Here's a look inside how Stoltzfus Taxidermy in Ronks creates detailed deer mounts and more [photos] – LancasterOnline

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Levi Stoltzfus affixing antlers to a deer head. 
Levi Stoltzfus affixing antlers to a deer head. 
 
Levi Stoltzfus remembers the pride he felt as a Lancaster County kid during, and after, hunts with his father.
“Youngsters who hunt with their dad dream of hanging a deer head or antlers in their bedroom, and they’d like to be able to do the work themselves just like I wanted to,” said Levi Stoltzfus of Stoltzfus Taxidermy in Ronks.
But the skills involved take years to master.
Today, Levi Stoltzfus works to help hunters preserve their harvest side by side with his son, Wayne Stoltzfus, in the family business. The busiest time of the year for the taxidermy business is right around the corner, with three distinct deer-hunting seasons starting soon: archery, muzzleloader and regular firearms. But Stoltzfus Taxidermy stays active year-round preparing trophy mounts of deer, bear, birds and waterfowl for sportsmen across the state.
Here’s a look inside their business and its process.
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The senior Stoltzfus grew up an avid hunter and dabbled in taxidermy as a teenager in Lancaster County. He started a small taxidermy shop in the basement of his parents’ farmhouse in Ronks as a teenager.
When he got married, he moved to another farm in Ronks, where he opened a small shop in a separate farm building — and that’s where he showed his son Wayne Stoltzfus the ropes. Levi Stoltzfus also worked as a mason until the early 2000s when he and his brother bought a produce stand, which they ran for 20 years.
In the meantime, Wayne Stoltzfus — who started taxidermy at age 12 and also worked as a mason as an adult — decided to go into the taxidermy business full time. In 2010, he bought property on Old Leacock Road in Ronks, where he built the current shop.
Today, Stoltzfus Taxidermy has five full-time employees, including Levi and Wayne, and other part-time employees and interns as needed.
“We have to be ready to accept, register and freeze animal hides and heads from the first days of the archery season to organize our work for the months ahead,” says Wayne Stoltzfus, who has won awards for his work on turkeys and waterfowl.
Richard Butler and his wife Darla of Narvon are veteran hunters in Pennsylvania and Virginia. They have used Stoltzfus Taxidermy for 15 projects in the past dozen years.
“There is no one better in their attention to details, including making sure the animal is posed in the way my wife and I remembered it, right down to the ears and eyes,” Richard Butler said. “They are not a cookie-cutter operation and have gone above and beyond to be sure we were pleased with the mounts.”
Over the years, the Butlers have had numerous white-tailed deer shoulder mounts made at Stoltzfus, as well as several full turkey mounts, a bobcat, an elk and two bears, including one that was turned into a rug.
“We have them displayed all over our home,” Butler said.
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Wayne Stoltzfus in the showroom at Stoltzfus Taxidermy in Ronks.
Veteran taxidermist Jason Stoltzfus works on a deer head. 
Apprentice Merv Riehl sews a bear hide around a manikin form. 
Driftwood to be used in completing mounts. 
Javon Zook, who joined the shop as an intern from Linville Hill Christian School a year ago, dries a duck skin. 
Paint to do final touch-ups on animal hides and head.
Eastern wild turkeys in final stages of mounting. 
Deer head and shoulder mounts in final drying stages about one week before customer pickup. 
Leroy King paints a turkey head form for mounting. 
Tagged antlers will catch up with deer mounts as they are worked on for customers.
Javon Zook prepares a turkey fan mount. 
Wayne Stoltzus assembles a waterfowl mount. 
Levi Stoltzfus affixing antlers to a deer head. 
Alaskan moose, the largest animal worked on by Stoltzfus Taxidermy, is on display in the shop showroom.
Eastern wild turkey mounts on display in the Stoltzfus Taxidermy showroom. 
Wayne Stoltzfus in the showroom at Stoltzfus Taxidermy in Ronks.
Veteran taxidermist Jason Stoltzfus works on a deer head. 
Apprentice Merv Riehl sews a bear hide around a manikin form. 
Driftwood to be used in completing mounts. 
Javon Zook, who joined the shop as an intern from Linville Hill Christian School a year ago, dries a duck skin. 
Paint to do final touch-ups on animal hides and head.
Eastern wild turkeys in final stages of mounting. 
Deer head and shoulder mounts in final drying stages about one week before customer pickup. 
