New taxidermist in town
Wiersma spends spare time preserving animals
By Rae Lanzrath
STAFF WRITER
LEAF VALLEY — Shelby Wiersma was in high school when she taxidermized her first animal, a squirrel. Since then, Wiersma has opened her very own taxidermy business, BlueRose Taxidermy.
“I kind of fell in love with it after I did that squirrel,” Wiersma said. “I decided to attend a taxidermy school and start doing it more.”
After graduating high school, Wiersma went on to attend the Central Minnesota School of Taxidermy. The 12-week course taught Wiersma how to preserve deer, birds, fish and small mammals. Wiersma said the classes took place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so she was able to work full time while doing that in her off time.
“The thing about taxidermy is that there is not necessarily a right or wrong way to do things,” Wiersma said. “Taking that course just kind of showed me how other people do it, and then you can figure out what you like, what works for you and how you want to do it.”
Wiersma finished her taxidermy course in May 2024 and officially opened her own business in June 2024.
“I had been doing some animals just for myself and my family before that,” Wiersma said. “Opening my own business allowed me to be able to build more of a customer base.”
Wiersma said the animal she works on most since opening BlueRose Taxidermy is deer, but she has had a few opportunities to do other species as well. She said she hopes to be able to expand her knowledge to include more fish and waterfowl and that she is always excited to take on new projects.
“I’m much more comfortable doing deer now than I was even a year ago,” Wiersma said. “I’m still learning with fish and waterfowl.”
With deer hunting in full swing, Wiersma has started taking in animals to taxidermy. She said her goal is to get last year’s deer back to the customers before this season begins.
“When I get the hides, I send them off to a tannery,” Wiersma said. “That can take eight or nine months to get them back.”
Because Wiersma cannot tan the hides herself, she has to send them to a separate company so they can be ready to be mounted. Another goal of hers is to learn how to tan the hides herself to eliminate the middleman in the process.
“I’m working on reorganizing and designing my garage to become my taxidermy area,” Wiersma said. “Once I do that, I’m going to learn how to tan the hides myself, and then I will also be able to handle more animals at once.”
For now, Wiersma’s work area is a temporary spot in her basement. She said she is excited to have a more appropriate workspace and is hoping to have her garage done by next year.
Once she has sent the hides off to the tannery, Wiersma waits for them to come back. When they are done being tanned, she gets to work.
“It’s a fairly simple process,” Wiersma said. “You just do the same process for each deer, and it doesn’t take very long to learn.”
When mounting a deer, Wiersma starts by carefully stretching the hide. She said sometimes, the hides shrink during the tanning process, so they are smaller than they should be. Once it is stretched out, she begins working on the form.
“The forms all come very standard; sometimes you have to customize them a little bit,” Wiersma said. “There are a lot of details that other people may not notice, but I notice.”
One customization Wiersma does to the deer forms is replacing the nose piece. The forms are made from a hard, white foam. She slices the nose piece off and replaces it with a pink nose piece.
“It looks a little more natural, and when it’s held up to the light, you can see it’s pink and not white,” Wiersma said. “I don’t know if anyone would ever notice that, but I think it looks nicer.”
Depending on the deer, Wiersma may alter other parts of the mold to make it fit more appropriately.
She also adds clay around the eyes to add some volume under the hide, glass eyeballs and ears.
“I use clay to stick the eyes and ears onto the form,” Wiersma said. “I add the clay around the eyes to give it the eyelid look.”
Wiersma attaches the antlers to the form next. Similarly to the ears and eyes, she uses clay to secure the antlers to the form. Finally, Wiersma adds the hide to the form. She ensures the form is straight and level to make sure the hide sits how it should.
“I glue the hide together where it was caped out, and then, it just sits for a few days to dry,” Wiersma said.
The final step in the process is to remove any pins Wiersma may have added to help the glue dry, which is done after it has completely cured. She goes through and makes sure the hair coat looks as it should and touches up the nose with paint.
“The detail work really doesn’t take long at all,” Wiersma said. “It’s just making sure it looks pretty.”
Wiersma said her favorite part of doing taxidermy is that she is able to hear hunting stories from all her customers. She said they are often excited when they drop their deer off because they have harvested something worth preserving.
“I work a lot of late nights and long hours to get these done,” Wiersma said. “But when customers come pick them up and they get so excited to see it done, it’s worth it. They tell you how they got the animal, and I love hunting, so I love hearing those stories. It’s always exciting because they haven’t seen their deer in almost a year since they shot it, so it’s like the first time for them.”
