How long for taxidermist?

[mechanictim]

How long would you wait for a taxidermist to finish a mount? I killed my first bear in 2001 in northern Minnesota and took it to the local taxidermist here in southern Minnesota. He told me it would take about 18 months to finish, well here it is 4 years later and he is trying to get a hold of me to let me know my bear is done. I kind of gave up after two and a half years, What would you do? ask for a big discount? stiff the guy? pay the agreed price and just never do buisness with him again?

I happen to know the guy has done at least one deer mount in less than 4 months because it was a local hotshots kid.

The bear doesn't really mean that much to me other than being my first.

[Guest]

It doesnt take 18 months to mount a black bear.. it takes around a week, 2 weeks if one is being positive everything is dry.. what takes the time is the workload the taxidermist are sitting on, and overall work space with large animals.. most dont have the shop space to have 50 large game animals on the table at a time to keep up. Sometimes animals come in at times when that type of mount is being done and it has happened where animals would get put in early to save on freezer space, etc... this doesnt make it moraly right.. but it does happen.

IMO.. 4 years is too long to wait for anything unless the estimate wait time was at least close to that amount of time... BUT ... This is a service you requested from the individual, and he has performed the service on your animal.. its his money and time... It would only be right that you payed for the services rendered.

If you bring up the subject of the length of time with the taxidermist.. they will probably work with you and knock some money off the bill... Dont just stiff the guy.

[ZOKU]

Uhhh... 4 years is absolutely absurd. Heck, the 18 months this business initially quoted you is downright ridiculous. My uncle in Sterling Heights, MI is a taxidermist at Blue Ribbon Taxidermy in Macomb County. Several award winning mounts come out of that shop each year... They're one of the busiest shops in the Michigan metro area and two weeks on a lot of mounts is a worst-case scenario. I'd say the guy who has done your mount should work with you on the price at the very least... and I agree, don't stiff him. Heck, it's your first bear... go get that!

[Mark Christianson]

I'm with ya Dave.

4 years is way too long to wait for ANY work.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Even though its a very long time to wait for the mount.. I too think you should go get it from the guy. I would ask if he would drop the price because of the time. However as stated, if you need another mount done, I would search out others. Pay the man, and move on!

[Guest]

I agree that it should not take 4 years to mount the bear.Sometimes it takes 6-7 months to get the hide back from the tanneries.There are 2 that take a considerable amount of time to tan the hides as they are the best in the nation.Still should not take 4 years.alot of times what will happen is that a hunter will take a fish or animal to the taxidermist and even within 4-6 months they decide they dont want to pay the price because its now not that big a deal for the money.I believe you should pay a discounted price for the wait and go pay for it.If you would of got it back 1 year later which is probably the average turn around time for a bear at a busy shop,would you still care less about it?And yes,you can mount a deer very fast if you tan the hide yourself,probably 2 weeks,but my thought there is will you get the same job the professional tanneries will give you,my thought probably not.I probably would not take anything else there.

[Walleye Guy]

4 years is too long for any mount. However it does take time to have things tanned if they send the hides out to tan. Most of the really good taxidermists do not tan their own hides unless they need a really quick turnaround. They would rather spend the time on the actual mounting of the animal.

Good taxidermists generally have a backlog and that means it takes a while to get your mount back. If a taxidermist can get a mount turned around in a few weeks I would steer clear of them. In my opinion this indicates that they are not very busy. Good taxidermists thrive on repeat business. If a taxidermist isn't good customers will generally go there once and never return.

Waiting a year for a mount is acceptable in my opinion.

[doser]

Hey Lee,

Do you still have some of your old Equiptment? I was looking into just getting into big game shoulder mounts as a hobby specifically Whitetail and Bear. I was thinking of buying some of those beginner videos out of Van Dyke's supply catalog . What are your thoughts on those?

[Guest]

doser- what I have in stock I still use for my own personal use.As far as the videos from Van Dykes,I have never watched one but heard they were not to bad.If you try doing your own and you have any questions,just give me a shout and I will try and help you as much as I can.The shoulder mounts are not to hard to do.

[doser]

I'll probably buy one of those video and go from there. I read on some Taxidermy sites that most of the videos out there are pretty good. This is something I'll probably take up doing this winter once the hunting season is over. Once I get into it I'm sure I'll have ?'s for you. Thanks

[irvingdog]

You can't stiff him. He will just sell it on HSOList and make his money (and then some) anyhow...

Go get the bear, but don't be afraid to demand a price break. Maybe 7% a year?