Most people drive past it on Highway 24 without a second look. The sign isn’t flashy, the parking lot is small, and nothing about the exterior tells you what’s inside. But if you’ve lived in Woodland Park long enough, you know that Rocky Mountain Wildlife Collection is one of the more genuinely unusual stops in town — part taxidermy studio, part natural history showroom, part local institution.
The shop deals in full mounts, skull specimens, hides, antlers, and wildlife art, most of it from animals harvested legally in Colorado and the surrounding West. Elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, black bear — the quality of the work is serious. This isn’t the dusty, cross-eyed stuff you find at rural gas stations. The mounts are positioned naturally, with attention to muscle structure and eye placement that takes real craft to pull off. If you’ve ever been curious about how taxidermy actually works as a trade, the people here will tell you plainly and without the upsell.
It functions primarily as a taxidermist serving hunters in the Pikes Peak corridor — Teller County has no shortage of them — but the retail side is worth your time even if you’re not bringing in an animal. Antler sets, naturally shed or harvested, run anywhere from a few dollars for small pieces to several hundred for a full bull elk rack in good shape. Skull mounts tend to sit in the $50–$200 range depending on the species and preparation. Finished full mounts, if they have any available for sale, will cost more, but you’re looking at genuine craft work, not mass production.
The space itself is compact but dense. Don’t expect a gallery with clean white walls. It feels more like a working studio with a front-of-house, which is exactly what it is. Samples of completed work line the walls. There’s often work in progress visible, depending on when you visit, and the staff will walk you through technique if you show real interest.
The shop is particularly useful for hunters who need reliable turnaround and honest communication about timelines — taxidermy backlogs are real, and a place with a solid local reputation tends to be more accountable than shipping your trophy off to an unknown operation out of state. Regulars here say the communication is straightforward and the quality consistent, which in this trade matters more than almost anything else.
If you’re just passing through or visiting the area for the hiking and scenery, it’s still worth a walk-in if you’re curious about the natural history side of things. Kids who are interested in animals often find it genuinely fascinating rather than off-putting — there’s something more honest about a well-done mount than about a plastic replica at a museum gift shop.
Hours can vary seasonally, so it’s worth a call ahead before making a special trip. The shop sits along the main commercial stretch of Woodland Park, easy enough to find once you know to look for it. Parking is casual and fine. No admission fee, obviously — just a business, doing a trade that’s been part of mountain Colorado life for as long as people have hunted here.
It’s not going to be everyone’s stop, and it doesn’t try to be. But as a window into one of the more specific and skilled crafts still practiced locally, it’s more interesting than most places in town that ask for your time.
