Kindred Spirits School of Taxidermy

 *Dedicated to bringing out our students full creative potential.

*Small classes: Maximum students:   3 full time and two

  parttime students.  Three full time teachers and Two parttime

 teachers.   This is the key to a successful learning experience.

  We are experienced taxidermists working right along side

   the students who are mounting their own specimens that

   will be dressing up their own showrooms. Please take a brief

   moment to look closely at the photos posted of students first

   mounts. We are not afraid to post large photos, so you can see

   the quality and difficulty of the presentation/and habitat.

*Latest and best knowledge, techniques, stressing QUALITY!

    If you are a beginner, you start out slowly, when you have mastered

    each technique, we challenge you with a greater difficulty project. 

*True Tanning, Lutan-F, LiquaTan Oil methods, no auto tan.

*Super, hands down, all out habitat methods, PRESENTATION!

  What customers want. You will be busy when you get back home.

*Choices: 2 week sessions, catering to the students individual

   interests and desires of what they want to learn.

*Choices 4-6-8-10 week extended classes to cover all aspects of

  the taxidermy experience, jumpstarting you into your career.

*As an experienced teacher/taxidermist, I don't believe that a person

  can truely learn enough by just mounting one of something.   As an

  example: some schools offer in a mammal course, one specimen and

  all the students mount that same specimen in the same pose. Ugh! In

  our classes each student mounts something different, and in different poses.

  You will not believe how much more you can learn with this method. Yes

  it is more difficult for us to offer classes this way , but we are all about

  teaching taxidermy as a profession not as a hobby. When our students

  walk out the door at the end of a two week session, they feel confident

   to be able to actually perform their talents for customers. If you doubt

this statement , just pick up the phone and contact our past students.

JoAnn Waddell                Carey Owens         Jackson Tennant

319-753-0929              319-572-2909             319-572-5363

                 Mike Whitaker              Tim Roche

                kndsprt110@mchsi.com

 

John Mott , Gamehead Graduate, opening up soon in Burlington, Ia.

 

Tom Winters, 10 week graduate, begins his "Mount This"Taxidermy

business in Kalona, Iowa. He and Travis Yoder , below, took their

classes together, Travis is opening his business at Wellman, Iowa.

 

New student, Steve Everingham from Montgomery City,

Missouri is working on his black bear gamehead.

Steve plans on opening up his business when he

graduates, calling it Shamrock Taxidermy.

Watch for more photos. Good Luck Steve.

Ryan Malott, of Malott's Taxidermy, Lewistown, Illinois is going

to give his competitors a run for the money. He sent me this photo

of a recent mount. Ryan took his gamehead last summer and

is going to become a rising star in eastern illinois.

Our teachers are also

taxidermists with lots of customer work to do, but when

students get to mount their specimens right along side really

good taxidermists , they get to learn all the tricks. We send

our teachers to world class seminars with the masters and

their work shows this. Come join us and see what you

can learn. Not by just mounting one gamehead, and three

birds,,,,,,,, you need to be mounting at least three gameheads,

and 6-7 birds, including a turkey, and in our mammal class

recently,students mounted lifesize coyotes, badger rugs,

one student also mounted a sitting squirrel, and a lifesize

otter, sewed a beaver hat and gloves made from doe

buckskin. He mounted a flying mallard, flying pheasant,

standing teal, standing ross goose in a corn field, strutting

turkey with a freeze dried head, while another student mounted

a flying turkey, a blue goose coming in for a landing, flushing

pheasant, bufflehead in ice scene, and much more.

Recent graduates want to show off their mounts for their showrooms.

You can tell that they are extremely happy about their new found

passions as wildlife artists. These new taxidermists are as follows:

Daryl Bailey , watch out for this guy, he is not only great but he is

fast and quality is not dimished. You will find him at 10591 NE

82ndAve, ., Iowa 50035  515-967-6300 He started out with one

tanned cape, and tanned the two other capes and mounted all three

finished them in just two weeks............. yes and they look good.

He is returning for more classes and he will tell you proudly what

others thought of his mounts, right out of school.

 

Ron Ward, talented and smart, this go getter will surprise some of his competition,

You can find him at 311 E Ave E, Lewistown, Illinois. 61542  309-678-

0520.

Tim Kasling, he is a natural, great at everything he lays his hands on. Says that he is

not ready to do work for others, but when they saw his work, watch out, now what

are you going to do Tim. they want you to do their mounts..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!You can

ask Tim what he thought of his training, , 11502 Sandpiper, Okawville, Ill. 62271

618-980-9620.

Brian Reaktenwalt, we have seen his work before from a previous fish class, but now

he has returned to show us that he is also great at mammals, he mounted a lifesize

bobcat, a  fox rug, and a super nice howling coyote.

Troy Thames also showed us that he is a natural with the mammals, He surprised

himself I think. He did such a nice job on his lifesize bobcat and his rug and his

309-303-1684.

Jackson Tennant in the middle as you can tell, is up to his tricks always helpful and

ready to assist the students. He is with us for almost 2 years now.

Newest student from Wisconsin, Nick Reese, working on his bobcat. He is also

building a wall rock. He finished his beaver hat and bear claw necklace and I

think that he sleeps with them on. He is having the time of his life, enjoying his

new found passion also as a wildlife artist. He will be joining his dad Matt, a

Rinehart graduate, at their shop when he graduates.

