Taxidermist threw out my mount. How do I handle this?

[fwafwow]

That only works if there is a FMV for the item.

The business has to account for that loss shouldn it get audited.

I'm not following. Are taxidermists audited by a licensing agency, or are you referring to an audit by the IRS if the taxidermist claims the settlement as an expense? If the latter, I think there need not be some objective FMV for an item in order for it to be justifiable, as a settlement payment is arm's length. My $0.01 (inflation adjusted).

 

[BravoNovember]

So now it is entitlement to expect someone to honor a contract you had with them?
Humm....

I was referring to the comments that he is owed a free mount. If I remember correctly, his deposit was returned.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I was referring to the comments that he is owed a free mount. If I remember correctly, his deposit was returned.

He’s not been “made whole again.” That’s the normal measure of damages in a breach of contract situation. Returning the deposit is all well and good, but the dude no longer has his dead duck. That dead duck has a value upon which the parties can agree, or which can be determined by some objective standard.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

Read the whole thread. It just makes me cringe. The first deer I killed on public land and packed out myself was “lost” by the local taxidermist. I’ve had other unfavorable dealings with taxidermists as well, but my first experience obviously was the worst. I was thinking I had bad luck…but after reading this thread, it seems to be the norm…

 

[jimh406]

I don't think the Taxidermist can fix the situation, so my thought is try to get over it.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

People make mistakes. But, most small business owners are terrible business people. I’m not going to accuse him of something that he may not have done. But, this seems pretty weird to me.



How many ducks does this guy do? I’ve seen A lot of mounts but few are ducks. It seems easy enough to me for him to track it down. His unwillingness to do so smells funny.


It shouldn’t be that hard. If it’s a business he surely has documentation of who he’s mounted ducks for. It would suck to have to get it back but, it was his mistake and something any decent person would do if guilty of giving it to someone else.


To me it only makes sense that he threw it out by mistakes or capitalized on how rare it was. It makes zero sense he can’t find it if he mistakenly gave it to someone else wanting a similar animal mounted.


I hate this for you But, I personally believe he said oh well. He might feel bad about it if it were a true mistake. But, he could fix it if he wanted to if that were the case.

That’s my take on it. How you handle it is up to you. But, there’s little doubt what kind of person he is regardless of what happened. And, regardless of his reputation.

And, there is zero chance I’d let this guy do anything for me. And, now he’s made his decision, I’d return the favor and try to make him feel it in his pocket. Fair is fair. And, if he thinks so little of you or lacks enough decent in him to do the right thing, he deserves future customers know the way he handles mistakes or, rare mounts he stands to profit from more so then simply doing the work to preserve them.

 

[PaHunter86]

Man that sucks!

The taxi I use is a stand up guy. A couple years ago my son shot a raccoon. He wanted the hide tanned and the skull done. So I take it to my taxi. About 6 months later he calls and says to come pick up the hide but the beetle guy he uses lost my sons raccoon skull. I told son and he was a little bit sad but was ok with it. The next season I took my buck in for a euro mount and while standing at the counter my taxi pulls a skull out of the drawer. He hands it to me. I said what's this. He said I know we lost the actual skull from your son's raccoon but he had a guy drop a raccoon off for the hide to be done but not the skull, so I sent this skull out to make up for it. I asked how much he wanted and he said nothing. A couple months later when my euro mount was done my son wanted to ride along to pick it up. When we got there my son thanked him and my taxi had the biggest smile on his face.

 

[Hunt eat repeat]

That only works if there is a FMV for the item.

The business has to account for that loss shouldn it get audited.

I don’t think it has to be on the books. If the guy is good at what he does and has a good reputation then some cash seems reasonable. As a good faith sorta deal. Just my thought.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

That only works if there is a FMV for the item.

The business has to account for that loss shouldn it get audited.

This isn’t true. The parties could agree on a settlement price for the dead duck. Whatever they agree upon is the FMV for the duck. As long as the payment goes out, there’s no fear of being audited in that circumstance. There’s only an audit concern if it is a marked-up write off with no actual payment.

 

[roadrunner]

This isn’t true. The parties could agree on a settlement price for the dead duck. Whatever they agree upon is the FMV for the duck. As long as the payment goes out, there’s no fear of being audited in that circumstance. There’s only an audit concern if it is a marked-up write off with no actual payment.

Sure about that not being true or are you disagreeing because you don't like the way it sounds?

