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Periodically, we'll post news articles here which provide
an outside view of our work here at West Michigan Taxidermy,
Inc. Enjoy! Thanks for visiting us.
Saturday, November 14, 1998, Grand Rapids Press
Business Section
West Michigan Taxidermy was featured in an article written
by Mary Ann Sabo entitled Doing Their Stuff - Taxidermists
hope to stay busy preserving the pride of the hunt.
The article dealt with taxidermists preparing to deal with
the deluge of deer being brought in as Michigan's deer season
opened.
The article also featured two photographs of one of WMT's
wildlife artists at work on a shoulder mount of a whitetail buck
and his comments on the importance of detail in achieving a lifelike
aspect to the finished mount.
 February 1998, Shoreline Business Monthly
ACCESS Magazine
Article reproduced with permission from the February 1998
issue of The Shoreline Business Monthly and Access, published
by Michigan displays, Inc., 6520 Schamber Drive, Suite A, Muskegon,
MI 49444-9752. Phone (616) 798-4669 Fax (616) 798-8335. Photo
by Paul Dileski
 From hobby to business
A love of watching animals for a Coopersville man became
a taxidermy hobby, which in turn led to a growing business.
By Paul Dileski,
ACCESS Associate Editor
Dale Meindertsma loved hunting and watching animals in their
wild habitats so much that he wanted to preserve forever that
moment in time when he spotted the animal. Naturally, the next
step to follow was a hobby mounting animals "in life-like
poses."
In 1977, "I started out with a correspondence course,
but it wasn't very good," Dale says. "After that it
was all hands-on experience in the school of hard knocks."
Over the next several years Dale networked with other taxidermists
learning all the niceties of the mounting art and finally in
1988 attacked it full-time, opening West Michigan Taxidermy in
his home. Today, he has a storefront shop on Main Street in Coopersville
under the name WMT.
The immediate impression that might form in a person's mind
when first entering his shop is, with all the displays, mounts
and paintings, it must be a museum of natural history. That notion
is quickly dispelled, though, when touring the shop. With all
the taxidermy equipment and the number of furs and animals in
various stages of mounting, it leaves little doubt that this
is a hardworking business.
A Many Faceted Company
Not only did Dale turn a hobby into a company, but he has
continued to grow it, taking it to a level most West Michigan
taxidermists never aspire to.
"We do a lot of things and provide a lot of services
the other guys don't," Dale states.
Tanning. WMT does all its own tanning. Most taxidermists
don't. In this way, WMT is not at the mercy of a tanning company
as to when the skin is returned and whether or not it will be
damaged. WMT is in complete control of the pelt from the time
it comes in until the job is completed. "This gives us an
edge over the competition," Dale says. WMT also does tanning
for other taxidermists.
Freeze dry. Dale's company has a freeze-drying capability
which most other companies don't. The animal can be more easily
posed in any life-like position via the freezing than freeze-drying
method. He says it saves a lot of time and money.
Clearing house. Recently, WMT was designated a U.S.
Department of Agriculture clearing house for the processing of
restricted hides imported from other countries.
"We are fortunate to have this (designation). A lot of
other (taxidermists) can't do this and there are not many clearinghouses
in Michigan," Dale points out.
When a hide is sent from a country such as Africa, it must
go through a quarantine process, after which it is sent to a
hide broker in New York or Chicago. From there it goes to a clearing
house like WMT to be processed for contaminants like fleas. It
never goes directly to the hunter. To mount a restricted animal
another taxidermist must first go through WMT (or another clearinghouse).
By eliminating that barrier WMT is in a much better position
to win the mounting job. And even if WMT doesn't get the mounting
job, it did get the contaminant processing job.
Dale says that there are many hunters in West Michigan who
travel all over the world to hunt (in fact the president of Safari
Club International lives in West Michigan) so a clearinghouse
designation is a significant service to offer.
Informed clients. Because a mounting job averages from
six to eight months, Dale says it's important to keep customers
informed as to where their hide is in the process. This is one
of the major complaints about taxidermists by hunters "it
takes too long and they have no idea what's happening to their
trophy."
"To keep our clients informed throughout the mounting
process, our staff sends out postcards," Dale explains.
"They (clients) get several cards throughout the process.
It's worked very well and our customers thank us for it."
Computers. In today's world of computers it's hard
to believe that some businesses still are not using computers,
but most taxidermists don't employ computers, Dale says. He is
one of the few who do.
Dale uses a computer for everything from billing to keeping
track of where a fur is in the mounting process. And he is one
of the few, if not the only taxidermist in the state, with a
Web page.
"I advertise in the Yellow Pages, but I believe the Web
is the wave of the future," he says. "So I'm investing
in it."
Quality Control
Along with keeping his business on the cutting edge, Dale
is committed to quality.
"I am definitely quality conscious. Our philosophy is,
nothing goes out the door that I'm not happy with and nothing
goes out the door the customer is not happy with," Dale
says. He adds that if a customer is not happy, that customer
is likely to tell 20 others and those 20 will tell 20 more. But
the same holds true if the customer likes Dale's work. Word-of-mouth
business will start coming his way.
It's very important to make the mounts anatomically correct
and life-like. In this regard, Dale says he buys only top quality
forms (urethane foam forms of animals much like mannequins in
a store over which the hides are fitted) that are the most life-like.
And, more importantly, the skins are never trimmed to fit the
form, the form is altered to fit the skin.
Realistic glass eyes are another quality concern. There are
many brands on the market and some are much better than others.
"When you look into the eyes of one of our critters it
looks like he's looking right back at you," Dale says.
It would seem WMT has positioned itself well in the taxidermy
market, but Dale is still not satisfied.
Down The Road
"For the future I'd like to shorten the time it takes
for mounting to four to six months," he says, rather than
the six to eight it takes now. He has already shortened the time
it takes to mount a fish to 90 days.
Dale also wants to get away from doing single mounts for the
wall like a fish or deer head.
"I want to get into the bigger mammal mounts that are
in combination with another animal," Dale explains.
He wants to do more large diorama mounts such as the one that
immediately catches your eye as soon as you walk into his store;
an antelope surrounded by three coyotes.
He is doing one now for a customer who has four bobcats in
a glass case. For another customer he's working on a wolverine
in its natural habitat, and there are others, too.
From a hobby, doing something he loves, Dale created one of
the leading taxidermist shops in West Michigan. It's not surprising.
Almost every small business expert advises entrepreneurs to start
a business doing something they know and something that matters
to them. Dale is only one of a great many entrepreneurs that
grew a successful business from a passionate hobby.
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