Taxidermy supply stores sell the unglamorous half of the craft: mannikins, glass eyes, tanning chemicals, hide paste, airbrush paint. This list is for the people who buy that shelf every season. Working studios ordering forms by the pallet, hunters mounting a first whitetail in the garage, museum preparators, artists who work with skins and bone, school programs that need safe chemistry and clear instructions.
Selection leaned on things you notice only after a few orders. How deep the catalogue runs across species, whether forms actually fit the cape without a week of altering, how honest the stock status is in November when everyone is ordering at once, shipping cost and hazmat rules on acids and degreasers, and whether a human answers the phone with a useful answer instead of a script. Family shops with one warehouse are judged on service, big houses on range and speed.
The taxidermy supply stores below are ranked by community votes, not by any arrangement with the companies. Read each card for what it actually gives you: the pros, the honest cons, and the reviews from people who have already unpacked the box.
McKenzie grew out of a cinderblock building in Larry McKenzie's back yard in North Carolina in the 1970s and became the biggest name in the trade. The catalogue covers mannikins for whitetail, elk, bear, African plains game, birds and fish, plus glass eyes, tanning chemicals, tools, habitat materials and reference books. In 2011 it absorbed WASCO of Monroe, Georgia, which brought the Polytranspar paint system under the same roof, and it also runs Van Dyke's. Orders and technical advice go through 800 279 7985.
Best suited to studios that want one invoice for a whole season of work and predictable restocking of standard forms. The scale cuts both ways: catalogue navigation takes patience, popular deer forms can go on backorder in late autumn, and chemicals ship under hazmat rules that add cost. Hobbyists mounting one head a year may find smaller shops friendlier on advice.
1910 Saint Luke Church Rd, Granite Quarry, North Carolina, USA
Van Dyke's works out of Woonsocket, South Dakota, a small town operation with a long mail order history behind it, now part of the McKenzie family of companies. The stock list runs from deer and small game forms to bird bodies, fish blanks, glass eyes, tanning kits, needles, thread, wire and finishing supplies, with a strong side in hobby scale kits for people doing their own first mounts. Orders and product questions run on 800 279 7985.
A sensible starting point for hunters and part time taxidermists who want small quantities without a wholesale account, and for anyone restocking odds and ends. Because it shares ownership and logistics with McKenzie, some product overlap is inevitable, and specialists chasing rare exotics or competition grade forms usually end up ordering from the parent catalogue or from a sculptor direct.
39771 SD Highway 34, Woonsocket, South Dakota, USA
Matuska sits on Highway 71 in Spirit Lake, Iowa, and has two halves: a family taxidermy studio established in 1976 that mounts trophies from around the world, and the supply company that grew beside it. That mix shows in the product line, which includes exclusive items developed in house alongside the usual forms, eyes, tanning chemicals, habitat bases and airbrush gear. The number 712 336 3256 reaches the same people who use the products every week.
Good for taxidermists who value talking to a working mounter rather than a call centre, and for fish and waterfowl work, where Matuska has a solid reputation. The scale is modest, so the catalogue does not match the giants on obscure species, delivery to the coasts takes longer, and the website is plainer than its competitors. Trade show visits are often the fastest way to see the forms in person.
3735 Hwy 71, Spirit Lake, Iowa, USA
Research Mannikins, known in studios simply as RMI, has been sculpting and casting forms in Lebanon, Oregon for more than forty years. The line covers North American game and African exotics, plus reproduction fish, antler and horn parts, habitat pieces and the tools that go with them. Its reputation rests on anatomy: sculptors work from reference and casts, so the forms tend to need less altering around the eyes, nose and brisket. The office answers on 541 451 1538.
Aimed at professionals who care more about how a form carries a cape than about a dollar of price difference, and at anyone doing competition work. It is a manufacturer first, so the general supply side is thinner than at the big catalogue houses, custom orders take time, and West Coast freight on large crates is not cheap for buyers in the east.
