taxidermy bills

[Rich M]

No thank you. $1,000 for everyday taxidermy? Wow.

 

[Monotone Matt]

I skull cap all my animals and make plaques for them. If I have an extra several hundred dollars laying around I’m spending it on hunting gear or an out of state hunt.

 

[Haro450]

I think good mount is a work of art. I only have a couple but I think the where all worth the money. Having a elk shoulder done this year at a cost of $1500. Local euro mount was $250. My rule is a bigger animal than what I have on the wall gets mounted.
When I look at the mounts on the wall i can vividly remember the hunts and who was there. Some of those people have passed away so it makes them that much more special. I do realize that i don't need a shoulder mount to trigger these memories, but it helps.

 

[Monotone Matt]

To each their own

 

[2rocky]

I only have shoulder mounted 2 animals. A P&Y Blacktail that was my first archery kill, and a P&Y Tule Elk (because OIAL ).
My taxidermist mounted the BT a second time because of cape damage from a storage unit and was very understanding in his terms and price to do so.

I have another cape at his shop and I told him it can wait for a while. It's my best RM bull elk yet. I've always wanted to have a Roosevelt, Rocky and Tule Elk shoulder mounts side by side.

If I ever kill a pronghorn over 80" I might consider a shoulder mount. But given my limited space pretty much everything else is going to be a euro or on a plaque.

 

[Mattman215]

I love the euro look for horns but for cool critters like bears and predators if it’s a good memory I get it done. Prices are not cheap but my taxidermist does a great job. Bear shoulders are $825.

 

[Hunt eat repeat]

It’s not just the cost to get something mounted, another factor is what the hell is your family going to do with the taxidermy when you’re dead and gone.

Obviously they don’t have the personal attachment you do.

If you’re dead it doesn’t matter. Throw it away.

 

[9.1]

If you’re dead it doesn’t matter. Throw it away.

I've found most family have just enough attachment to old shoulder mounts that they'll store them in a garbage bag in the back of the hay loft for the mice to chew on.

 

[def90]

Am I the only one that thinks $900 seems like a deal? As a business owner I know about what it takes to produce a product.

Lets see, answer the phone and reply to multiple calls and emails about pricing, the process and other anal stuff.. 1-2 hours of your time. Receive the head and cape, client decides to talk your ears off for two hours, 2 more hours of time, spend time ordering foam forms, eyeballs and all the other shit you need. 1-2 hours of time. Package up the cape to go to the tanner and arrange everything that goes with it. 1 more hour, more if they actually do it themselves. Put the mount together, put the cape and antlers on and off again multiple times and make changes to the foam form until it's right. Who knows how many hours? Sew everything up, paint whatever needs to be touched up, get the fur laid out just right.. a couple more hours.. call client to let them know it's ready. A few minutes unless the guy talks your ears off again. Client picks up mount and talks for another two hours..

By this point you've got 20-25 hours in to the thing, subtract your shop costs like heating, electricity, water, accounting, insurance, the form, eyes, consumables and so on and that $900 is now down to $600.. divide that by the 20 or more hours and you've now made a whopping $30/hr.

 

[Huntin Fool]

$950 and up for a shoulder mount here. I’m waiting for 2 to get back

 

[butcherboy]

I quit doing taxidermy 4 years ago at the same time I quit processing WG. The time it took to produce a good quality mount wasn’t worth the small amount of profit. I still do an occasional one for friends just like the occasional processing of their animal. All on the side after my normal processing day.

 

[DuckDogDr]

My caribou was $750 but that was 5 or 6 years ago.
My antelope were around $450-500 if I remember right
Pay $375 / duck for mallard size
$450 for the large sea ducks and geese

 

[summs]

You know it's bad when a lot of comments on this site say's things cost to much.
Lots of money being thrown around on here, much more than the average guy. Based off this site, everyone has the latest bow/custom rifle and scoffs at Vortex, head to toe in designer camo, and takes multiple trips a year.

When in reality, I went to a few bow shoots and I observed that >75% had old bows, vortex and leopould are fancy and bushnell tops most guns at the range, and most wear realtree camo and the average hunter only spends <7 days afield a year.

 

[BamaNSC]

$750 for a shoulder mounted whitetail at my local shop. I was so happy my daughter killed her first buck this past season until I got the bill…

 

[Gobbler36]

I just paid $950 for a whitetail here in ID
happily handed him the money as I don’t mount much but when it’s going in my house for guest to look at etc I’m gonna pay for the best quality work I can find and could be happier
the realism and small details between good work and just the cheap guy is very noticeable to me

 

[Weldor]

Quoted prices so far for deer seem low compared to where I'm at. They are really high out here. Got 4 in the garage that need to be redone, not going to happen at north of a grand ea. But everybody spends money different and makes their own choice.

 

[huntnful]

I have a few bucks that were all mounted for $750. This year got one mounted by the same dude and it was $850. I assume he's just passing the increased cost of everything on to me. Which I would hope he would. He shouldn't have to make less because of things out of his control. But I definitely do mostly euros. If I kill a 350" bull, it'll get it mounted, or I'll continuously mount my newest biggest buck if I keep topping my current biggest.

 

[Rich M]

You know it's bad when a lot of comments on this site say's things cost to much.
Lots of money being thrown around on here, much more than the average guy. Based off this site, everyone has the latest bow/custom rifle and scoffs at Vortex, head to toe in designer camo, and takes multiple trips a year.

When in reality, I went to a few bow shoots and I observed that >75% had old bows, vortex and leopould are fancy and bushnell tops most guns at the range, and most wear realtree camo and the average hunter only spends <7 days afield a year.

Believing that what is said on an outdoors forums reflects the "industry" as a whole is very misleading.

 

[JGross1]

Prices have went through the roof.

Taxidermy supplies have gone up an insane amount over the last two years.

I’m pretty much going to do euro mounts from here on out. I have a lot of shoulder and life size mounts already.

I have a crate in my garage full of African animals capes and skulls that I don’t have any idea what I will do with now. Went there in 2019, but just got the crate 6-8 months ago.

Price list from local taxidermist in my area
BelowView attachment 459838View attachment 459838

Laughed a bit at the thought of paying $595 for a raccoon shoulder mount. Had to look up pictures. Laughed a little more.

 

[Yoder]

I think mine was $720 this season and I have to wait about a year to get it. It's the first one I thought was big enough so I don't care that it was expensive.