Taxidermist bags hundreds of customers

COPENHAGEN, New York (WWNY) - A young man in Copenhagen has dubbed himself “an animal mortician.” He spends his days making hunters’ kills alive again.

At Young Guns Taxidermy in Copenhagen, owner Matthew Breyette is bagging hundreds of customers.

He became interested in taxidermy at an early age. He gave it a try at 14 and has stuck with it ever since.

Breyette credits his late grandfather for getting him started. He says the last things his grandpa said to him before passing was praising him for his taxidermy work, and telling him how proud he was of him. Ever since then, Breyette says he can’t give up taxidermy, and wants to get better to honor his grandfather.

“I ended up buying books and DVDs and reading and thousands of hours of practice, and here I am,” he said.

Now at 21, he owns and operates Young Guns Taxidermy.

“Word spreads and sooner or later I’m getting the New York State DEC in here; I’m doing otters for them, all sorts of things. And I got the U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists in here. They come in with a 12-point with great big antlers like that, and I do that for them,” said Breyette.

On top of those state and federal customers, there’s no shortage of local ones.

“Just about everybody I know hunts or fishes. It’s Tug Hill, Lewis County for ya! We’re all hunters and fishermen,” he said.

But still, Breyette wants to get his name out there. You may recognize his business from our airwaves. He’s the sponsor of our newest segment, Braggin’ Rights, airing Tuesday on First at Five.

Breyette is set to give demonstrations at state sportsman expos and on the Rush Outdoors TV show. He says he hopes to inspire other young people to give taxidermy a try. He says as a young person in the field, he didn’t have much help learning the skills, so he wants to be that helping hand for other youth.

“There’s a lot of patience, a lot of time and dedication to it,” he said.

But the end result is so worth it.

“That’s when you see the animal start to come alive,” said Breyette.

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