315 W Sherman St, Lebanon, Oregon, USA
Jonas carries one of the oldest names in American taxidermy, descended from the Jonas Brothers studios, and today supplies the trade from Louisville, Colorado. The line is a complete working kit: mannikins, sculpting and casting materials, clays and epoxies, glass eyes, chemicals, airbrush paints, tools and finishing supplies. Ordering goes through the web store or by phone on 800 525 6379, and sculpting supplies are a genuine strength rather than an afterthought.
Suits taxidermists who alter heavily or sculpt their own work, and studios building habitat and pedestal bases. Buyers who want the widest possible list of species forms usually keep a second supplier for that. The catalogue is more focused than the national giants, stock on niche items can be uneven, and the historical name draws collectors asking questions the supply desk cannot answer.
Louisville, Colorado, USA
Founded by taxidermist Danny Foster and based on Troy Highway in Montgomery, Alabama, Foster built its name on whitetail deer forms and the southern hunting market that keeps the shop busy from October to February. Beyond forms it stocks eyes, earliners, hide paste, tanning products, finishing paints and the consumables a studio burns through, and the counter trade means a local order can be collected instead of waiting on freight.
Most useful to taxidermists in the southeast who mount deer in volume and want quick turnaround without cross country shipping. Selection outside whitetail and southern game is limited compared with national catalogues, the online store is simpler than the big players, and phone lines get busy at the height of the season. Calling ahead before driving over for a large order saves a wasted trip.
5124 Troy Hwy, Montgomery, Alabama, USA
Dan Chase has been trading since 1971 and works out of Blackwater Road in Baker, Louisiana. The catalogue is broad and old school: mannikins for game heads, life size forms, fish blanks, alligator and reptile supplies, glass eyes, tanning chemicals, hardware and habitat materials, with a Gulf coast slant you will not find in northern catalogues. Part of the range is manufactured in house rather than bought in for resale.
Worth knowing for anyone mounting alligator, gar, redfish or other southern species, and for buyers who still prefer a printed catalogue and a phone call on 225 261 5526. Presentation is dated, product photography is thin, and online ordering has never been the strong suit here. Confirming availability before paying is wise, since listings do not always reflect what is on the rack.
13599 Blackwater Rd, Baker, Louisiana, USA
A specialist rather than a general store, Glass Eyes Online concentrates on the one component that decides whether a mount looks alive. Stock covers mammal, bird, reptile and fish eyes in a long list of sizes and pupil shapes, from budget flint eyes for practice work to hand painted pairs for show pieces, plus doll, teddy bear and puppet eyes that bring in a second audience from outside taxidermy.
Handy when a mount needs an unusual diameter or a species specific iris that the big catalogues stopped carrying, and for artists and prop makers with no interest in hunting. It is not a place to buy forms, chemicals or tools, so it works as a second supplier rather than a main one. Sizing deserves care: a millimetre wrong ruins the look, and return postage on small parts rarely pays.
Tohickon has made glass eyes in Pennsylvania for decades and supplies both taxidermists and manufacturers who need the same quality twice. The range covers whitetail, predator, bird, fish and small mammal eyes in graded quality tiers, so a studio can order one specification for everyday work and another for competition pieces, with product codes that stay available season after season.
Bought heavily by professionals who standardise on one eye brand and want repeat orders to match what is already on the bench. Hobbyists can order too, but the catalogue speaks the language of the trade and assumes the buyer knows sizes and pupil shapes. Exotic and very unusual species are thinner than at specialist eye shops, and the site offers specifications rather than atmospheric photography.
Dan Rinehart built this Wisconsin business around his own competition work: three international titles, a supply catalog and a taxidermy school under one roof in Edgerton. The range leans hard on whitetail, with CAD sculpted deer manikins, shoulder forms shipped with the eyes already set, Aqua fish eyes, bird manikins, hide tanning products and instructional DVDs. Those pre-set eye forms are the calling card, they remove one of the fiddliest steps for anyone still learning.
Good fit for beginners and one person studios. Orders go through the online catalog or by phone, and the free video school at freetaxidermyschool.com walks through an entire whitetail mount at no cost. Busy shops hunting exotic replicas or a deep chemical range will still keep a larger supplier on hand. The site looks dated and some items have no photo, so a quick call before ordering saves guesswork.
83 Artisan Drive, Edgerton, WI 53534, USA