Taxidermist and teacher Ralph Bolda doesn't just have a job. He has a vocation, or as he puts it, a calling.

"As a kid I knew this is what I wanted to do. It was a calling, just as people are called into the priesthood," he said.

Bolda said he was crushed at age 12 when a local taxidermist told him he was too busy to show him the ropes of the business.

"He said, 'I don't have any time,' and that was it. It left such a sour taste in my mouth as a kid. I said, 'One day I'm going to change this,'" Bolda said.

Bolda said he wanted the education of taxidermy to be accessible to the public.

"Back then, there was no way of learning it unless you were in a family who had a business," he said.

Bolda immediately began working toward his goal. By the time he was in high school he was subscribing to American Taxidermy Magazine, mail-ordering preserved golden eagles and finally gaining instruction from a taxidermist named Bill Huffman.

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