To Have Love and Lost...

[shannerdrake]

Hello All,

I decided that this is the best place to share my situation. Please note, I realize that there are much worse things in the world than my story.

Early 2020, COVID shuts the world down. Despite uncertainty, my hunting buddy and I put in for the CO draw and end up drawing a Muzzleloader elk and mule deer tag. I documented that hunt on here fairly well, but to make a long story short, we went out to CO with a pocket full of tags and thrilled to get out of the state and on the road. I ended up shooting a 150in 3x4 mule and a 300in 7x7 elk. Considering I have lived my whole life in Indiana and to this point had shot a smallish 5x5 elk and a 118in whitetail, I was beyond excited.

I've never used a taxidermist or mounted anything besides DIY euro mounts. However, I figured I'd likely never come back with 450 inches of antler on one trip again in my life, I decided to get them mounted. I dropped my cape, antlers, and deposit off at taxidermist (who checked out) in October 2020. He said it would be about a year, but things were a little sticky with the tanneries as his preferred one was currently shut down (in California) for COVID related reasons. I continued to check in with him every few months, but everything seemed to be on track. I'm also currently building a new house during this process and elected to finish out part of the basement for my "trophy room" with the show pieces being my elk and mulie from the hunt.

A few weeks back, I was on a family vacation and had some time to think for myself and realized it had been awhile since i got an update from the taxidermist. So I gave him a call....line disconnected. Send him an email...no response. This goes on for awhile and I happen to check his website and noticed that Google is listing the company as "permanently closed." Not good.

I finally call another local taxidermist and sheepishly ask him if he knows what's up. Yes he does. My taxidermist had a bad fire and lost his shop and all of the mounts and projects which would seemingly include mine. From what I can gather, he knew there was no way to rebuild and has essentially closed shop and I'm guessing has taken his insurance check and calling it quits.

I am of course disappointed. I feel bad for him. I lost my brother-in-law to a house fire 10 days after my wife and I got married and know first hand how devastating fires are. I am glad he is OK. I am bummed about losing my mounts and money. I also don't really know how I feel. Perhaps posting on here will be cathartic.

Side note, I found out about losing my mounts after work and the next morning, exactly 12 hours later, I found out that Wyoming refused to once again take my deer points for the second year in a row. The 2 point unit I started putting in for last year now takes 4 points in the special draw. The worst part is my buddy and I decided that we were going to pool our points and take a pastor friend of ours on his first western and first mule deer hunt. Had we put in with just the two of us, we would have drawn. We are scrambling now to see if we can pull a hunt out of thin air, but the leftover tags are nonexistent.

Seems like every hunter has a taxidermist story and now I have mine.

 

[KB_]

That is insane.

id at least expect my deposit back.

 

[shannerdrake]

That is insane.

id at least expect my deposit back.

So far unable to get a response or an answered phone call.

 

[2rocky]

Very sorry for your loss. Read this thread about replicas from photos. If you have scores and or measurements it would help as well..

https://www.taxidermy.net/threads/19457/

You can buy capes and have a shoulder mount done.

If you feel strongly enough , I'd wager a lawyer would take this on contingency and get the taxidermist's Insurance company to sit up and take notice.

 

[npaden]

Sorry to hear.

I lost my Alaska bison hide to a taxidermist who had mounted 5 other animals for me. He was slow on some of them but did good work at a reasonable price. I took the hide in for him to flesh for me before sending it off to get tanned and that was 2 years ago. He just disappeared. I have no idea what happened to my hide. Sounds like other folks lost antlers, etc. so at least I still have my skull and horns. He had done so much work for me that he didn't ask for a deposit. I thought it was going to be a week or two and it turned into never.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Ouch. It’s annoying that the taxi never got back with you about the fire. Even if contact info was lost, why not keep the phone line for clients to contact him? Seems dodgy.

I wish you the best on killing another nice buck and bull someday.

 

[Gellar]

Taxidermists are licensed and your state C.O. Enforces that license, as well as federal authorities if your taxidermist does migrating birds like waterfowl. Use the states fish and game web page to look up the CO in that area and give him/her a call. See if they know what’s going on.

 

[LopeHunter]

Dropped off my bighorn ewe cape and skull to a taxidermist I had used before. Second generation. Opened a bigger space just before 2008. He went under during the Great Recession and he was not the only taxidermist to go under. Had to drive by his house as he would not answer emails nor cell phone messages. He was embarrassed but still you have to communicate as a professional. I did nothing wrong.

Got the ewe's skull cap and the horns back plus a destroyed cape. None of the deposit. I was bummed though not a lot since I hunt for the experience and adventure rather than to collect antlers and horns. The taxidermist can't spoil those memories and I won't let him, either.

I eventually tracked down another ewe skull and the horns are now a Euro. If I ever get a bighorn ram then will hunt down a fresh cape and finally get the ewe shoulder-mounted as was the plan.

 

[shannerdrake]

Taxidermists are licensed and your state C.O. Enforces that license, as well as federal authorities if your taxidermist does migrating birds like waterfowl. Use the states fish and game web page to look up the CO in that area and give him/her a call. See if they know what’s going on.

