Before starting an art project, Tia Annis must first take a carcass from her freezer. Such is the life of a taxidermist.
Over the last several years Annis has filled her Chaska home, where she runs Tia's Taxidermy, with animals locked in motion. A stuffed mallard perches by her dining room table, and a raccoon nests by her sewing machine.
"I'm respecting that animal completely by not wasting one bit of it, and keeping its beauty on somebody's wall for them to look at and admire forever," said Annis, 33.
When she bags a deer, she eats the meat, gives the bones to her three dogs and even renders the fat to make suet logs for birds. Before mounting a deer head, she uses the brains to tan hides.
Annis, who grew up in Hampton, hunts for most of her meat but also brings home the occasional roadkill.
Her interest in taxidermy was piqued after taking a crappie to an Excelsior taxidermy shop to have it mounted. "It just hit me that this is what I want to do," she said.
She took time off from her waitressing job to put herself through the certification program, living out of the back of her truck. After a six-week apprenticeship in Savage, Annis struck out on her own.
Now she eagerly awaits the day when her taxidermy orders provide a way out of waitressing. "I'm not letting go of this dream," she said.