We're talking about a random audit and the business owner needing to provide a reason why $xxx.xx dollars in cash went out the door. Really easy to say it was earned or additional income without paying a tax on it...

 

[fwafwow]

Sure about that not being true or are you disagreeing because you don't like the way it sounds?

We're talking about a random audit and the business owner needing to provide a reason why $xxx.xx dollars in cash went out the door. Really easy to say it was earned or additional income without paying a tax on it...

I asked above but didn't see an answer, so I will assume you are talking about an IRS (or state) tax audit. There is no need to justify why cash went out the door. If a payment was deducted as an expense, then the payment just needs to be a reasonable business expense, and verifiable, and that the amount is FMV (which I agree with @Q_Sertorius this would be because it's arm's length). If your focus is on cash as the method of settlement, then that's an issue for any business owner who deals in cash - adequately reporting what comes in, what goes out, etc. - so an issue that IMHO is unrelated to this situation.

 

[roadrunner]

I asked above but didn't see an answer, so I will assume you are talking about an IRS (or state) tax audit. There is no need to justify why cash went out the door. If a payment was deducted as an expense, then the payment just needs to be a reasonable business expense, and verifiable, and that the amount is FMV (which I agree with @Q_Sertorius this would be because it's arm's length). If your focus is on cash as the method of settlement, then that's an issue for any business owner who deals in cash - adequately reporting what comes in, what goes out, etc. - so an issue that IMHO is unrelated to this situation.

FMV means what a commodity or service typically goes for on the market and not a wink wink and a handshake...

I'm not the one saying the taxi needs to make it right by giving back more other than the deposit, so it is very relevant to this discussion.

 

[fwafwow]

FMV means what a commodity or service typically goes for on the market and not a wink wink and a handshake...

I'm not the one saying the taxi needs to make it right by giving back more other than the deposit, so it is very relevant to this discussion.

FMV is (including for IRS purposes) defined under a "willing buyer/willing seller" standard (I will spare you the full quote and citations). The OP and the taxidermist aren't buddies and are on opposite sides of the transaction. This hypothetical settlement clearly would fall within that definition. Where is the wink wink?

 

[Bman5000]

Clearly arms length agreement…if they could even agree.

 

[TopherDave]

oh boy. This sucks. Unfortunately I don’t think there is much you can do. Put a picture of it up on the wall instead? I had 7 beautiful cross foxes from Unalaska, Alaska that got “lost” at the tannery. Then the guy went bankrupt and closed the doors. I suspect he sold them since that was of some value at the time.

 

[taxidermybycam]

This isn’t true. The parties could agree on a settlement price for the dead duck. Whatever they agree upon is the FMV for the duck. As long as the payment goes out, there’s no fear of being audited in that circumstance. There’s only an audit concern if it is a marked-up write off with no actual payment.

There would be no value to the duck. Ducks are federal protected and don't have value because they can't be sold or bartered etc. under the mbta laws.
Even if he had a shop fire insurance wouldn't pay for the "new birds" they would only pay for income lost. If it was a deer that's different. But migratory birds no

 

[SteveCNJ]

Following. I have had a 8 point rack and cape at a taxidermist for 2 years. No return phone calls. I will have to go there to sort it out.

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I went to the taxidermist on Saturday. He said he didn't have my phone number because of a problem with his phone but I had left at least 4 messages with my name and number as well as several messages on messenger but I wasn't there to prove him a liar so I let him continue. A long song and dance about the tanner and he had to switch yadda yadda but in the end he said he had my cape and rack and I'd have the mount by the end of the month. We will see.

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[socoalt]

I’ll throw my 2 cents in.

Getting a free mount would be nice but it doesn’t fix the problem and provide you your bird. If you think it was an honest mistake, and from how you described his panicked actions it sounds like it was, then I’d show some grace and accept it. If this guy is a professional and has a good reputation then I would hope he wasn’t doing something shady that would jeopardize his practice so it seems accidental. Anything more than your deposit back is making him pay for his mistake which was really an accident. I never want to be punished for an honest accident. In the end, I’d give him a second chance and hope that he would do you a solid on the next mount but if he didn’t you’d be no worse off than if you went somewhere else, but hopefully he recognizes the opportunity to help you out.

As a note, I tend to be way too trusting and such but you can’t go wrong taking the high road and showing grace.

Get your deposit back and walk away.