By Rae Lanzrath
STAFF WRITER
LEAF VALLEY — Shelby Wiersma was in high school when she taxidermized her first animal, a squirrel. Since then, Wiersma has opened her very own taxidermy business, BlueRose Taxidermy.
“I kind of fell in love with it after I did that squirrel,” Wiersma said. “I decided to attend a taxidermy school and start doing it more.”
After graduating high school, Wiersma went on to attend the Central Minnesota School of Taxidermy. The 12-week course taught Wiersma how to preserve deer, birds, fish and small mammals. Wiersma said the classes took place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so she was able to work full time while doing that in her off time.
“The thing about taxidermy is that there is not necessarily a right or wrong way to do things,” Wiersma said. “Taking that course just kind of showed me how other people do it, and then you can figure out what you like, what works for you and how you want to do it.”
Wiersma finished her taxidermy course in May 2024 and officially opened her own business in June 2024.
“I had been doing some animals just for myself and my family before that,” Wiersma said. “Opening my own business allowed me to be able to build more of a customer base.”
Wiersma said the animal she works on most since opening BlueRose Taxidermy is deer, but she has had a few opportunities to do other species as well. She said she hopes to be able to expand her knowledge to include more fish and waterfowl and that she is always excited to take on new projects.
“I’m much more comfortable doing deer now than I was even a year ago,” Wiersma said. “I’m still learning with fish and waterfowl.”
With deer hunting in full swing, Wiersma has started taking in animals to taxidermy. She said her goal is to get last year’s deer back to the customers before this season begins.
“When I get the hides, I send them off to a tannery,” Wiersma said. “That can take eight or nine months to get them back.”
Because Wiersma cannot tan the hides herself, she has to send them to a separate company so they can be ready to be mounted. Another goal of hers is to learn how to tan the hides herself to eliminate the middleman in the process.
“I’m working on reorganizing and designing my garage to become my taxidermy area,” Wiersma said. “Once I do that, I’m going to learn how to tan the hides myself, and then I will also be able to handle more animals at once.”
For now, Wiersma’s work area is a temporary spot in her basement. She said she is excited to have a more appropriate workspace and is hoping to have her garage done by next year.
Once she has sent the hides off to the tannery, Wiersma waits for them to come back. When they are done being tanned, she gets to work.
“It’s a fairly simple process,” Wiersma said. “You just do the same process for each deer, and it doesn’t take very long to learn.”
When mounting a deer, Wiersma starts by carefully stretching the hide. She said sometimes, the hides shrink during the tanning process, so they are smaller than they should be. Once it is stretched out, she begins working on the form.
“The forms all come very standard; sometimes you have to customize them a little bit,” Wiersma said. “There are a lot of details that other people may not notice, but I notice.”
One customization Wiersma does to the deer forms is replacing the nose piece. The forms are made from a hard, white foam. She slices the nose piece off and replaces it with a pink nose piece.
“It looks a little more natural, and when it’s held up to the light, you can see it’s pink and not white,” Wiersma said. “I don’t know if anyone would ever notice that, but I think it looks nicer.”
Depending on the deer, Wiersma may alter other parts of the mold to make it fit more appropriately.
She also adds clay around the eyes to add some volume under the hide, glass eyeballs and ears.
“I use clay to stick the eyes and ears onto the form,” Wiersma said. “I add the clay around the eyes to give it the eyelid look.”
Wiersma attaches the antlers to the form next. Similarly to the ears and eyes, she uses clay to secure the antlers to the form. Finally, Wiersma adds the hide to the form. She ensures the form is straight and level to make sure the hide sits how it should.
“I glue the hide together where it was caped out, and then, it just sits for a few days to dry,” Wiersma said.
The final step in the process is to remove any pins Wiersma may have added to help the glue dry, which is done after it has completely cured. She goes through and makes sure the hair coat looks as it should and touches up the nose with paint.
“The detail work really doesn’t take long at all,” Wiersma said. “It’s just making sure it looks pretty.”
Wiersma said her favorite part of doing taxidermy is that she is able to hear hunting stories from all her customers. She said they are often excited when they drop their deer off because they have harvested something worth preserving.
“I work a lot of late nights and long hours to get these done,” Wiersma said. “But when customers come pick them up and they get so excited to see it done, it’s worth it. They tell you how they got the animal, and I love hunting, so I love hearing those stories. It’s always exciting because they haven’t seen their deer in almost a year since they shot it, so it’s like the first time for them.”
