Taxidermy “issue” how to handle?

[OntarioHunter]

That guy is a prick. You are a sweetheart. I have brought my daughter into this discussion and she agrees, he either didn't know what he was doing or just didn't care what he sent back to the client. Our competition here is like that. He hates doing fish and birds and euros (essentially anything that requires a little more effort) so he charges over the top and does shitty work. His fish look he subcontracted the painting to some graffiti kid at the switch yard. He just doesn't want those customers back. His shoulder mounts are good. But truth be told I think doing a shoulder mount is as easy if not easier than a euro. They are the cash cow bread and butter for most taxidermists. Fast to do and high pricetag. He definitely WANTS those return customers.

Getting the eyes right on a shoulder mount is basic no matter if it's a deer or an antelope. I'm pretty much convinced he used the wrong size glass eyes. I figured the shrinkage excuse wasn't going to wash.

You'd think that jerk would at least have offered to give you your tip back. I'm thinking you are maybe a bit concerned that raising a fuss may come back to bite you in your business? A small community?

 

[huntinsonovagun]

That guy is a prick. You are a sweetheart. I have brought my daughter into this discussion and she agrees, he either didn't know what he was doing or just didn't care what he sent back to the client. Our competition here is like that. He hates doing fish and birds and euros (essentially anything that requires a little more effort) so he charges over the top and does shitty work. His fish look he subcontracted the painting to some graffiti kid at the switch yard. He just doesn't want those customers back. His shoulder mounts are good. But truth be told I think doing a shoulder mount is as easy if not easier than a euro. They are the cash cow bread and butter for most taxidermists. Fast to do and high pricetag. He definitely WANTS those return customers.

Getting the eyes right on a shoulder mount is pretty basic no matter if it's a deer or an antelope. I'm pretty much convinced he used the wrong size glass eyes. I figured the shrinkage excuse wasn't going to wash.

You'd think that jerk would at least have offered to give you your tip back. I'm thinking you are maybe a bit concerned that raising a fuss may come back to bite you in your business? A small community?

Not necessarily concerned as my reputation speaks for itself. I’m just not really a person to fight something. Honestly I wish I was, but I just don’t like conflict, to a fault. Also this guys has a great reputation across the state, and I err on the side of it being subjective, since it is “art,” but I still feel like it’s not even close. I also want to be reasonable (and feel like I am) as in my line of work, it is Custome and not perfect, but I do try to make everyone as happy as possible. I also want my customers to tell me if something isn’t right so that I can try to fix it, all within reason. I’m no taxi, but I feel like that would have been 30 minutes of clay work to get the eyes right? Heck- charge me another $50 and I’m happy as a lark! Really it comes down to my word against his, and who do I go to and raise a stink? I may check around with some other guys to see what they can do with it. I was just hoping he may try to make it a little better.

I’m at a point in my life that I’m willing to pay for quality, which I thought I was getting, and I also understand small business. Taxis (and guys in my industry) are notorious for saying “people want the best work for the least amount of money”- it’s all head-trash—there ARE people willing to pay double what you think someone would! I was one of those guys! No ill will against the man, just a little disappointed. I hope I never get to that point with my own work.

 

[OntarioHunter]

A good taxidermist is not just a journeyman doing a job. He is entrusted with something that memorializes an important moment in someone's life. For some, THE most important event in their life. To me, screwing up a client's mount is akin to crashing his wedding drunk and puking in the aisle. We are VERY fussy about what we send back. Sometimes we don't have the best material to work with (e.g. repairing my brother's moth eaten goat missing a horn) but we haven't had a dissatisfied customer yet. I will put the time into doing something right even if it winds up unexpectedly exceeding the price quoted. Example: the spectacular faux skull moose shed euro I did last year was a total loss for us economically, but who knew something like that would be so complicated. I could have just thrown in the towel half way through and stuck the horns on the skull in some fashion and hoped they stayed put and the client didn't notice they looked goofy (kinda like your guy) but we don't operate that way. I wound up pulling the antlers off and starting over three times. Sure, this time I wasn't messing with some guy's precious moment ... but euros are our mainstay. We may be the only game in town for those things but a bad reputation is still a hard thing to correct. And we are competing with DIY. My daughter is fortunate to have a wealthy benefactor (me) who can provide a financial cushion while she develops the expertise and clientele base to get her business on a strong footing. But I'm not throwing money away either. If she didn't have the right attitude, I would pull the plug just like any bank would. Her client ethic is great (must have been all that Sunday school I dragged her off to). But her work ethic could sure stand some improvement.

