Seth Farmer preserves memories of the hunt through taxidermy – The Courier Herald

Natures Woods Taxidermy specializes in ducks and other game birds, though Farmer has experience mounting other popular game like deer and squirrels.
They say if you find a job doing what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. 
That’s the case for Seth Farmer, owner of Natures Woods Taxidermy in Dublin. Farmer, a veteran outdoorsman at only 24 years old, became a full-time taxidermist this summer, the culmination of hard work that began when he was just 19.  
“It doesn’t feel like work,” he said. “Every day I feel like I’m living the dream.” 
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Farmer opened his shop at 1220 N. Jefferson St. in July. Both the location and name of the business should be familiar to area hunters. Natures Woods Taxidermy was originally opened by East Dublin taxidermist Jerry Trammel – Farmer’s first instructor and employer in the trade. The name was given to Farmer upon Trammel’s retirement.  
Before Farmer occupied the space on Jefferson Street, the building was home to Knight Wildlife Studio, operated by veteran Dublin taxidermist Tim Knight. Knight has moved his studio to Claxton Dairy Road. 
Natures Woods Taxidermy specializes in ducks and other game birds, though Farmer has experience mounting other popular game like deer and squirrels. Working in taxidermy requires a wide range of talents. A skilled taxidermist is well-knowledged in the anatomy and appearance of wild animals, is handy with needle and thread and must be a decent 3D artist to create a lifelike mount.
“You are taking a deceased creature and bringing it back,” Farmer said. “I want people to look up at these mounts and take them back to where they were, what they were doing and, more importantly, who they were with.”
A native of Athens, Farmer and his family moved to Laurens County in 2019. He grew up in the Georgia woods, hunting deer with his father. His earliest memories include playing with toys, safely strapped in a tree stand or behind the cover of a hunting blind. 
As he grew older, he took an interest in duck hunting. Now the father/son duo take regular out-of-state trips to bag the popular, though highly regulated game bird.
After graduating East Laurens High School, Farmer was trying to find his way in life. 
“I was working at a hardware store and I decided I wanted to do something different,” he said. “I wanted it to be in an outdoor industry. I got to looking at the mounts me and my dad had and I thought that would be fun.” 
He began training, working part time at the original Natures Woods Taxidermy and doing what anyone wanting to learn a new skill would do – watching YouTube videos. His goal was to learn to mount his preferred prey, ducks. But like learning anything new, there was a steep learning curve. 
“I wanted to learn how to mount ducks, and I finally bought a kit off of one of my vendors,” Farmer said. “I had a real pretty wood duck I had shot that year and I said I’m going to try it. Man, when I got done that joker looked hammered. It was rough.” 
But practice, and training, makes perfect. Farmer kept working, traveling to Oklahoma, Mississippi and Louisiana to learn from some of the industry’s finest, honing his skills on his own kills or birds donated by friends and family. As a member of the Georgia Taxidermist Association, Farmer has the opportunity to network and train with other experts across the state. 
Now a complete mount, from freshly harvested animal to preserved, lifelike piece of art, takes him only about five hours to complete, that is when he doesn’t have a backlog of orders. The walls in his shop are lined with drying mounts, various ducks, pheasants and other birds forever preserving the memory of the hunt. 
Farmer’s biggest project so far was a Canada goose. He’s also a complete full turkey mount. And the work keeps coming. A client has already ordered a swan mount ahead of an upcoming hunt. 
Farmer said he felt blessed to be working his dream job and encourages everyone to chase their dreams. 
“You have to do it, no one is going to help you get to where you need to be, except the Lord,” he said. “If you want it bad enough, you can do it. I’ve had plenty of people tell me this is just a hobby, not a paying job. You just have to lean on yourself and the people that care about you and support you.”
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