Nature, preserved: Taxidermist helps keep memories alive

MARLIN — Dead animals on a wall.

That’s definitely not what Krystin Leslie, a taxidermist and the owner, along with her husband Dallas, of Wild Things Taxidermy, says she tries to create.

“It’s fun for me; the artsy stuff is fun,” she said. “Adding snow, ice, dew drops on animal whiskers, making it look lifelike. We like ours to look like they are still alive.”

She stands in a garage studio in the home — northeast of Moses Lake in Grant County — she shares with Dallas and their four kids amidst a collection of very life-like wild creatures — a Canada goose as it comes in for a landing, a raccoon on the prowl, a mule deer alert for predators. Each one is a memory, Krystin said, and by preserving and mounting them for permanent display, she is helping to keep a memory alive and provide a way for someone to tell an important story.

“Hunting is an adventure. It’s exciting, there’s nothing like going out into the woods and facing a big, huge elk,” Krystin said. “We’re hunters first, and I like hearing the stories people have to tell us.”

Like the bear Krystin said she recently mounted. It was the last animal the customer shot with his father before the father died, Dallas explained, and the animal becomes a way to keep that memory.

“It’s keeping the story alive for them,” he said. “Every animal is a trophy to somebody, no matter the size.”

Krystin, 30, said she always thought taxidermy was cool, and Dallas prompted her to take a four-week course in spring 2020 at the Advanced Taxidermy Training Center of NW Montana in Thompson Falls, Mont.

The two started Wild Things Taxidermy a year ago, and will mount big game heads starting at $425 (for a coyote), life-size mounts from $900 (for a raccoon or bobcat) all the way up to $3,900 (a bighorn sheep), birds, rugs, even skull mounts. A complete price list is available at their website, wildthingtaxidermy.com.

Well, Krystin does most of the work. The kids will watch, and help as needed, she said.

As does her husband.

“I’m just a helper. I do pedestal mounts, like the mule deer, and she teaches me as we go,” said Dallas, who is also a union electrician.

Krystin said the work is fairly involved. Hunters will bring a catch in, she will skin it, salt the skin to dry it out, send it to a tanner for several months, mount it on a foam form, and then sculpt the eyes and shape the ears. Adding habitat is extra, and while she says she tells customers it may take a year before their animal is done, she’s usually finished in six months or less.

She won’t do pets, though.

“It’s a personal thing. I’ve had people call, but I can’t do it,” Krystin said.

Right now, she said, the work is pretty steady, and every time things feel like they are slowing down, the phone rings. Word of mouth helps, too, and the mounted bear she did recently has led to “quite a few phone calls.”

“You have to love taxidermy, but you won’t make money in the first few years,” Krystin said.

“But there’s definitely money to be made,” Dallas added.