Joe McWilliams
Spotlight
Things are humming along for Dave Booth Taxidermy, ever since he moved his shop to downtown Kinuso.
“Location, location, location,” says Booth, who relocated from Slave Lake three years ago. “We get a lot of jobs – new customers – because of this location.”
There certainly appears to be lots going on, and it’s not even the busy time.
“Fall is the busiest season,” says Booth.
Taxidermy is painstaking work. It’s best not to be in a hurry to get your mount back. Six to eight months is the average, Booth says, and a year isn’t unheard of. For most customers that’s okay – they’re not in a hurry. Occasionally one is, and he or she can be accommodated, but of course that only works if not everybody wants it fast.
What’s new – or relatively new – at Dave Booth Taxidermy, is that Dave is gradually turning the business over to his grandson Brody Teale. He’s been full-time involved for several years now, and keeps busy with what his grandfather calls “the major stuff.” Dave, meanwhile, handles mostly birds and fish, of which there are some nice examples mounted in the showroom. Also helping out in the back is part-timer Erik Labrie.
Brody takes his turn in the interview chair:
“As a child I visited grandma and grandpa every summer and I’d always come to the shop,” he says. “I garnered a huge passion for it when I was young. Five years ago I decided to take the leap.”
Before that he’d been working for Pepsi in Regina. He now lives with his wife and child in Slave Lake and commutes each day, as does Dave.
Besides doing lots on the taxidermy side, Brody has been responsible for modernizing the record-keeping part of the business, bringing it into the computer age. He keeps statistics, which Dave says he never did.
For example, last year, 25 per cent of the jobs were deer, while bears accounted for 15 per cent.
“I love what I do,” says Brody. “I’m always looking for new and innovative ways to make our business better and evolve the industry. I have huge expectations for our business here.”
Dave Booth Taxidermy is located across the street from Kinuso Mercantile. Its regular hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Weekends are possible, but by prior arrangement. You can reach the office at 780-775-6363. The company is online at www.daveboothtaxidermy.com; also on Facebook at Dave Booth Taxidermy.