Taxidermist Nightmare - need serious advice

 
brownbear932008 said:
We had to do this in SE AK on 3 bear hides the agency was great to work with. It took some time but we finally did receive one of the hides and all three skulls. The other two hides were ruined.
Edit: saw you contacted FWP that is exactly what happened in our case all items were seized and it took forever but we eventually got most of it back. Didn't even cost us shipping to beat all. AFG shipped my hide frozen FedEx and the bear now sits in my loft don't give up hope. Stay in contact with them.
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this is good info thanks
 
This thread really resonated with me. I dropped off a bull from 2019 to a taxidermist I had used before. We had good experiences prior and I still don’t have the elk back. I always enjoyed talking with him but something over Covid happened. No communication for over six months, shop is closed and multiple people upset. The really odd thing is you can see an elk mount (not mine) in the boarded up shop very strange. I won’t name names here but if anyone in West Texas is dealing with this issue please message me. I contacted local police and they offered to have an officer go with me to his house. The local game wardens are aware of the issue from many others but didn’t seem to have the ability to go into the shop. So long story short this has been a big pain and I’m at the point of realizing I may not get it back. I really just want to know what happened to it. It also makes me more motivated than ever to get another bull. Sorry to hear about your situation as well. Hope it gets resolved soon. If anyone has tips for me would appreciate it as it’s just a flat out bummer.
 
Guitarman1562 said:
This thread really resonated with me. I dropped off a bull from 2019 to a taxidermist I had used before. We had good experiences prior and I still don’t have the elk back. I always enjoyed talking with him but something over Covid happened. No communication for over six months, shop is closed and multiple people upset. The really odd thing is you can see an elk mount (not mine) in the boarded up shop very strange. I won’t name names here but if anyone in West Texas is dealing with this issue please message me. I contacted local police and they offered to have an officer go with me to his house. The local game wardens are aware of the issue from many others but didn’t seem to have the ability to go into the shop. So long story short this has been a big pain and I’m at the point of realizing I may not get it back. I really just want to know what happened to it. It also makes me more motivated than ever to get another bull. Sorry to hear about your situation as well. Hope it gets resolved soon. If anyone has tips for me would appreciate it as it’s just a flat out bummer.
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I would do whatever you can with the cops. If they are willing to go with you, maybe you can get in and get your bull back.
 
daltrix99 said:
I would do whatever you can with the cops. If they are willing to go with you, maybe you can get in and get your bull back.
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Thank you! I went to his house twice and no one there. They just aren’t willing to open up the shop for some reason. I don’t understand how game wardens can look in there and see a bull elk but not be able to go in. May try to get an officer and game warden together to meet me at the shop.
 
Hello there - bumping up this thread with an update. After almost four years of the most unprofessional disorganized mess of trying to get my bear hide back from this taxidermist in Bozeman, I finally got confirmation today that my bear hide is gone. Quick recap:
  • Pathological lying and avoidance tactics for years
  • Dodged me every time I showed up at his shop, including when I went with Sheriff Deputies
  • Upon showing up again, finally with agreement he would meet me, he confirmed the hide is gone
  • He has a story about how some guy ran off with it that used to work in his shop, but I don't believe a word out of his mouth
I'm not doing to dox him here, but if anyone wants to stay away from a taxidermist in Bozeman, DM me.

This was my first bear, killed during archery season four years ago. I've killed more bears since then, but of course, this remains my biggest bear, and he was a beautiful chocolate boar. Freaking sucks.
 
daltrix99 said:
Hello there - bumping up this thread with an update. After almost four years of the most unprofessional disorganized mess of trying to get my bear hide back from this taxidermist in Bozeman, I finally got confirmation today that my bear hide is gone. Quick recap:
  • Pathological lying and avoidance tactics for years
  • Dodged me every time I showed up at his shop, including when I went with Sheriff Deputies
  • Upon showing up again, finally with agreement he would meet me, he confirmed the hide is gone
  • He has a story about how some guy ran off with it that used to work in his shop, but I don't believe a word out of his mouth
I'm not doing to dox him here, but if anyone wants to stay away from a taxidermist in Bozeman, DM me.

This was my first bear, killed during archery season four years ago. I've killed more bears since then, but of course, this remains my biggest bear, and he was a beautiful chocolate boar. Freaking sucks
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I'd say no harm in naming the guy. People ought to know who he is after service like that. Might save someone else the heartache.
 
EYJONAS! said:
Hopefully this isn't the same one that is in Bridger Canyon.

That kid is a serious crook.
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I’ve got a couple of stories of my own if it is this same taxidermist in Bridger Canyon that hasn’t been named. I’ll tell them here so hopefully someone can avoid the same mistake of ever taking anything there.

I took a bear to him in 2017, my first black bear, and had a rug done. I always do all the rest of my own Europeans for skulls, but with the bear I left the head on with the rest of the hide and let him do the Euro along with the rug. Big mistake, it took over two years to even get the skull back, at which point he gave me the wrong skull back. He tried to give me a smaller bear skull that wasn’t even close to the size skull of my bear. Well after some back and forth he was able to “find” my bear skull, which still had a tag attached with my name on it and I knew he was mine due to a chipped-off canine tooth he had on one side that was easily identifiable as the bear I shot. Quality of the skull was not good, not what I’d expect from a taxidermist, which was a bummer but it does make me feel better about the European skulls I do on my own.

Well, it took almost another year after that but I finally did get the bear rug back in 2020. It was not done very well at all, not happy at all with the quality, but at that point I was just happy to have it back.

