I am trying to get a hold of a taxidermist by the name of Kirby King around Belgrade, MT.

Does anyone have a number for him?

Thank you,

Ernie

PM sent...

Are you considering hiring him? He is quite possibly the worst choice of taxidermist in the state of Montana - if not the entire United States. Not only does his work absolutely suck, some of his clients have actually had to consider contacting law enforcement to get stuff back from him. And knowing him personally, I think you could find a higher class individual selling meth or holding a cardboard sign up in the Walmart parking lot.

That's pretty much the sentiment I expressed in my PM...

Hunted with an outfitter that sent our two bulls to him. He called and said he was shipping them. My father sent payment.

We never recieved the mounts. His voice mail was always full and now the phone is disconnected.

I am considering contacting the law.

It is tough being in Virginia.

The only bad thing I can say about the outfitter is his choice of taxidermist.

Hopefully his phone is disconnected because his house burned down with him in it.

Guys, post this up on www.taxidermy.net, in the industry forum. You will probably have better luck there.

Have you asked the outfitter for some help since he recommended the guy?

Might be worth a shot.

There is another guy in belgrade who I think does nice work. He is down behind the airport and his last name is Andreas. Maybe some of the local guys here can get you more info.

We have spoking to the outfitter about it. He mentioned he was getting a lot of complaints. He said he would call Kirby. Shortly there after Kirby called and said he was shipping our mounts the next day. We have not heard from him since.

I can not get a hold of our outfitter right now. He is in the wilderness area until the end of the season.

Thanks for the help.

Andres Taxidermy does excellent work. Jerry Andres is the owner and a hunter himself and a good guy to deal with.

He's located just off Airport Road in Outlaw Subdivision.

His number is 406.388.7226.

He's done a bear, antelope, several whitetails, elk, walleye, pike, and several birds for me and I've never been disappointed.

I'd highly recommend him to anyone, sorry you didn't know this prior to sending your stuff to Kirby. I haven't heard many good reports about him, but I also don't have any first-hand experience with him either.

Jerry does AWESOME work.

Jerry does all my stuff..

Kirby once told me I was "one of Jerry's kids"

Kirby already has mine and my father's bulls. We can not get a hold of him, and it does not look like we will get our mounts.

VA, don't give up hope... I suspect you'll be able to get them, it'll just take a little more work. I'll poke around a bit for you too...

I'd offer Greenhorn, Brad, and/or Sam a case of PBR and see if anything gets resolved.

I have had Jerry Andres do several mounts for me. His work is second to none.

I think Greenhorn is more into the Bud Light.

Not worth it. He's a slimy toolbag. Harming him would be about as challenging as picking on a 3rd grade girl. Last time I threatened him - he called the sheriff. The only animal I ever took him was a fox shot with a high-powered rifle, blown into 2 pieces.

Good friend of mine watched him and his pal stalk a sow with 2 clearly visible cubs. They eventually noticed they were being glassed and walked away.

Kirby's the one on the right..

Miller if you're gonna pack it a ways.. clearly you should carry LIGHT beer.

...and notice the little plastic flask leaning up against the beer.. schnapps with roofies mixed in.. for hunting with guys like you.

You should get him this shirt. After all, it does sound like he may be The Great Cornholio.

Sorry miller, this is what threw me.

For a really good workout on those scouting/exercise trips you really should try a bag of heavy sand instead of beer. That way you won't have a light pack on your return trip. As a bonus, the sand will allow you to get your scouting done during the afternoon so you don't have to be out early or late. Or so I've heard.

I would be happy to send Brad, Greenhorn, and Sam enough money for PBR. Heck I will send enough money for some good stuff.

It sounds like the law knows him, we will give them a call.

thanks,

Ernie

Well, I'm not a PBR man but if it was a case of Fate Tire...

The law sounds like the place to go IMO.

I confronted the the subject in question on his business practices last time I got some Euro mounts after waiting/calling for two years... he rarely returns phone messages and rarely answers his phone. He's hardly ever at his shop too.