 

 

 

Another future gread wildlife artist is Chris Sink. I have a few more photos to add. He

is also an avid shed hunter and has alot of awesome whitetail to mount because of it.

(more to come soon)

 

This cute idea was the invention of Randy Onica, of the now renown Randy's

Recreations, Taxidermy will never be the same now. You can reach him at  his shop

at Rosebush,  Michigan. 989-560-9600. Randy just took in his 50th mount to do , good

job Randy and good luck to you always. JoAnn

 

Curtis Griffin, has completed all of his classes and has opened up his business

now, "Rock Hills Taxidermy " , Watch out you guys in Missouri!

The sun was in his eyes, and his mount was mounted

for the trip home, but his work was fantastic.

Rock Hills Taxidermy, Advance, Missouri,

573-576-6346

Jeff Bittner, of Storm Lake, Iowa. Has completed his training now and is

working  at his new business, Twin Rivers Taxidermy .  

He was surprised to have learned so much is such a short period of time.

Jeff is just returning from Army duty in Iraq, thank you Lt. Bittner.

Twin Rivers Taxidermy, New Sharon, Ia.

515-201-1642

 

 

Brian Reaktenwalt, 200 W.Fast Ave. ,Mackinaq,Illinois 61755

309-359-3354. Brian just finished his first class , completing his

fish courses and water habitat. Wow, what a splash! he is going

to make in the taxidermy world.

Fiberglas reproduction Trout by Brian Reaktenwalt, Mackinaw,Ill

Eric Gooding..........Gooding Taxidermy, 215 Main St. ,Maquon, Illinois 61458

                You can reach Eric for your taxidermy needs at 309-875-3150 or

                  309-875-7888

                 

Bruce Bailey, Michigan, you can reach bruce at ..........bruceb@

triplebhunting.com or 989-466-1200. Bruce has finished all his

classes now and is working as "Four Seasons Taxidermy"

Alma, Michigan. Great job Bruce, as you can see.

Bruce is returning on Monday for the completion of his 10 week course.

Bruce mounted this super walleye and the antelope and the above bass.

You can reach Bruce at 989-466-1200 or bruceb@triplebhunting.com

Vickie Wright, Straight Shooters Taxidermy, Toma, Wisconsin,

 is taking in the work, wow,  and already 19 gameheads

and 12 fish, coyotes and bears, turkeys and more. She will be a great

taxidermists also. You can talk to her about her experience at Kindred Spirits.

Update: We just went to the Wisconsin Deer and Turkey Classic and Vickie

had mounted the second largest whitetail taken in Wisconsin and it was on

display in our booth. Vickie talked with many prospective students and

told us that she got to mount over 25 whitetails in her first year. She is a

full time taxidermist and is also mounting fish, mammals and birds and

turkeys. Call Vickie, her work is going to be heard about in the future.

 608-372-3615.She mounted

 some awesome mounts for her showroom.

Update, Vickie mailed me several newspaper articles and photos of her

most recent mounts. She just completed a lifesize mountain lion with

her son. He had to leave now for tour in Iraq. Say a prayer for him

to return safetly. He plans to work with mom and will hopefully join

her again soon. Love ya, Vickie. Great Job.

 

We strive to always teach with patience and an understanding that often how well a student does when they leave the school depends on the learning experience that they had in the school.  We will make every effort to present the best instruction and techniques in all phases of this ever changing field of wildlife art. We feel very fortunate to have discovered taxidermy as a final career and hope that our enthusiam spills over into the classroom every day.  We want our students to leave with the confidence and knowledge that it takes to have a chance to make it out there in the business world. We believe that the finished product is only as good as the method and materials used in the process from the beginning.

 We feel that this give each student a better chance to have more one on one time.  Attending our school allows you to mount what you want to mount. Each student might be mounting say, a different gamehead during the same class. Example: You might be mounting a whitetail shoulder and the other students might be mounting an antelope and an aoudad . In the lifesize class, one student might be mounting a bobcat, another a coyote, another a racoon. You get to learn not only what you are doing but are observing and learning other information at the same time. Why should you loose out , do what you want to do. You make the decisions/choices depending on what specimens you bring or want to purchase. It just makes more sense to expose yourself to the most information as you possibly can for the money.

 

 

    Thank you for your visit to our website. If you have any further questions you may feel free to contact us at

the following email address or phone us at the school.

Kndsprt110@mchsi.com 319-753-0929----------or 319-759-1045                                              

        or write to us at the following address:        Kindred Spirits School of Taxidermy

        110 N. Gear Ave, West Burlington, Iowa 52655

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.taxidermy.net     Best taxidermy site around.

http://www.taxidermy.com   WASCO , Wildlife Artist Supply Company.

http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com VanDykes Taxidermy Supply Company.

http://www.rmi-online.com Research Mannikins,inc.

http://www.mckenziesp.com McKenzie Taxidermy Supply Company.

http://www.joecoombs.com Joe Coombs Classics,Inc.

http://www.walnutcreekhardwood.com Walnut Creek Hardwood,Inc.

http://www.trapperman.com Trapper Man website  

www.tabhintontaxidermysup.com     Tab Hinton Taxidermy Supply Company