I always liked to be around animals. When I in high school I caught a trophy mink and wanted to have it mounted. Fortunately, Dad said it was too expensive to have the mink mounted, so I knew if I was ever to have anything mounted, I would have to learn to do it myself.

 I began doing taxidermy in 1981, but was unsuccessful at making a living at it because I priced my work too low (does this sound familiar?). That was when we started Ozark Woods, a very successful custom woodworking and panel company. It also kept me close to the profession I loved--taxidermy.

 In the early 1990s, I started tinkering with sculpting small mammal forms because I thought suppliers were making "a killing" on them. I soon found out that it was not as rosy as I thought, but I was too far into the business to back out. Forward was ....