Galesville, WI 608-484-0417
"Where Your Memories Afield Are Our Greatest Passion!"
About
Learn About Twisted Tines Taxidermy
Quality Work Comes With Dedication
Take advantage of the passion and expertise of a company who treats taxidermy as an art form with Kyle at Twisted Tines Taxidermy. We are a member of the Wisconsin Taxidermist Association and have been a licensed taxidermy studio since 2007. We are also a member of the following:
- Trempealeau Archers Club
- Wisconsin Taxidermy Association
- Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
- The National Wild Turkey Federation
Treat Your Taxidermy Project Like the Investment It Is
Have your mount and hunting memories brought into your home using taxidermy techniques acquired and refined over years of experience. You'll see our skill, discipline of art, and meticulous craftsmanship in the final trophy product. Let us help you memorialize your hunt with a beautiful trophy. Call us for a FREE
estimate today!
We Specialize in Standard and Custom Pieces
Ensure you are putting your game in good hands - we stand behind all of our work. Your needs will be met, and we will exceed your expectations with every job.
We're a detail-oriented studio with a passion for the outdoors and the recreation of animals to their natural state in lifelike poses. When you need high-quality custom pedestals, unique postings, and European skulls, there's no need to look beyond Twisted Tines Taxidermy.
Kyle Lakey - Taxidermist / Artist
Hi, my name is Kyle Lakey, my wife Kendra, boys Jack and Carson, and I, welcome you to Twisted Tines Taxidermy studio - a full-time licensed taxidermy, studio since 2007, located in Galesville, WI.
Raised in Trempealeau, WI, a small Mississippi river town in the middle of beautiful bluff and farm country. I grew up with the love of the outdoors since before I can remember - catching my first fish when I was a couple years old and tagging along with my dad hunting any chance I could get until I was old enough to hunt myself.
My favorite book from before I could even read was "Mammals of North America," which I still have today. My mom tells me we would flip through the book and look at all the pictures over and over, identifying all the different species.
My love of the outdoors, hunting, and fishing has taken me many places on countless adventures over the years from our home in the Midwest, to the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, across many Canadian Provinces, and to Alaska. My passion for hunting has steered towards bowhunting since I started at age 12, along with my other passions of trapping and waterfowl / upland bird hunting.
I have chased all of Wisconsin's big and small game living in the heart of big buck country along Trempealeau and Buffalo County, as well as developed an addiction of heading west on archery big-game hunting adventures with friends and family since age 13 never missing a year with at least one trip, chasing elk, mule deer, antelope, Mountain Lion, moose, or ibex, with plans to climb the mountains with sheep and mountain goats some day.
My interest in taxidermy started back when I was young and in grade school, growing up in Trempealeau elementary school that is very focused on the environment and the outdoors. The school is filled with displays and dioramas of hundreds of North America's wildlife species mounts.
I started messing with simple mounts of things I'd find in the woods or get from animals my dad would hunt, like squirrel and grouse tails, turkey feathers, and such. My interest in taxidermy really took a turn from my uncle, who has been a taxidermist in Marshfield, WI since I can remember. So, visiting them on family occasions would lead to me wanting to visit his shop any chance we got to see what he was working on.
When I graduated from high school, I decided to attend the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for wildlife management and ecology, where I graduated with a BS in 2010. During my freshman year, I harvested a couple nice bucks and my uncle invited me to come to his shop and learn how to do taxidermy with him.
I really enjoyed doing taxidermy and knew I wanted to make it something I'd do forever. So, while attending college, I got some of my own equipment and started doing mounts for people I knew. This quickly grew into a full-time business before I even finished college, doing close to 100 mounts a year.
Besides taxidermy, I was given the opportunity to go to Alaska to commercially fish salmon in the summer of 2007, when my love for Alaska and its vast country and love for the fishing work had me hooked. I bought into the fishery in 2016 with my own gillnetter and salmon permit continuing to work the salmon fishing industry for 3 months every summer while running my full-time taxidermy shop the rest of the year.
I joined the Wisconsin Taxidermist Association and took some pieces to the State competition in 2009. I did well for a first-time competitor, but the knowledge I gained attending the show and inspirations for what taxidermy can really be artistically, set things in motion and I wanted to produce the most lifelike and unique custom taxidermy art.
I quickly learned how studying wildlife, their characteristics, and habits needed to recreate the most lifelike mounts possible, as I had been kind of doing it since I was little without even knowing it. I was able to take that to the next level with experience, and using this reference of live animals, I have improved and won many awards at multiple taxidermy shows.
This love of doing taxidermy has translated over to the enjoyment of bringing customers' memories of hunts back to life again and seeing their excitement of picking up their trophy. I feel very fortunate to have a full-time taxidermy studio where I can share what I enjoy with customers.
I work hard and treat every trophy as if it were my own, using the best methods and materials in the industry to produce a mount that will last you a lifetime. Thank you for visiting Twisted Tines Taxidermy studio. Hunt safe, hunt often, and I hope to see your trophy soon.
Take care,
Kyle