Tennessee Taxidermy Laws: Licensing, Species Rules, and Penalties Explained
October 3, 2026
Mount your own buck in your garage and Tennessee law leaves you alone entirely. Charge your neighbor twenty dollars to mount his, and you’ve just triggered a state permit requirement, a set of mandatory recordkeeping forms, and possibly a second permit from a federal agency. That distinction between “for yourself” and “for hire” runs through nearly every rule discussed below, and missing it is the single most common way Tennessee taxidermists and hunters get into trouble.
Taxidermy laws in Tennessee sit at the intersection of state wildlife code, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) rules, and federal statutes protecting migratory birds and endangered species. This breakdown walks through licensing, species restrictions, federal overlays, recordkeeping, and penalties so you know exactly where you stand before you pick up a scalpel or drop off a cape.
Do You Need a Taxidermy License or Permit in Tennessee?
Under Tennessee law, Tennessee Code § 70-2-215 requires any person, before engaging in the practice of taxidermy, which includes the stuffing, mounting, and preparing of the skins of wild birds, animals, and fish for sale or for hire, to first obtain a permit to do so from the executive director. That “for sale or for hire” language is the trigger. If money, barter, or a business relationship is involved, you need a TWRA taxidermist permit before you touch a single specimen.
The permit itself is administered through TWRA’s licensing division, and the application fee for a Taxidermist Permit is $122 according to TWRA’s current miscellaneous license fee schedule. A state filing from the Tennessee Department of State noted that the Commission estimated approximately 300 taxidermy licenses sold annually at the time of that 2014 rule filing, giving a rough sense of how many working taxidermists operate under permit statewide.
Pro Tip: Renew your taxidermist permit before it lapses. A gap in coverage means you’re legally unpermitted the moment a customer’s specimen crosses your threshold, even if you’ve held a permit for years.
This permit requirement is specific to commercial activity. If you’re not selling your services or accepting specimens from other people for pay, the licensing question resolves differently, which is where the next distinction matters most.
Commercial Taxidermy vs Mounting Your Own Legally Taken Wildlife in Tennessee
TWRA draws a clean line between hobbyist and business. According to TWRA’s own taxidermy guidance, mounting your own trophies does not require a taxidermy permit. You can skin, tan, and mount a deer, turkey, or fish you legally harvested yourself without ever contacting the state, provided you keep the work strictly personal and never accept another person’s specimen for pay.
European mounts complicate that picture for anyone thinking of turning a hobby into side income. TWRA confirms that European mounts fall under the business of taxidermy, meaning even simplified skull mounts trigger the same permit requirement as full body work the moment you’re doing them for someone else.
| Activity | State Permit Required? | Who May Perform It | Can You Sell the Mount? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mounting your own legally taken animal | No | Anyone, no license needed | Generally not the intent of this exemption |
| Mounting for a friend or client, full body or European mount | Yes, TWRA Taxidermist Permit | Permit holder only | Only unclaimed work, and only under strict pricing limits |
| Migratory bird mounts done for someone else | Yes, state permit plus federal permit | Dual-permitted taxidermist | No, wild-taken migratory birds may not be sold |
The animal itself also has to be legally in your possession before any of this matters. TWRA’s rules confirm you may mount any game animal that has been taken by legal means, which ties directly back to Tennessee’s hunting laws in Tennessee governing seasons, bag limits, and tagging. A specimen taken outside those rules is not a legal specimen no matter how skilled the mount turns out. Roadkill occupies its own gray area here too; TWRA has confirmed that a taxidermist can accept a roadkill specimen only if the person presenting it has followed the state’s separate roadkill laws in Tennessee, which govern who may claim a carcass and how.
What Species You Can and Cannot Mount in Tennessee (Game, Nongame, and Unprotected)
Not every animal that ends up on a truck bed can legally end up on a wall. Tennessee sorts wildlife into tiers, and a taxidermist’s obligations shift depending on which tier a specimen falls into.
- Legally taken game species — white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), American black bear (Ursus americanus), eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), and similar game may be mounted once harvested under a valid hunting license and tag.
- Furbearers and nongame mammals — species such as the coyote (Canis latrans) are commonly mounted, but the animal must still have been taken in compliance with Tennessee’s specific coyote hunting laws in Tennessee before a taxidermist can accept it.
