I'm going on 3 years waiting on a mount which was quoted a year.

He had a good excuse, he went through a divorce, but mounts that came
in after mine have been finished and delivered.

I've offered to come and pick up the hide and just move on but he refuses
to give it up. I put half down as required. He has answered my calls and
just said he hasn't got around to it.

Not sure what I can do.

I don't want to loose the hide, it was my first bear with hounds.

He is part time so it's not his only source of income.

What do you guys think?

Time to set a deadline and stick to it.

Your bear may still be around his shop. Maybe.

drive over and get it.

My guess is he doesn't have your hide anymore. Send him a certified letter, one he needs to sign for, stating that if the hide is not returned by a specified date you will seek legal action and will report him to the fish and game or whatever department in your state that regulates taxidermists.

In the states I've lived in, it has been fish and game. I'm not sure about Alaska because I've not dealt with any taxidermists here but when I lived in Washington and NY they had to keep logs of every animal received and received their taxidermy permits through the fish and game agencies.

If he lost your hide or refuses to return it, definitely follow through with reporting him. If his license is in jeopardy he may get off dead center.

Yep, there are laws. Taxis who do not follow these laws, especially as they relate to regulated species, can get into some serious hot water.

I had this type of thing happen with a gun once. At about the three year mark I pushed the issue and my gunsmith ordered me a new gun. He simply lost it and didn't want to face the music until forced to. I ended up sending him a fair amount of work to offset his loss. The guy is a friend and a fellow Friends of NRA committee member so I did what I could, despite being the victim in the situation. My advice is to push the issue and move on. Unfortunately, I bet your hide may be missing. I sure hope not!

Yep. Bring a letter giving him x days to produce your hide and money.

Fugg all that letter bullsheit, get in your truck and drive over there and tell him to give you your sheit or your going to beat the fugg out of him.

Hope it doesn't end up like the coyote I had tanned a few years ago. Got it back a year or more later, it miraculously had grown paws, bullet hole was in a different place, and the winner was the tail didn't require stitches to reattach where I'd screwed up trying to strip it out, a two piece became a one piece.

3 years? Times up, by a couple of years, plain and simple. Do what you have to and move on, guessing he simply doesn't have your hide anymore. Good luck.

BTDT, my taxi had diabetic coma, freezer became unplugged, and he had to do 14 months in federal prison and some other excuses. Which were all true and believable, nonetheless I didn't incur any major loss, I only lost a gray fox.

I had one screw me over one time. He was from Belgrade Montana and I was just about to get on a plane and go get my elk horns when he finally sent them to me unfinished. I never got my money back.

Works both ways I'm afraid. May leave the guys house with a whipped ass at best, be hauled off at worst.

g

As satisfying as that would be, I wouldn't consider that sound advice. Good way to go from in the right to, still in the right but in jail.

Sound like he sold or messed up your Hide!!!!!! I would go in and demand to see my hide if he doesn't have it.... Sue or whip his Ass for the value of all your time and money to take your trophy .....I gave a Buck to a guy to mount 12 years ago....Have not seen it since. Kept putting me off until one day I went by and He was gone.....

Sent a guy six heads from Africa to mount - shipping, customs, etc. was about 2,000. Then I paid about $1000 to have the hides tanned. Then I couldn't get ahold of him. A year later I finally found out he had gone bankrupt and because most of the stuff in his shop wasn't tagged with the owner's name, it got auctioned off with his stuff.

A friend was having a gunsmith mount a butt plate on an antique gun. He had spent about 2 years finding the appropriate butt plate. After six months the gunsmith owned up that he had tightened a screw too tight and split the butt plate. He had spent the intervening time trying to find a replacement. I believe the two of them are still looking for another replacement after almost three years now.

My advice is some form of legal action now.

Had a big pronghorn at my favorite local taxidermist

Heard through the grapevine he was going through a bad divorce

I ate my deposite but picked up my cape and horns then took them to a different taxidermist

No regrets

Dang, it sounds like being in the taxi business is a lot of headaches.

Extreme Taxidermy-John, formerly of Montana then Grants Pass, Oregon, then ??? Lost a bear to him. Included a $100 deposit and a pre-tanned blacktail deer cape as trade.

Would love to get my hands around his neck.

Perhaps your bear hide was ruined by the tannery. This is quite common. However, the taxidermist is still responsible. I once knew of one that let a customer's muskox cape spoil.

Using a one man shop for any long term work is a recipe for disaster. Suggest using a full business instead......that can still deliver if the owner gets flaky or gets hit by a truck or blows his brains out (it once happened with a taxidermist in one of my former towns).