To his credit he delivered them in person. Not to his credit, they weren't done according to our agreement and the elk head was missing. He had to take them back, redo them, then delivered them again (got the elk that time)... months later.

The elk had laid around in his shop non-bug eaten for so long it couldn't be cleaned properly. His solution was to spray paint it white... un-friggin believable. After some hard words he gave me everything at NC.

I'd never, ever use the guy or recommend his work. Pathetic.

All he is doing for us is nailing the horns to a board. They both were small 5x5's, but it was my first elk. We thought getting them done out there and having them shipped to us would be better than trying to stuff them into the over head bin on the airplane.

The shipping work great on the meat.

By the way you guys have it made out there. My wife perfers elk over deer therefore she prepares it more often.

What outfitter could possibly recommend this douchebag?

I once saw a decent mount that had his logo on it and thought two things.. 1) he had somebody else actually do the work, or 2) he tried extra hard because the guy who shot it owns a bunch of private land in his locale..

I won't mention the outfitter because I was impressed with his outfit.

It was public land in the Teton wilderness of Wyoming.

Spoke to the law about Kirby. Not much can be done. They checked to see if they had additional numbers. The last time they had to deal with him was in 2003.

I have two phone numbers. One disconnected and one the mail box is full.

I also have two addresses (home and business). Officer told me to send letters to both addresses telling him we are going to take civil action.

My first hunt out west and I shot a mule deer of my lifetime...I dropped off the rack plus 2 of my friends & the hides...thought he was a nice guy. Just wanted them shipped to a friend who would mount them. He won't answer the phone or return a call. We have friends out there who are going to pay him a visit.

His business is called "images of wildlife", 36 high plains , bozeman/belgrade,mt.
Phone is 406-388-9838 ==== "Afterhim"....yeah, that's you...Kirby.

We called the president of the Montana Taxidermy Assoc. He was very helpful and in fact knew Kirby King. He told me to give him a couple days to touch base with him and he would get back to me. He could not get Kirby to answer his call,[or return], but left him a message to get me my capes and horns immediately! If he didnt in one week I am to call the Montana division of widlife, district 3 and have an officer go to Kirbys shop and get possesion of trophys.

So, 1 week passed & more and we called MDW, they said to call the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint and it was out of their hands. We couldn't believe it.

Today, just by chance, I happened to stop in a restaurant while traveling on business in the middle of Ohio and I met a guy who has land in Montana. I also ran into him when when I got back from my trip and showed him a picture of my deer. Well, he's a great guy and he called a friend who knows someone at MDW and they are going to help me.... will keep you posted.

VAHuntFisher - give me your info, so I can pass it on to them as well.

afterhim,

PM sent

Another taxidermist in Belgrade, MT

For what it's worth, I have had a taxidermist named Terry Suhr in Belgrade do some work for me and have been pleased with his work. His prices are great, and his is a stand up guy from my experiences over the last 5 or so years.

Fred

Jerry has done 24 of my big game mounts plus 2 birds and 2 fish. All excellent work. He also has 22 more animals of mine (most from 2 African hunts) that I'm waiting for him to mount.

With the help of Afterhim and my outfitter I received the two set of racks from Kirby King. It only took 2 1/2 years. My fathers horns were mounted. He did not get around to mounting mine, but at least I have the horns so I can get it done.

Thanks for all the advise.

Ernie

Just wanted to bring this one back to life. His business is called "Images of Wildlife". Buyer beware.

He sounds like a prince of a guy

To the Top. Anybody ever found this guy? I know somebody that would really like a set of antlers back from his largest ever bull elk, a B&C caliber non-typical taken in MT in the 70s. Kirby's had the antlers since 2010. I'd venture to guess he sold them.

An obituary notification might be nearly as satisfying.

The OP was from my son. He and I finally got our antlers after our Wyoming outfitter drove to Belgrade to confront Mr. King. The antlers arrived with one mounted poorly and one not mounted. Mr. King told me he would send me back my deposit for one of the mounts but of course I never got it. This was early 2009.

Do not do business with this man!