 

[huntinsonovagun]

A good taxidermist is not just a journeyman doing a job. He is entrusted with something that memorializes an important moment in someone's life. For some, THE most important event in their life. To me, screwing up a client's mount is akin to crashing his wedding drunk and puking in the aisle. We are VERY fussy about what we send back. Sometimes we don't have the best material to work with (e.g. repairing my brother's moth eaten goat missing a horn) but we haven't had a dissatisfied customer yet. I will put the time into doing something right even if it winds up unexpectedly exceeding the price quoted. Example: the spectacular faux skull moose shed euro I did last year was a total loss for us economically, but who knew something like that would be so complicated. I could have just thrown in the towel half way through and stuck the horns on the skull in some fashion and hoped they stayed put and the client didn't notice they looked goofy (kinda like your guy) but we don't operate that way. Sure, this time I wasn't messing with some guy's precious moment ... but euros are our mainstay. We may be the only game in town for those things but a bad reputation is still a hard thing to correct. And we are competing with DIY. My daughter is fortunate to have a wealthy benefactor (me) who can provide a financial cushion while she develops the expertise and clientele base to get her business on a strong footing. But I'm not throwing money away either. If she didn't have the right attitude, I would pull the plug just like any bank would. Her client ethic is great (must have been all that Sunday school I dragged her off to). But her work ethic could sure stand some improvement.

That’s a great attitude to have and I would suggest putting something along those lines into a business plan and revisiting it every year. If you always have that mentality you/she will be successful! I’ve had my share of projects that ended up not being profitable, but I make sure that it’s still done to the customer’s satisfaction.

 

[OntarioHunter]

That’s a great attitude to have and I would suggest putting something along those lines into a business plan and revisiting it every year. If you always have that mentality you/she will be successful! I’ve had my share of projects that ended up not being profitable, but I make sure that it’s still done to the customer’s satisfaction.

It's the kind of service you would expect from others ... so you should expect nothing less from yourself. Unfortunately, the Golden Rule seems to be out of vogue in today's business schools. I am a business historian and this very issue was at the heart of my PhD thesis. I chronicled the short life of a speculative mining company run by some aspiring British "gentlemen" living in Victoria, B.C. It was a fantastic story of intrigue, perseverance, and corporate innovation. But in the end it seemed that's all it was ... a story. And I knew that was a problem. At the oral defense we were all grappling with how to make this work. What did it mean? One of the examiners suggested the corporate "company men" were just another bunch of ripoff artists fleecing investors. So what? But were they? These guys kept pumping in tens of thousands of their own money (huge sums in the 1890s) to at least keep up appearances at the mine, even after the boom's bubble burst and there was little hope of selling out. Why did they do that if they were simply pirates? The answer was they were transplanted British gentry who were pillars of their community. Neighbours who invested could not be abandoned so callously. The transition from family capitalism to cold corporate capitalism was almost instantaneous in the rest of Canada but much more complicated in the unique isolated geographical and cultural environment of Victoria, B.C. With deep connections to British wealth it had the potential to be the capital entropot for financing Canada's western development. But the city's cultural hangup for being ethically responsible made it an impossibility in the new age of corporate capitalism. Perhaps my daughter and I are still living in that era. If we fail, we will do so holding our head high ... like the "company men." That should always be worth something ... I hope.

 

[OntarioHunter]

That’s a great attitude to have and I would suggest putting something along those lines into a business plan and revisiting it every year. If you always have that mentality you/she will be successful! I’ve had my share of projects that ended up not being profitable, but I make sure that it’s still done to the customer’s satisfaction.

Double post.

 

[huntinsonovagun]

There are a few that will do the right thing, no matter the cost, but there are very few, unfortunately. Thanks for taking the time to retell the story.

 

[winmag]

I’m hesitant to rip on your mount too hard, because I know its important to you and signifies much more than a head on the wall, but you kinda got screwed. Do you want to post his business’s name here so we can be sure to avoid it? Does his website say “We ain’t good but we sure are cheap!”?

There is a difference between production taxidermy and show taxidermy. But there is also a difference between production taxidermy and bad taxidermy.

Show taxidermy will have more detail on the nose, in the nose, inside the ears, the nictitating membrane of the eye, etc. You DO NOT need a show taxidermist to order the correct size form, or get general anatomy correct like ear placement, horn placement, general brow sculpting, etc.