- Fish and rough fish — species taken by bow or spear are frequent taxidermy candidates, and anglers relying on Tennessee’s bowfishing laws in Tennessee or spearfishing laws in Tennessee need those catches to be legal before a mount is attempted.
- Protected nongame and songbirds — cannot be personally possessed at all in most cases, mounted or otherwise, without a specific state or federal authorization.
Live-possession rules add another wrinkle that surprises people who assume a hunting tag settles everything. TWRA’s captive wildlife rules state that no Class 4 species are allowed for possession, including white-tailed deer, American black bear, and wild turkey, except for bona fide zoos and TWRA-authorized wildlife rehabilitators. That restriction targets live animals rather than finished mounts, but it illustrates how tightly the state regulates these same species outside the narrow lane of legally harvested game.
Out-of-state hunters bringing home a trophy also need to know Tennessee’s cervid import rule. Animal importation regulations allow meat with bones removed, cleaned skull plates or skulls, cleaned teeth, and finished taxidermy and antler products to cross into Tennessee even though raw, unprocessed cervid carcasses from certain states face restrictions tied to chronic wasting disease. In practice, that means a finished mount from an out-of-state hunt is generally fine to bring home, but the raw cape or carcass may not be.
Migratory birds carry their own possession quirks worth flagging here before the next section covers the federal side in full. Federal rules note that protected nongame birds such as songbirds, hawks, and owls can be legally brought to a taxidermist by game wardens, federal agents, or holders of appropriate state and federal permits, and once mounted, these birds can be legally possessed only by public scientific and educational institutions or facilities with a valid Special Purpose Possession Dead permit, while personal possession of nongame birds is prohibited. Nonnative species like starlings and English sparrows fall outside that restriction and can be handled more freely.
Federal Overlay You Still Must Follow: Migratory Bird Taxidermy Permits (MBTA)
A Tennessee taxidermist permit only covers state law. Anyone who mounts migratory birds for someone else also needs to satisfy the Migratory Bird Treaty Act framework enforced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Federal regulation is explicit that a taxidermist permit is required before any person may perform taxidermy services on migratory birds or their parts, nests, or eggs for any person other than himself.
The two permit systems are deliberately linked rather than separate tracks. Federal guidance confirms that if your state requires you to have a permit to perform taxidermy on migratory game birds, you must hold a valid state permit in order for your federal permit to be valid. In other words, letting your TWRA permit lapse doesn’t just create a state violation; it can invalidate your federal authorization at the same moment.
Important Note: These are two separate applications to two separate agencies. Holding a TWRA taxidermist permit does not automatically grant federal authorization to mount ducks, geese, or other migratory birds for clients, and vice versa.
Waterfowl, doves, and most songbirds taken by hunters fall under this federal permit whenever the work is done for someone else rather than for personal use. Anyone regularly accepting duck or goose capes from clients should treat the federal application as a mandatory second step, not an optional add-on.
Endangered, Threatened, and CITES Specimens in Tennessee
Species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, and specimens covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), sit almost entirely outside a standard taxidermist’s normal workflow. Commercial activity involving these animals typically requires separate federal authorization well beyond a state taxidermy permit, and in most cases private taxidermists simply cannot accept this class of specimen at all.
Tennessee’s own permit tiers reflect how seriously the state treats high-risk or restricted species even outside the endangered species context. TWRA’s captive wildlife rules note that Class 1 species are considered inherently dangerous to humans and may only be possessed by permitted exhibitors or commercial propagators, with personal possession of any Class 1 species not allowed. That same layered permit structure, where certain species require specialized state authorization before anyone can legally possess them, shows up elsewhere in Tennessee wildlife law too, including in the state’s ferret laws in Tennessee, which govern possession of a species that is restricted in some states and freely allowed in others.
Federal enforcement in this space is unforgiving of criminal history. A felony conviction under the Lacey Act or the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is a disqualifying factor on federal permit applications, since applicants must disclose whether they have been convicted, or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, for a felony violation of the Lacey Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, or the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Eagle parts and feathers in particular fall under a near-total possession ban regardless of state permit status, so any specimen involving eagles should be redirected to a federally recognized eagle repository rather than a private taxidermist.
Recordkeeping, Tagging, and Inspection Rules for Taxidermists in Tennessee
Holding a permit is only the entry ticket. Tennessee’s taxidermy rule imposes ongoing paperwork obligations every time a specimen changes hands. Upon receiving a trophy, the taxidermist will issue a receipt to the owner describing the specimens or trophies left and stating the maximum time to prepare specimens and the service fee, and must complete the TWRA Taxidermy Accountability Form and the Log of Taxidermy Accountability Forms immediately upon receipt of the trophy.
