The bug bit Mark Steimel at a young age.

The Suttons Bay native can vividly remember his wide-eyed fascination with fish and game mounts in local bars and restaurants as a kid. Already an avid fisherman and hunter, Steimel was drawn to the idea of forever preserving the catch (or kill) of a lifetime.

“I always thought: God, it would be so cool to do those,” he tells The Ticker. “I always wanted to make money doing taxidermy.”

More than 40 years and at least 5,000 mounts later, you could say Steimel succeeded. He’s long been one of the most sought after taxidermists in Leelanau County and throughout northwest Michigan. Clients wait up to two years for him to finish that big buck or that trophy walleye, and his mounts adorn the walls of countless Leelanau homes and businesses.

“It’s just really cool. You’re handling their personal prize, and you want to do get it done right so it looks great,” he says. “It brings such a joy to me. I just love seeing a guy’s reaction the first time he comes and takes a look at it.”

What seems to set Steimel apart is his attention to detail. His fish are described as being as lifelike as the day they were caught, and perhaps even more impressive, a discerning angler might even be able to tell where they were caught.

“(A walleye’s appearance) varies from Detroit all the way up to Little Bay De Noc and up in to Canada,” he says. “As you keep going farther north, there’s more color. Down south, they’re sort of washed out. So you have to pay attention to that sort of thing.”

These days, he’s often armed with pictures of the fish itself to help him nail the look.

“Reference is really a big key to taxidermy,” he says. “I like to see as many photos as possible. Back in the day when I started doing this, there was none of that. Nobody had cell phones. But it’s come a long ways.”

Lake Leelanau resident Nate Houle had three walleye, a bass and a lake trout (so far) mounted by Steimel. They are his favorites among his many other mounts, he says, largely because Steimel does such an incredible job.

“If you look at them up close, he uses a lot of iridescent paint, and it goes a long way because it gives it some dimension. They almost sparkle, and it looks like they came right out of the water,” he tells The Ticker. “And his ability to make a fish look like the picture you give him is uncanny.”

Steimel has prepared mounts of just about every fish and game species around. People have asked him to do pets, but it’s just not his thing.

“I don’t do domestics,” he says.

At 63, Steimel – who also farms apples – is winding down a bit and taking on less work, though it will likely be a while before he fully retires.

“I’m starting to get to that age where I don’t have the get up and go like I used to with all of this. I’m pacing myself,” he says. “But I (still) put 100 percent into every mount I do.”

In the meantime, he stays up on trends, including highly detailed fiberglass reproduction mounts that he can create based on photos of a fish. Not only do these reproductions last much longer than traditional mounts, they also allow the fish in question to swim free. 

“Guys can have those and still release a fish, which is nice,” he says.

Asked about how proud he is of his work, Steimel is modest. He enjoys doing it, he says, and likes that it makes people happy. But he'll admit there's a certain pride in knowing his work will leave a nice legacy. 

"When I’m dead and gone, people will still say ‘Mark Steimel did that,'" he says.