Taxadermy theft

[Laelkhunter]

There was a Taxidermist/meat processor that had a shop in Chama, NM. I never had him do any mounts, but he did my meat processing every year, and treated me well. That was in the early 1990's . One year (about 1996) we noticed his shop was closed, and appeared vacant. We inquired, and learned he left town in the middle of the night, and moved to unknown state, possibly California.
We had to make other arrangements for meat processing that year, but the following year another taxidermist opened in the same location. We stopped in to speak with him, and he was obviously distraught over the number of hunters who returned from the years before looking for their mounts or money that they left with the previous shop owner. The new owner was a local, born and raised, and everyone finally realized he was the new owner, but they thought he was somehow connected or responsible to the previous owner. It took several months to get most of it straightened out, but he still (to this day) gets people who had dropped off Elk and Deer to be mounted, and even paid 50% deposit for the work, only to find out the previous owner left town with their money and their antlers.

 

[406]

I killed a nice big mature 4x4 mulie and had no intention of mounting it so my teenage son asked if he could cape it out and sell it to the local taxi, same guy who tanned the above whitetail hide as he had a sign in front of his shop offering $150 for deer capes. I watched and he did an excellent job caping it, I was impressed. He was back in a few minutes and told me the taxi said it was no good because of a cut inside the lips and had offered to throw it away for free. I knew there was no cut on the lip so I jumped in the truck and confronted the shiester. I told him I wanted the cape back and he said it was too late, it was already in the dumpster, I said it's only been 20 minutes and regardless I want it back. Again he says too late, dumster was just emptied. I pointed out there was snow in front of the dumpster and that the easiest thing he could do was hand over the cape, I was leaving with it no matter what. He went and pulled it out of the freezer and threw it on the counter and told me to never come back, that really hurt my feelings.

That was 20 years ago and I haven't been to any taxidermist since.

I wonder how many hides that guy scammed over the years with that line.

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[tlowell02]

I have only shot one banded bird in my life and it so happened to also be the first white-fronted goose (specklebelly) I ever shot as well. It was a beautiful old bird banded 12 years prior in Alaska. I had a local shop recommended and met the gentleman with his family in town and gave him the 50% deposit in January. He estimated it would be finished in early summer.

Fast forward to May and I call to inquire on the status and was informed several college kids were graduating and needing their mounts before leaving town so mine was bumped down the list but still would be done that summer. I forget all about it until September before making contact again and the taxidermist informs me he is currently working on the mount and it will be done by the end of the week. The next weekend rolls around and I am driving in the direction of his shop but need his address so I call as I am driving and he says it is still not done but he will contact me when it is complete. I should have pressed the issue then but I had never dealt with anyone like this before.

I end up forgetting about the mount again until late winter and realize he never contacted me so I reached out to now get the story of he had a water line break and fill his freezer with water which froze solid and he's working his way to my bird. Which obviously didn't mesh with his early story that he was working on my bird but I had forgotten that detail by this point.

That conversation was the last time I was ever able to reach the guy. Years later I ran into a kid that claimed he knew the guy and that he was into hard drugs and sold a lot of client's mounts. Needless to say, I have an extremely bitter taste from that experience. Btw, the business was Maverick Taxidermy.