One-man shop taxidermists, gunsmiths, and outfitters are notorious for this as evidenced by the many threads about these on the internet. Ever read the stories about a dude giving a $10K deposit on a moose hunt and then never heard another word? OUCH!!!

Had a one-man shop and a former buddy handle this one in Wyoming 1996. I moved during the process. Told him I'd pay him for the tanning, caping and his time and dollars-out if he'd just ship the tanned cape to me (I had found a top new local to mount him).

The original dude dillydallyed and finally mailed me the cape of another substitute white-faced mature buck..........but not with the notched ear that my buck had (can't see it in the photo). I sent it back and told him I was more than happy to make the 2-day trip to his shop and cut his nuts off after applying vise grips for a couple hours. He immediately drove to the tannery in another Wyoming town and found my buck's cape laying alone in the bottom of the 'already salted receiving bin'.........where it would have rotted. I received it in the mail shortly thereafter..........and it turned into a beautiful show-quality mount.

I value the cape as much as the rack. And I've NEVER left the rack of one of my hard-earned animals with a taxidermist more than the time it takes for final mounting (I bring it home and then let them have it for final mounting only)............cuz they have a knack for disappearing as well...........much more often than capes.

Been there over three years to mget a deer head back , finally after several threats to sue/take legal action job was horrid but it was my antlers for sure

the old I lost it (sold to someone else)but don't wanna tell ya game
he is hoping a hide will miraculously show up for you somehow


fugg him
you have the tag number/metal band for the hide(shot in maine?)
go get your local warden explain the situation then both of you go to the conmans place and watch him tap dance and get your money and or hide back if he still has it

then write him a or start a scathing review for his skills and ways on angies list under a sock puppet


a lot (not all)of taxidermist are scumbillies


I recommend tad proudlove
enfeild maine
excellent taxidermist, well worth his price
if you do stuff in maine

john dykstra isn't bad either
alton maine

I had a very well known Master Taxidermist do a bear rug for me a number of years ago. He took about a year, which is about normal, but managed to loose my skull and still had the gall to tell me that the price per foot had gone up since I had dropped it off.

When I went to pick it up there was a pink spot on the nose where the airbrushing had been scraped off. He simply grabbed a black sharpie and colored it in. Looked like chit.

Master taxidermist, my ass.

Sounds like being a customer of a taxi can be a lot of headaches!

Stop harassing the guy.

Double down and check back with him in 6 years.

Thanks for the info guys.

I checked with the state about his license and they referred me to the
Better business bureau to file a complaint.

I can go to small claims court, which still may be an option.

I'm still checking into the "cities" tag and not returning my property.

At this point he hasn't answered or returned my call which he always
answered my calls in the past.

According to my state a receipt for the deposit and work to be done is
a contract so that may be the direction to go.

Meanwhile I just got my bear back from this past fall and my new taxidermist
did a super job. The best mount I've had done do far.....

How does a gunsmith lose a gun?

UPDATE:

I got the bear back, frozen and untouched.
No deposit though, got the times are tough story.....
Spent my money no problem, will get it back to me in time.

I dropped it off the following day to the good taxidermist.
He said he would help me out with recovering my deposit...

Glad I got the bear back........

There was a taxidermist in my area who had a reputation as being the best, then it started taking three years to get a whitetail mount back. Turns out he had a couple of druggie kids who were stealing racks and mounts out of his shop and selling them for drug money. Fortunately for me I did not have any work in his shop at the time. Through word of mouth referral I found a sheriff's deputy who was a part time taxidermist. None of the guys who took work to him had any trouble getting their mounts back on time. He did a whitetail mount for me and I got it back when promised which was less than a year, his work was top notch.

I lost a trophy pronghorn mount once to taxidermist - the biggest I will ever shoot at 17-1/2" with 7-inch paddles. The taxidermist was raiding by the State G&F and had hundreds of racks and capes seized because he didn't log them in properly - no way to tell whose racks were whose.

I'm glad to hear you got it back, I just hope it hasn't been ruined from 3 years in the freezer.
About 10 years ago I killed a pure white wild turkey. A part time taxidermist who was going through a divorce left it in the freezer for a year and a half and when I finally got it back and took it to another taxi the skin just fell apart when he tried to skin it.

Seems there are lots of "fly by night" taxidermists out there, this is one profession where due diligence in checking references is especially important. Talk to as many clients as possible to gain an insight into quality of work and on time delivery.

Better get another set of hounds and have your second bear mounted if you want one mounted.