Get a price range you can be comfortable with. Then ask if you can come to the shop and see their work. Most will have something for you to look at.

Go in with a mental picture of what your trophy should look like. Check the ears, are they in the right place? Do they look natural? Check the nose. Can you see inside or is it filled in? How is the coloring? Does it look wet? Check the eyes. Do they look alive? Are they looking the way they should? Check for seams. Check lip lines. Are they pulled apart? Do you like the quality of the work you see. Are you comfortable with the person you are talking to? Are they polite? Have they answered all of your questions to your satisfaction?

Ask them if they do all of their own work or if they send some things off to another taxidermist. Some specialize in one thing and send out their other work. Is it important to you that your trophy stay at their shop and be done by that person and not someone else someplace else.

Try to get the opinions of some of their other customers. Maybe ask them for a reference or two. Check around on your own about their reputation.

Anyone can call themselves a taxidermist, but you be the judge. You are the one paying for this service. And that may be a once in a lifetime trophy you are entrusting them with.