When to call your taxidermist

[nodakian]

I've been waiting since November 2020 for my kid's buck. He said it would be a year turnaround. After me calling a few times, the guy called me in October 2022 and swore it would be done in March 2023. Excuses about the tannery being backed up, among others. He does good work, but I'd have done a euro had I known he'd be so slow. Never again.

 

[Billy Goat]

Do that many really send the capes off to get tanned?

2 that I was around tanned the capes themselves. They didn't want the headache of the wrong cape coming back.

 

[Cornhusker]

My taxidermist is a predator caller I have several ranches that I hunt that have predator problems I keep the ranches fresh for him till his coyote contests are over. He is good and usually takes 18 months for deer he got 2 deer an a elk completed for me in 9 months last year and has done similar for me in the past. My point if there is a will there is a way. The problem is that most taxi's don't have a will to get them completed in a timely fashion. I'm not sure how you give him a will to get them completed but well done mounts can be complete in a timely fashion.

 

[Marble]

Do that many really send the capes off to get tanned?

2 that I was around tanned the capes themselves. They didn't want the headache of the wrong cape coming back.

Most send them out. I had one do an elk himself and it still smelled fairly bully. Which i kind of liked. My wife... not so much.

IME, they use the tannery as the reason for the hang up.

My current taxi screwed up two things. First the skull cleaning boiler caught on fire, ruining all the heads.

Second, he called to let me know he labeled my wife's bear incorrectly and thought he had sent it out. He hadn't. He apologized profusely and is trying to correct it.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Beating Brush]

Update. I got the cape.

 

[streetdoctor]

Update. I got the cape.

so roughly 2 years? That's insane. I got my 2021 Colorado bull back in 10 months. Under promised and over delivered. He told me it would be a year.

 

[weekender7]

Glad you got your cape. The only time I call my taxi is if he called me first and got VM. Otherwise, I figure he is doing the best he can. They all seemed to be backed up if they do good work.

 

[Yoder]

I dropped off my whitetail for a shoulder mount in November and they said about a year.

 

[FLATHEAD]

I called mine at 18 mos., said he was just covered up busy.
This month is 2 years, he calls me day before yesterday.
Says he is working on my Aoudad and Javelina and I will
be hearing from him very soon.
We shall see.

 

[MallardSX2]

I don’t have to call. My taxidermist texts me with updates. That’s a good taxidermist. And he charges me 400$….vs the other wolves that are charging 650$…..

 

[Slewwater]

So the guys I've used have all been moonlighters who do taxidermy as a side project; stuff is done in a timely manner and cost is a helluva lot cheaper than any for profit shops and they'll even deliver next time they come through town.

 

[Theringworm]

I killed a 76.5” moose several years ago in Alaska. I paid the shipping taxi in Alaska big big money to make a custom crate and ship that rack & skull back all intact instead of cutting it and splitting the skull cap in half as I wanted to get it scored. Granted this is nothing I have ever done before but given the once in a life time trophy I wanted to have it done.

My receiving taxi tells me he has received it and I tell him what I want done. DO NOT SPLIT the skull cap in the process as I want to get it scored. 2.5 years later, after many many phone calls and texts asking and just short of threatening legal action it is finally done. He pulls up with his truck and trailer in tow. He drops the back end of the trailer and I see a moose head without any antlers on it and steel posts sticking out the side of his head. I am dumbfounded. Hoping maybe it’s someone else’s moose and mine is further inside I began searching hoping to find another moose. No other moose in the trailer. I quickly ask, where are the antlers. He said, oh they are in the bed of the truck. I am fuming at this point. I said I had this sent to you with the skull cap intact, He jokingly said, “yea when that got dropped off at the shop in that huge box we had no idea what it was. I‘ve never had a moose that big in my shop.“ I quickly interrupted and said why did you cut it. I didn’t pay a ton of money to keep it intact so you could cut it when it arrived. If that were the case I would have just had the skull cap split before it shipped and saved a lot in freight charges. He said, “ well it’s too hard and heavy to move something like this, especially to try and mount it on the wall”. While all of that is true, at least call and communicate with me. Get an official scorer in there to measure it and then give me a call and maybe at that point I wouldn’t have cared what you did. Oh well, it’s not the end of the world. Just couldn’t believe the lack of communication and the 2.5 year delay in getting it done. I’ll never use or recommend him again.

 

[CMP70306]

Man y’all are making me appreciate my taxidermist that much more. My local guy for whitetails takes about 6 to 7 months depending on his work load and his shoulder mounts are top notch. His price has sharply risen from $500 to $765 over the past 3 years but he said he is making less per head at $765 than he was at $500.

He also did a bear rug for me that took right around 10 months back in 2019/2020. Would have been done sooner but the tannery got shut down for a while due to COVID.

My only other two experiences with taxidermists outside of him are with my bison and my brothers wild boar skull. With my bison the taxidermist told me it would probably be a year, the shoulder mount came in 7 months and back hide came in 9 months. The only thing that took longer was the pheasant and that was just under one year. T&B Taxidermy out of Glenrock, WY, I highly recommend him for bison.

For my brothers boar skull we took it to a place recommended by a friend that we had never used prior, 3 years later he still hasn’t gotten it despite following up a few times. However he didn’t give the guy any money and was only getting it done as a novelty so if it’s gone forever he doesn’t particularly care.