Taxidermist opens doors

LEWISTOWN - With hunting season gearing up, so too will local taxidermy businesses like Whitetail Reflections located on Back Maitland Road.

Whitetail Reflections owner Eric Reigle recently opened his own taxidermy business, something he has always wanted to do.

Reigle has always been an avid outdoorsmen, so he said opening a taxidermy business seemed like the natural thing to do.

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Sentinel photo by KIERNAN?M. SCHALK
Whitetail Reflections taxidermy recently opened its doors at 1277 Back Maitland Road in Lewistown.

Reigle said he wanted to make sure if he opened his own business, he did it right and got the right type of training.

"I went to the Western Pennsylvania School of Taxidermy," Reigle said.

Reigle said his instructor was one of the best in the business and had won all types of awards for taxidermy in Pennsylvania.

Right now Reigle is working on transforming a spacious backroom in his house into a display room .

"We want to have this room done so people can come in and see the quality of the work," Reigle said.

Reigle has several items already mounted, including a buck, turkey, fox and fish, all done by him.

"If you shot the buck of a lifetime or caught a huge fish, you want it done right," he said.

One of things that Reigle hopes will help set him apart from other taxidermists is his in house tanning.

"This will cut the turn around time by months," Reigle said.

Reigle said typically it can take a taxidermist about a year to turn an item around, but with in house tanning he may be able to shave several months off that timeline, keeping his customers happy.

Reigle said he surprised a woman the other day who dropped off her sons first buck expecting she would not be able to get back to him by Christmas as a present.

"I'm just starting and I don't have a lot of stuff right now, so I am able to turn around real quick," Reigle said. "Our prices are pretty much the same as everyone else's, I'm not trying to undercut anyone, that isn't fair."