Federal permit holders face a parallel obligation for migratory birds. Regulations require that permittees keep accurate records of operations, on a calendar year basis, showing the names and addresses of persons from and to whom migratory birds or their parts, nests, or eggs were received or delivered, the number and species involved, and the dates of receipt and delivery. Any change in your business address or operating location also has a hard deadline attached, since any address or location changes or other circumstances that affect your permit must be reported to your Regional Migratory Bird Permit Office in writing within 10 days.
Together, these two recordkeeping systems mean a working Tennessee taxidermist who handles both game and migratory birds is effectively maintaining two parallel logs, one satisfying state inspectors and one satisfying federal auditors, and both need to be accurate and current at all times.
Unclaimed Mounts: Can a Taxidermist Sell Abandoned Work in Tennessee?
Clients occasionally never come back for finished work, and Tennessee law addresses that scenario directly rather than leaving it to a taxidermist’s discretion. The state rule permits disposal only within strict limits: a taxidermist may dispose of unclaimed trophies for no more than the service fee minus any deposit fees collected, and disposition of all unclaimed trophies must be recorded on the Accountability Form.
Common Mistake: Treating an unclaimed mount as free profit. The rule caps what you can recover at the outstanding service fee, not market value, and skipping the Accountability Form paperwork on disposal is itself a violation even if the price you charged was fair.
There’s also a hard species-based exception that applies no matter how long a specimen sits unclaimed. TWRA guidance is explicit that a taxidermist may not sell any bear mounts or parts of the bear, full stop, regardless of whether the original client ever returns. That restriction exists separately from the general unclaimed-trophy pricing rule and cannot be worked around by treating an abandoned bear mount like any other unclaimed job.
Penalties for Unlicensed Taxidermy or Illegal Possession in Tennessee
Operating without a required permit is a criminal matter under Tennessee law, not just a licensing technicality. The statute classifies unpermitted taxidermy activity, along with certain reporting failures, as a low-level criminal offense: failure to make a required report bars the person from receiving a renewal or a new permit, and any person violating the section commits a Class C misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction by a fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars, according to the current Tennessee Code.
Federal exposure runs considerably higher for anyone handling migratory birds, endangered species, or eagle parts without authorization. Beyond the criminal penalties tied to the Lacey Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act, federal permit holders also face administrative consequences for lesser violations, since a permit can be revoked within the last five years for willfully violating any federal or state statute or regulation involving the conditions of the permit, or for failing to correct deficiencies that caused a permit suspension within 60 days. A revoked federal permit combined with a state misdemeanor conviction can end a taxidermy business outright, even when the underlying state fine itself is modest.
Where to Apply and Who to Call in Tennessee (Wildlife Agency + USFWS)
Getting properly licensed involves two separate agencies depending on what you plan to mount. Follow this general sequence:
- Determine whether you need a permit at all. Purely personal mounts of your own legally taken game require no state license.
- Apply for a TWRA Taxidermist Permit if you plan to accept specimens from other people, including for European mounts. Applications and current fees run through TWRA’s licensing system, and the state’s GoOutdoors Tennessee portal handles most captive wildlife and commercial permit categories online, walking applicants through cart checkout after selecting the appropriate commercial permit category and uploading the required application.
- Apply separately for a federal migratory bird taxidermy permit if your client work includes ducks, geese, doves, or other migratory species. Federal instructions direct applicants to submit the application for taxidermist permits to the appropriate Regional Director, Attention: Migratory Bird Permit Office, and your state permit number and expiration date must be listed on that federal application.
- Keep both permits current and renew before either lapses, since letting the state permit expire can invalidate the federal one as well.
For state-specific questions, TWRA’s Wildlife Taxidermy permit page lists regional office contacts and the current application, and TWRA’s Nashville licensing office can be reached directly for general questions about any wildlife permit category covered under Tennessee law.
Between the state permit, the possible federal overlay, and the species-specific restrictions covered above, taxidermy in Tennessee is more regulated than most hobbyists expect the first time they consider turning a skill into paid work. Confirming which permits actually apply to the animals you handle, before you accept a single specimen from someone else, is the difference between a legitimate business and an unlicensed one.