Thanks - this was really good advice and something I did not think of. My DNR has entire department for fish and wildlife licensing (outfitters, taxidermists, processors, etc.) so I was able to contact them and share the information.

They really appreciated me reaching out as now one had. When researching further, I noted that his website is still "up" and actually has an option of paying him directly through PayPal. Call me old fashion, but if you lost everyone's mounts, kept their deposits, disconnected your phone, and don't respond to emails, you probably should note that on your website and probably should take down your PayPal links. I shared this with the DNR and I think that very much caught their attention.

Thanks all!

 

[shannerdrake]

Final up date on this - DNR called me back. Short story, nothing can really be done other than revoking his taxidermist license (in process) and taking him to small claims court for “damages.” After talking it over with an attorney friend, I decided that’s not worth the additional costs and time.

 

[Scott85]

Thanks - this was really good advice and something I did not think of. My DNR has entire department for fish and wildlife licensing (outfitters, taxidermists, processors, etc.) so I was able to contact them and share the information.

They really appreciated me reaching out as now one had. When researching further, I noted that his website is still "up" and actually has an option of paying him directly through PayPal. Call me old fashion, but if you lost everyone's mounts, kept their deposits, disconnected your phone, and don't respond to emails, you probably should note that on your website and probably should take down your PayPal links. I shared this with the DNR and I think that very much caught their attention.

Thanks all!

You should use that PayPal to send him an invoice for your down payment.

 

[CUElk]

If he had a business policy, he would have received payment for “property of others” that was in his control. It would have been a small part of his coverage, likely not enough to come close to paying for all the mounts and hides in his possession. But, he could have at least paid a portion of deposits back to customers. I would continue to hound the shit out of him. Sorry he had a fire but if he received payment for your property then you should receive some compensation.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Final up date on this - DNR called me back. Short story, nothing can really be done other than revoking his taxidermist license (in process) and taking him to small claims court for “damages.” After talking it over with an attorney friend, I decided that’s not worth the additional costs and time.

Small claims court can usually be easily handled by the claimant. Here it's essentially fill in the blank forms and hiring a process server (usually a local courier service). I would be very surprised if dropping the claim paperwork on him doesn't get quick results from this guy. You ARE entitled to your deposit returned. That is larceny pure and simple. I stopped feeling sorry for him when you relayed that part of the story.

I'm sure your lawyer must have advised you there's a time limit for starting a claim. In this case it would start when you became aware that you were being defrauded. Correspondence with DNR establishes when you became aware.

 

[shannerdrake]

Looks like my deposit was only $200. I don’t think it’s worth any more of my time. However, I do really like the idea of invoicing him through PayPal. I might do that for fun.

 

[noharleyyet]

It'll pass shanner, you'll get another.

 

[JDH]

Small claims court can usually be easily handled by the claimant. Here it's essentially fill in the blank forms and hiring a process server (usually a local courier service). I would be very surprised if dropping the claim paperwork on him doesn't get quick results from this guy. You ARE entitled to your deposit returned. That is larceny pure and simple. I stopped feeling sorry for him when you relayed that part of the story.

I'm sure your lawyer must have advised you there's a time limit for starting a claim. In this case it would start when you became aware that you were being defrauded. Correspondence with DNR establishes when you became aware.

I almost had to go through small claims to get a mount back. It is a pretty simple process here also. @shannerdrake what part of Indiana is your taxidermist in? If it's around Indy I can poke around and see if he's around, managed to salvage anything, help out however, etc.

 

[EastTNHunter]

I hate that for you. I’m not a huge taxidermy guy, and it doesn’t sound like you are either. It has to be something really special to go that route, and these sounded like really special specimens to remind you of a really special trip.

Hang in there. Hopefully you’ll have other chances to fill their spots on the wall, but the memories will last your whole life

 

[LaSportsman]

Thanks for posting and sorry for your experience. Good lessons. I've never had an animal mounted but will ask about insurance if/when I do.

 

[shannerdrake]

I hate that for you. I’m not a huge taxidermy guy, and it doesn’t sound like you are either. It has to be something really special to go that route, and these sounded like really special specimens to remind you of a really special trip.

Hang in there. Hopefully you’ll have other chances to fill their spots on the wall, but the memories will last your whole life

Correct - these were going to be my first professional mounts. I've done a couple DIY skull caps and euro mounts, but these were going to be my first and second shoulder mounts. Again, I'm sure I will kill better elk and deer in my life. However, since they were my biggest elk, biggest mule deer, shot less than 24 hours apart, both with a muzzleloader, DIY, and with a couple of my best buddies, I thought it was worth memorializing with a couple shoulder mounts.

That being said, I'll get move past it and get over it and I'm already working on planning my next hunts/memories.

Thanks to the HT community for sharing and giving me a place to vent.

 

[shannerdrake]

I almost had to go through small claims to get a mount back. It is a pretty simple process here also. @shannerdrake what part of Indiana is your taxidermist in? If it's around Indy I can poke around and see if he's around, managed to salvage anything, help out however, etc.

I live on the north side of Indy. The taxidermist is/was around the Lafayette area (West Point, IN to be exact).

Thanks!