin:
Page you are one of the few excetions. I don’t have many full time guy’s near me most are guy’s with full time jobs just doing taxidermy for extra money, I’m sure most of them don’t report the income, so at 350 thier making some money. But quality wise i have very little competition, the average hunter just wants the cheapest mount they can get. I usualy get a few remounts every year as well
Taz, when I started, I was at $175. Took in 48 deer. I’ve never taken in that many since, and I’m the only full time taxi in the county. I average only 15-20 deer a year. They aren’t my staple that’s for sure. I’m not near a big city so I had to go get clients. Lots of kitchen table guys around here, so i know the frustration sometimes. But I learned long ago, there is more work than all of us can do. No need to argue too much over the low ballers. They serve a purpose. It is to keep the aggravating clients away from us.:biggergrin:
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