Trails End Taxidermy Provides Top-Class Service

DAYTON – During his time in the United States military, Jeff Monyak had a commanding officer that was interested in taxidermy as a hobby. Eventually, Monyak was sent to the east coast in a new role at Boothbay Harbor, Maine. It was in this so called home of "great white-tailed deer," as Monyak described it, that he decided to take up taxidermy himself.

"I got my white-tailed deer and decided that I wanted to do the mounting myself," he said. "So I called up my old CO and asked him for directions. He told me to find a video and told me where to find one. It was a lot of watching a short bit, pausing it and trying it, then watching some more, and repeating that," explained Monyak.

This would lead to Monyak starting his own taxidermy company following his retirement from the military and a short-lived attempt at a separate business. "I started the business in 2002 after I retired, and I've been going for 14 years now," said Monyak. "After retiring, that's when I decided to move here."

Monyak has no plan on stopping anytime soon, either. "No, I'm retired, this is the thing I do! It is a business, but I scaled it down so I can provide great customer service," answered Monyak when asked if he had any plans for the future. "If you would have asked me when I was 22, I would've had a lot longer answer for you," added Monyak.

His work is mostly on domestic game. "Bull elk and deer is the bulk of my work," said Monyak. But in his 14 years he has also seen some different animals come through his shop.

"I do get some exotic animals. African game is usually the most exotic stuff I get," he said. "Right now, I'm working on a mountain goat from Alaska. I get a pretty good wide variety of things to do here. If I was, let's say in Michigan, I would probably only be doing deer. So it's nice being in an area where you get a variety of animals."

Trails End Taxidermy mostly serves Dayton and the surrounding areas, but also sees some more distant customers as well.

"I mostly serve here. Usually the exotic stuff is from people that book tours through me or bring their skins back home from trips or tours and need work done on them," Monyak said. "Ninety-five percent of my business is from this area, unless I advertise aggressively, like online for example. Some people send me animals from the east coast; they see me online through advertising, or they'll hear about me on forums from other jobs I've completed or from my own comments. I'm active on some taxidermy forums."

This is how Monyak got one of his most unique and memorable pieces of work. "Someone sent me a zebra from Atlanta, Georgia. They found me on a forum online, Taxidermy.net I think. They saw one of my comments about zebra rugs, and one thing led to another and they sent me a zebra," he explained in an amused tone.

Some of the weirder things that have happened to Monyak thanks to his business have nothing to do with animals. "When you decide to open up a business, you can't control who comes through the door. I've been mistaken for taxi companies before. People will be looking through the yellow pages and accidently stop at 'taxidermy' instead of 'taxi.' I've gotten calls at 12 a.m., 2 a.m. from people needing rides," joked Monyak, adding, "and in March I get calls from people needing their taxes done."

This year did mark a first in one way for Trail's End, as there was a state taxidermist show and competition this year. He entered a preserved and mounted cougar walking on top of rocks, which placed very highly.

"I just got done with a state competition a couple of months ago. It's the first one I know of since I've been in taxidermy. There is no state taxidermy organization so no one has really been in a position to put on a show. It was actually a business owner from Wenatchee that put on the show, and it was a big success. Hopefully this will continue year after year now. There are a lot of benefits for us that come from competing," claimed Monyak.

Some of the benefits Monyak said come from competing include learning new techniques and new animals that are becoming popular among taxidermists, as well as attending seminars and workshops by professionals in the field. He also detailed the differences that go into making a piece for commercial sale versus pieces used in competition that are put under intense scrutiny.

"Sometimes I'll do things on commercial pieces that aren't necessary, but would be on a competition piece. That way I can have the technique down for when convention time comes around next year. The pieces for competition take a long time, even months. It's not one of those weekend projects."

Trails End Taxidermy is located in Dayton at 504 East Dayton Ave., and can be reached at (509) 382-2813.