The Leap of Faith: Trading the Classroom for the Shop
Tanner Burns grew up hunting in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, but he did not start out as a professional taxidermist. He originally went to college to be a teacher and even earned a master’s degree as a reading specialist. While he was teaching middle school math, he began “dabbling” in taxidermy as a side gig, eventually attending a specialized nine week school in Montana to learn the basics of the craft.
The transition to full-time business owner required some Appalachian ingenuity to make the finances work. To keep his family’s health insurance and benefits without the high out of pocket costs, Tanner took a job driving a school bus. This schedule allows him to be in his shop by 8:00 AM every day, working until his afternoon bus run at 3:00 PM. It is a brilliant bit of problem solving that allowed him to leave the classroom behind and focus on his true passion.
“I was like well taxidermy would be a good side gig and eventually got big enough where I could quit teaching and just do it full-time.”
Thousands of Feathers and a Pair of Tweezers
While many taxidermists focus on deer and bears, Tanner carved out a niche by specializing in wild turkeys. Turkeys are notoriously difficult because their skin is paper thin and almost transparent. Every single feather on a mount is hand-placed using tweezers to ensure they are lined up exactly as they would be in nature. Tanner even uses the original leg and wing bones to maintain the bird’s authentic structure.
The artistry does not stop with the feathers. Because an animal’s head and feet lose their color during the preservation process, Tanner has to use an airbrush to painstakingly paint those details back on. He treats these mounts as more than just decorations; he views them as preserved memories for hunters, whether it is a child’s first buck or a final hunt with a family member.
“The only thing artificial on the turkey is just that mannequin underneath of it, but the feathers are hand-placed with a pair of tweezers because every feather has a place.”
Building a Business One Piece at a Time
Running a high volume shop like Full Draw Taxidermy can be overwhelming, especially when Tanner is handling about 200 animals a year entirely by himself. To manage the stress of a year long backlog, he treats every mount like a series of small, manageable tasks. Instead of worrying about 230 pending jobs, he focuses on one piece at a time: painting the head, wiring the feet, or prepping the mannequin.
This disciplined approach, combined with a heavy use of social media and high quality photography, helped his business explode. He now receives turkeys from all over the country, with hunters from as far as New Mexico sending their birds to the heart of Appalachia. Even though the work is physically demanding on his hands and back, Tanner finds immense satisfaction in creating something with his own two hands.
“I’m always looking at things in a smaller picture and trying to break them apart because then I don’t get stressed out.”
Ready to see the incredible detail that goes into these mounts? Grab a seat and watch the full video to hear the stories behind the shop, including the “Great Panther Hoax” and what it’s like to wrestle a 500 pound bear.