In fall of 2017, my dad was lucky enough to take a MT mountain goat and took his billy to him for a shoulder mount and it took 3 years to get it back. Upon finally getting it back in 2020 and bringing it home, it was realized that the mount was filled with moths and had come home that way. The moths had already done their damage, laid larvae, and soon hair was falling out. A once in a lifetime mount ruined. Never tried to confront him about it, as I'm sure he would just deny it, and he also still had my goat (see next paragraph) and didn't want to piss him off and never see my goat again, but there's no doubt the mount came home infested from his shop, as moths were flying out of the mount as soon as he got home. Eradication was a nightmare.

Not knowing any better, in 2018 I got lucky and also drew a MT mountain goat tag and that fall I also took my billy to him, as none of this had happened with my bear or my dad’s mountain goat yet. For my mountain goat, I wanted a shoulder mount and also brought in the hide from the rear half of the goat and requested that he tan the rear hide just so I could keep it. Well, fast forward 3 years to 2021 and I finally got my goat shoulder mount back. He had “lost” the rear hide and told me he would try to find it, but at that point after everything else, I decided I just had to count my losses and be thankful I actually got the shoulder mount back and never bothered following up again about the rear hide.

Hearing about others experiences there since then, particularly not receiving animals back at all, in some ways I think I am one of the lucky ones, despite the nightmare experiences. Anyhow, needless to say I’d never recommend nor will I ever go back to Bridger Canyon.
 
TimberBuck said:
I’ve got a couple of stories of my own if it is this same taxidermist in Bridger Canyon that hasn’t been named. I’ll tell them here so hopefully someone can avoid the same mistake of ever taking anything there.

I took a bear to him in 2017, my first black bear, and had a rug done. I always do all the rest of my own Europeans for skulls, but with the bear I left the head on with the rest of the hide and let him do the Euro along with the rug. Big mistake, it took over two years to even get the skull back, at which point he gave me the wrong skull back. He tried to give me a smaller bear skull that wasn’t even close to the size skull of my bear. Well after some back and forth he was able to “find” my bear skull, which still had a tag attached with my name on it and I knew he was mine due to a chipped-off canine tooth he had on one side that was easily identifiable as the bear I shot. Quality of the skull was not good, not what I’d expect from a taxidermist, which was a bummer but it does make me feel better about the European skulls I do on my own.

Well, it took almost another year after that but I finally did get the bear rug back in 2020. It was not done very well at all, not happy at all with the quality, but at that point I was just happy to have it back.

In fall of 2017, my dad was lucky enough to take a MT mountain goat and took his billy to him for a shoulder mount and it took 3 years to get it back. Upon finally getting it back in 2020 and bringing it home, it was realized that the mount was filled with moths and had come home that way. The moths had already done their damage, laid larvae, and soon hair was falling out. A once in a lifetime mount ruined. Never tried to confront him about it, as I'm sure he would just deny it, and he also still had my goat (see next paragraph) and didn't want to piss him off and never see my goat again, but there's no doubt the mount came home infested from his shop, as moths were flying out of the mount as soon as he got home. Eradication was a nightmare.

Not knowing any better, in 2018 I got lucky and also drew a MT mountain goat tag and that fall I also took my billy to him, as none of this had happened with my bear or my dad’s mountain goat yet. For my mountain goat, I wanted a shoulder mount and also brought in the hide from the rear half of the goat and requested that he tan the rear hide just so I could keep it. Well, fast forward 3 years to 2021 and I finally got my goat shoulder mount back. He had “lost” the rear hide and told me he would try to find it, but at that point after everything else, I decided I just had to count my losses and be thankful I actually got the shoulder mount back and never bothered following up again about the rear hide.

Hearing about others experiences there since then, particularly not receiving animals back at all, in some ways I think I am one of the lucky ones, despite the nightmare experiences. Anyhow, needless to say I’d never recommend nor will I ever go back to Bridger Canyon.
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Man that is extremely unfortunate and I'm sorry to hear that.

He would take unfleshed hides and throw them under his front porch and leave them there for upwards to a year or better. I saw him bring a load of these hides to a tannery. Unloading them they were literally falling apart, rotten, mice falling out bugs. It was horrible, I can't imagine having something like that ruined by a POS like that. Feel really bad for all those peoples dreams and trophies literally left to rot under his porch.
 
EYJONAS! said:
Man that is extremely unfortunate and I'm sorry to hear that.

He would take unfleshed hides and throw them under his front porch and leave them there for upwards to a year or better. I saw him bring a load of these hides to a tannery. Unloading them they were literally falling apart, rotten, mice falling out bugs. It was horrible, I can't imagine having something like that ruined by a POS like that. Feel really bad for all those peoples dreams and trophies literally left to rot under his porch.
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Wow, no wonder so many people's stuff was lost. Sounds like the hides were simply ruined and not cared for.
 
MTGomer said:
These stories are far too common when it comes to taxidermy.

Places like Dewey and Monarch are not cheap but this will not happen there and that is certainly worth something.
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No doubt. I started with a few bad experiences with getting taxidermy done for 3 fish, a duck and a whitetail with 4 different taxidermists. It wasn't until my 2nd duck that I found a true high quality taxidermist and thankfully he had a good buddy that does big game. Between those two, I couldn't be happier with what I get. Both don't advertise to get work and in fact, the big game guy now actually won't even accept any work unless its a former customer. I feel very lucky to know that I have two guys that I can trust 100% with dropping something off and because of this, I never ask or care about what the price is going to be.
 
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