Leroy King paints a turkey head form for mounting. 
Tagged antlers will catch up with deer mounts as they are worked on for customers.
Javon Zook prepares a turkey fan mount. 
Wayne Stoltzus assembles a waterfowl mount. 
Levi Stoltzfus affixing antlers to a deer head. 
Alaskan moose, the largest animal worked on by Stoltzfus Taxidermy, is on display in the shop showroom.
Eastern wild turkey mounts on display in the Stoltzfus Taxidermy showroom. 
For deer, hunters can request everything from a simple antler mount, a shoulder mount or a life-size mount.
“You better have a trophy room or finished basement for a life-size mount, as it’s unlikely your spouse will let a full-size deer take up residence in the living room,” said Wayne Stoltzfus, who is an avid hunter and outdoorsman himself.
There are several steps in the deer mounting process, which the father-son duo said are necessary to complete the mount with the attention to detail that is necessary to make a high-quality trophy. And some of those steps happen away from the shop.
“Deer processors are a key partner in our work,” Wayne Stoltzfus said. “They will butcher your deer carefully if you are having a mount made so the head and hide can be preserved until we are ready to be begin work.”
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The labor-intensive fall work includes measuring the head, skinning and fleshing the head bones, cleaning and salting the hide and drying it before sending it to the tannery for preserving. All the parts, except the antlers, are then frozen until ready to be worked on.
The winter and spring work includes stretching the skin back to its original size, thinning the skin around deer eyes and lips to prevent further shrinking, assembling the hide around a form and attaching the head and antlers.
“We do touch-up painting work around the nose and mouth and groom the hide before it is ready for customer pickup,” Wayne Stoltzfus says. “In a small shop, we need to work as a team to be able to handle every step in this process for so many deer.”
Customers understand they may wait 10 to 12 months to receive their finished product.
“This is labor intensive and time-consuming work,” Wayne Stoltzfus said. “And our customers trust us to get it right and are patient for the time it takes to complete the work.”
But for Stoltzfus Taxidermy fans, it’s well worth the wait.
“I’ve worked with Wayne and his dad for years and they are the best,” said Randy Aukamp of Holtwood. “When I harvested a big deer in Maryland that was written up in the North American Whitetail Magazine, I would not trust it to anyone but Wayne and his dad. They made a shoulder mount for me to go with the other dozen mounts I have in the house. I am running out of room on where to put my mounts and I am building extra space in our new house to display them.”
For deer, a simple antler mount from Stoltzfus Taxidermy is in the $100 range. A shoulders mount is about $1,000, and a full-body mount costs about $4,000.
The taxidermy shop is close to delivering the last of the 300 deer mounts from the 2024 hunting season orders.
“We expect the upcoming season to pretty much mirror the last one,” Wayne Stoltzfus says. “We get busy in early October and by the end of November, our freezers are full of deer heads and hides to be turned into prized trophy possessions through next summer.”
READ: Here are some tips to remember for archery deer season in Pa.
To facilitate the Stoltzfus’ shop workflow, the most experienced craftsmen take on the more complicated sections of the mount while mentoring craftsmen in training as they gain experience.
“Some of our younger workers have learned quickly and are ready for any part of the mounting process in as early as a year or two,” Levi Stoltzfus says.
There are more than 50 taxidermists in Lancaster County and about and 1,500-plus licensed taxidermists (out of more than 6,000 nationally) in Pennsylvania. Levi and Wayne Stoltzfus are members of the Pennsylvania Taxidermist Association, a group that holds a yearly convention with a judged exhibit of its members’ work while also hosting vendors who display the latest polyurethane mannequin forms and accessories for taxidermy.
As he fit a duck skin around a mannequin, Wayne Stoltzfus said the business changed dramatically with the introduction of polyurethane foam mannequins that replaced ones made with paper-mache, straw, hay stuffing and rags when his dad first got started.
“The mannequins now come in a variety of sizes with different head and body shapes allowing us to build accurate mounts to match a customer’s deer,” Wayne Stoltzfus said.
The shop stocks hundreds of molds for deer and wildfowl each fall for the season.
The father and son said it can take years to master the multiple steps of taxidermy.
“It doesn’t stop hobbyists from buying the foam molds used as the base for hide and skin and trying it themselves,” Wayne Stoltzfus said. “The difference between doing it yourself and having a professional taxidermist work on your deer is the attention to detail in the final product that only comes from experience.”
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