Fish are where this shop began — and where it still defines itself.
Since Greg Stehling first set up his bench in 1978, fish have been the heartbeat of the studio. More than 30,000 mounts later, they still are.
An industrial engineer with a patience for fish.
Greg Stehling founded the studio in 1978 after years of training through the early 1970s. He came to taxidermy with a different toolkit than most — as a trained industrial engineer, he saw the same problem-solving discipline he'd built a career on: precision, efficiency, repeatable process.
He worked every area of the craft in those first years, but his hands kept returning to one thing — fish. Color, fin tension, the gill plate, the way light moves across a flank. He pushed past what most studios were willing to attempt, and word traveled the way it does in outdoor circles: one angler tells another, and another, and another.
"His skill and speed on the bench quickly made him one of the most sought-after fish taxidermists in the country."
One of the first shops to standardize the fish bench.
Greg's Taxidermy was one of the earliest studios in the country to standardize the process of carving fish forms — a workflow refinement that came straight out of his engineering background and reshaped how the studio handled volume without losing detail.
Through the 1980s and 90s, thousands of specimens passed through the shop each year — mounted for sportsmen, museums, nature centers, universities, biological supply companies, and other taxidermists who couldn't keep up with their own demand. Partnerships with Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's, and Texas Roadhouse became part of the rhythm of the work.
The standard set in those decades is the same standard the bench runs on today.
Skin mounts and reproductions — built on the same bench.
Skin Mounts
The traditional approach, and still the right call for many warmwater and coldwater species. We carefully preserve the actual skin of your fish, sculpt a custom form to its exact measurements, and rebuild the color, fin tension, and detail that fades the moment a fish leaves the water.
A properly built skin mount is the closest thing to bringing the catch back into the room with you — same fish, same proportions, same story.
- Best ForWarmwater & coldwater species
- You ProvideThe frozen fish
- Detail LevelAuthentic skin & fins
Reproductions
For catch-and-release fish, saltwater and exotic species, or any specimen that simply can't be preserved as a skin mount, we build a fully custom reproduction. You give us length, girth, species, and a few photos — we hand-paint the rest from there.
The result is a piece engineered to last decades without fading, color-matched to the fish you actually caught rather than a generic blank off the wall.
- Best ForCatch & release, saltwater, exotics
- You ProvideMeasurements & photos
- Detail LevelHand-painted, fade-resistant
Custom water scenes & habitat work.
A fish on a panel is one thing. A fish caught mid-strike, breaking through the surface of a sculpted lake, fins flared and water beading off the flank — that's a different kind of piece entirely. We've spent decades building custom water sculptures, habitat scenes, and full underwater dioramas for clients, museums, and sporting-goods retailers.
"A mount isn't something you produce, it's something you build."
We're putting together a dedicated showcase of our water sculpture work soon. In the meantime, if you're picturing something more than a wall mount — bring us the idea. Almost everything you've seen on a Bass Pro or Cabela's wall came off a bench like ours.
Aaron, Austin — and now Roderick.
Greg's sons Aaron and Austin grew up inside the business. Mornings before school were spent in the shop. Summers were spent on the bench. By the time they were teenagers, they were contributing to thousands of fish mounts a year alongside their father — learning the craft the way it's supposed to be learned.
Today they run both Wisconsin studios and still do the work themselves. On any given day you'll find one of them airbrushing a walleye, blending a brown trout's flank, or walking a client through species options in the showroom. Aaron's son Roderick is the third generation now stepping onto the same bench.
From the lake to the wall — the same hands, for fifty years.
Drop a fish at one of our Wisconsin studios, ship it in, or start a reproduction with measurements and photos. Either way, the same family handles it from intake to install.