 

[Cheese Curd]

The bottom line here is the taxidermist doesn’t know how to correctly mount an antelope eye (and other parts of an antelope shoulder mount). If he knew how to do it correctly, it would have been mounted right the first time and you wouldn’t have had to tell him it wasn’t right.

Antelope eyes are very similar to deer eyes, so if he can’t mount an antelope eye correctly, then I suspect the eyes of his deer mounts aren’t correct either.

Regarding reference, a taxidermist can have a ton of reference but if they can’t interpret that reference and apply it to a mount, it’s worthless. When I started taxidermy I had reference but I didn’t know how to use it. It took a while but then I figured it out. Many taxidermists never figure it out.

You don’t need to have a WY taxidermist mount an antelope. There are just as many haxidermists in WY as every other state in the country. Any competent big game taxidermist should be able to mount a respectable antelope if they know what they are doing - even in the eastern US.

Hunters that want to get something mounted really need to do their homework, due diligence, vetting, whatever you want to call it and thoroughly research taxidermists before leaving your trophy animal with them. You need to educate yourself too, which takes some time and effort, so you know what to look for and what makes a nice mount (it should look like the live animal).

 

[bonedogg]

I'm not sure what to say on this one. I was expecting a lot worse from the description. His eyes are not perfect, but as a whole the mount looks very nice! I understand your fixation for detail, but also understand the taxidermist gave you a commercial price for a commercial mount, not a custom taxidermy competition piece. I could pick apart every mount in my house from 5 different taxi's, some are severe and some are minor. Lessons learned, not big enough form, to too big of a form, etc....Everyone thinks there buck had the biggest neck they ever seen and when measured it doesn't make sense.????...I think the bigger lesson here is to do the research before you hand over your trophy, not while its being done. I just saw on facebook a very well know taxi up here post a pic of a Male and female African Lion together, full mounts. I almost cried to think of what somone paid for that crap, wow!!

Kinda like getting a tatoo, you want someone that can specialize in what you want as very seldom can someone be great at everything.

 

[The Hedgehog]

I'm glad I'm not a taxidermist.

 

[EYJONAS!]

I'm glad I'm not a taxidermist.

I can't imagine going to pickup my bear and the guy giving me the wrong one.....

 

[The Hedgehog]

I can't imagine going to pickup my bear and the guy giving me the wrong one.....

I'm just an easy going customer, usually. But hey I thought I shot a big bear, and it was really a cub? Okay. I didn't even argue.

Bears - Trophy Rooms

I’ve only got one rug in my den, a 7’ Wyoming bear. Have many that would have made much better rugs but they take up so much room. I’ve given a few away and have a couple in my garage, but I usually just tan them. The skulls are neat. Here’s a couple pics of some of my hides. You are a...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[BuzzH]

I'm glad I'm not a taxidermist.

You and me both...some of the customer behavior I've witnessed is enough to keep me from every even considering that profession.

 

[MarylandBeagler]

$750 for a speed goat mount? Damn, I might be old but I think that's pretty steep. Forgive me if that's not out of line. Just can't see it being so high.

I think so too. Thats what I paid for a Full Turkey last year.

-Z

 

[Lee bergstrom]

I would just be honest. I typically find taxidermist are best at mounting animals they have the passion for hunting. Maybe antelope is not this guys strength. All you can do is ask.

 

[Cheese Curd]

$750 is not out of line for a good commercial pronghorn mount.

 

[TheTone]

Taxidermists and meat cutters are always good for quality hunter stories

I can see a little of the eye concern expressed here but it looks way, way better than the one pronghorn I have mounted

 

[2rocky]

Is there such a thing as a "Taxidermy Review Board" made up of experienced taxidermists who can review the mounts?

Or is it so "Artistic" that it can't really be evaluated?

It's one thing for someone who calls themselves an expert to pass a judgement but is there a Peer review option for the trade?

 

[Cheese Curd]

Is there such a thing as a "Taxidermy Review Board" made up of experienced taxidermists who can review the mounts?

Or is it so "Artistic" that it can't really be evaluated?

It's one thing for someone who calls themselves an expert to pass a judgement but is there a Peer review option for the trade?

I believe Pennsylvania had something like a review board - I don't know if they still have it.

For the most part, there are really no formal standards or required peer reviews. The only real standard is a live animal. Competitions provide peer reviews, but most taxidermists don't compete.

In most states, anyone can get a taxidermy license and call them themselves a taxidermist. That is why people need to do their research before selecting a taxidermist.