Bruce Scheeter returns to taxidermy competitions after 10-year absence

Taxidermist Bruce Scheeter thought of closing his shop, Showcase Taxidermy Studio in Cape Girardeau, when the economy went into recession and his business began to take a toll.

A trade he started studying after his brother's friend mounted Scheeter's first deer he killed with a bow and arrow, Scheeter enjoys being his own boss and doing something he enjoys. But he said sometimes it's tough to be a taxidermist and make a living.

"Taxidermy is not a necessity by no means," Scheeter said. "After that's all said and done, a deer on a wall or fish on a wall ... is definitely not a necessity in life."

After recently taking home numerous awards from the 2013 Missouri Taxidermy Convention and Competition, Scheeter already has plans to compete in next year's competition and to keep his doors open. And he has his wife, Melissa, to thank.

Bruce Scheeter's award winning fox and blue gill are on display inside his Showcase Taxidermy Studio. (Laura Simon)

Scheeter said she was the biggest inspiration he had in choosing to compete in the taxidermy competition after taking over a decade off. He said she gave him the motivation he needed to put together seven pieces that scored multiple first and second places in the professional division of the competition, a class below the master's division.

The award Scheeter is most proud of is the Woody, an award sponsored by Taxidermy Today Magazine the goes to a mount in the professional or master's divisions that exhibits good artistic composition and crafstmanship. He won the award with his eastern wild turkey.

Not bad for someone who started taxidermy at age 13 by learning the trade through booklets by mail.

The Northwestern School of Taxidermy mailed students booklets with a report to complete, Scheeter said. Once the student finished one book, they received another to complete. Bruce completed ten booklets and started seeing what he could do with his new hobby. He worked with speciments such as white-tailed deer, squirrels and starlings.

"I did not do real well," Scheeter said, laughing. He said it was very tough learning the skill by going from booklets with drawings to actually working with a specimen.

After high school, Scheeter tried college, but that was not for him, "by no means," he said.

When he was about 20, Scheeter moved to Spencer, Iowa, to take a six-week course at Storey's School of Taxidermy. After completing the course, Scheeter opened his studio in Cape Girardeau near Dutchtown in 1991.

He jumped into his new occupation, and soon had a full-time business and occupation. He also soon had an idea of how his prices differed from his competition's.

Figuring out what to charge customers in order to earn per hour what he needed to make a living took some time working with a variety of animals, as each species projects a different timeline of when a piece will be finished.

A white-tailed deer, for example, could be finished between nine and 12 hours straight depending on the style of mount a customer wants, he said. But Scheeter takes up to a couple of weeks to finish the piece, having to go through the process of taking measurements, ordering and receiving a foam manequin that represents the anatomy of the particular deer, skinning the animal, going through the process of tanning the hide and then putting the piece together.

"You have to do the quality to get paid a higher price to be able to make a living," he said. "Because of the economy, it's been a little tougher to draw certain customers that want to pay a higher price for a higher quality mount."

Scheeter said quality in his taxidermy products is essential, since a piece may be on display for years.

"They want that quality on something that's going to look the same years from now as it does a week from now," he said.

Scheeter's pride in his work is evident, and he expressed how much his peers in the field have taught him, and how much he learned from the recent competition, alone.

Being a hunter and fisherman is what got Scheeter into the business, and that is what is keeping him there.

adowning@semissourian.com

388-3632

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6830 Missouri 74, Cape Girardeau, MO