I see someone else had an issue with a cat so...

I took a bobcat to a fellow two years ago this December to get mounted. I remembered him from a sportsman's show and saw he did excellent work on bears so I decided to take a look at his cats and he did solid work on those as well.

We discussed how I wanted to get it mounted and what the price and timeframe would be. He said eighteen months. I didn't bat an eye, any good taxidermist is worth waiting for. I've had quite a bit of taxidermy work done over the years and learned long ago not to pester them during the wait.

Nineteen months goes by and I give the guy a call to see where we were at in the process. He hadn't even sent the cat off to be tanned yet. As you can imagine, I was a tad bit unhappy and told him I was coming to get my cat. At first he said it was frozen and then he said he couldn't get his hands on it. I think he might have even slipped up and said it was at the tannery and he blamed COVID for the delay. He fired off three stories so fast I could hardly keep up with him. He asked me if I didn't trust him...would you?

Anyway, not much to be done so I waited for him to supposedly get the cat back from the tannery. Four months goes by and I give him a call. Your tanned cat is right here and ready to be picked up. He didn't even bother to call me to let me know he had the cat back. We hang up and fifteen minutes later I get a call from him telling me I owe him a small balance. I just had a cat tanned and told him what I had paid. He laughed. At that point I wanted to punch him in the face. I'd given him a deposit to skin the cat to best suit the mount and cover the cost of the tanning and get the process rolling. The cat is a frozen ball inside a plastic bag. I don't even know if I got my cat back. It had a distinctive white foot so I'll know.

Like I mentioned, I've had plenty of taxidermy work done over the years but this was by far the worst experience I've ever had. I'm tempted to torch the guy on social media (FB, his site is on there) but haven't done so yet.

Just cause a person does great work does not mean they are reputable to use, I always check reference on any mounts when using a new "Artist" saves just this problem, sorry you got took so hard, it is a hard lesson, I learned the hard way on one of my first critters when I was younger as well.
You can't ever get the first one back either !!!

That's the thing, he can be a talented taxidermist and a lousy businessman. I should have checked his references. His flippant attitude is what really galled me.

That's a bummer .....crappy experience and crappy customer service

Hope it works out ok for you so you can move on

Hopefully karma catches up with him

Great topic. I am in a similar situation. I have had a fair bit of taxidermy worked performed over the years without issue. A couple years ago I was fortunate to harvest a white squirrel. I had met a prospective taxidermist years prior at a show and had kept his card on file. I contacted him about mounting the squirrel and he was all in. I had several coworkers that had work performed by him and it had been top notch. I dropped the squirrel off, settled on a pose, habitat, and put down a 50% deposit. The agreed timeframe was 12-16 months which is the norm. I waited 18 months and had not heard from him. I finally made contact with him thinking maybe I had missed a message from him and he stated he was behind which jived with some other people I had talked to that had pieces of work with him. He stated it would be 6 months or so more. Giving him the benefit of the doubt I gave him 8 more months. No call, so at the 2 year and two month mark I contacted him again and received the COVID excuse of not being able to get supplies. I am currently 2 years and 6 months from the day of drop off.

This guy has been in business for 20 years and at the time was highly thought of in the local taxidermy community

I have never had this issue before and really am at a lose of what to do. I currently have a cat at another taxidermist that should be ready for pickup in the next few months and have thought about running my dilemma by him for suggestions on an approach. My current thoughts are to contact the guy and ask for my pelt back (hopefully it has been tanned by now) and persue someone else.

I appreciate that. As luck would have it, I found a taxidermist locally who does as good a work on cats or better. I didn't think it was possible to have such a talented taxidermist in my little Podunk town. I've driven by the place countless times. Just a young fellow who found his calling. If the hide is salvageable, I'll have the local guy do it. I guess he won't know until it's time to work on it.

I wish you good luck, gary.

I'd venture a guess your white squirrel is gone and the whole affair is toast now, you won't see the mount your deposit back or even further contact,

Happened to me on a grey fox as well as a kit by two different "artists" really winds ya up waiting, on the grey I called half way in to the estimated time to find out he had folded up and moved.

The other did the put off for six months longer than the estimate for various reasons, never did get that one he changed numbers , then he moved away as well, both I never checked references on their customer relations, I do now but did learn the hard way that good work does not always a good reputation make !!

Not to make excuses for someone elses poor business practice, but the cost of a wall hanging vs cost and work to have one taxidermy tanned isn’t even close. It takes a lot of time to skin to every toe nail, split everything well, and get it fleshed properly, and the tanning cost is more as well. That being said, thats what a 50% deposit is supposed to cover.

I understand there are always two sides to every story but I'm giving you the unvarnished truth. He made zero effort to reach out to me in all time, zero. He could have easily asked for more money if he wanted it but I gave him more than enough to cover the work he did. In my opinion, he should have refunded all of my money and apologized, he did neither.

Yeah, I’m certainly not saying he was in the right. At the VERY least, he should eat any extra cost for his lack of communication.

Funny I saw this post. I just called my taxi yesterday for an update. She has done good work for me in the past and I understand the covid thing and also that it takes time to be done properly. I dropped off an Antelope in September 2019. She said it would be a year..thats fine. I called and she now told me it would be the end of January. The part that bothers me is she stated that she had to remove the flesh off of the antler base since I failed to do that. But, She is the one that removed it. I went and picked up the horns from her and I let them hang for a month that was required to have it scored. I returned it to her and she has had it since. I dont know how long she has to let it dry but I am getting impatient, but I am trying to be understanding. What scares me is that I paid her in full! My bad but I am a trusting soul. we will see come Feb.

I also had a different taxi try to steal a piebald pelt off of me. Told me the pelt couldnt be tanned because the fur slipped. I asked for the number of the tannery but they didnt have it right there! LOL I got my pelt back 2 weeks later!

Do you think a taxidermist is going to give you a name or number of someone for a reference that got shafted? Someone was happy with what they did and that's the number you will get.

I wish I would have known about this guy sooner. He lives just ten miles away from me and I think his work is excellent. What do you think? I don't believe the fellow is thirty years old. He found his calling. Notice the round pupils? I wouldn't have until he pointed them out. He said slanted pupils are exceedingly hard to get right. I'll settle for round. I fired off a message to him to see if he's interested in doing this cat.

That's about how much stock I put into them. I was a self-employed mason for a lot of years and word-of-mouth is what sold my business. I couldn't give my work away when I first started out, no one knew who I was or what my capabilities were. Satisfied customers generated my work.

Probably struggling with some personal problems.

Give him a good Yelp review.

Depends on your questions and how you ask them, and if you ask enough ! I always ask about any guided hunters and for that outfitter as well. If you deal with the public like I do, you tend to pick up on words and phrases used for promotion, in the end yes it's still really a crap shoot, find a good one and just stay with them until they don't work anymore !

If its a large mount I take the time to vet them, I don't assume anything from the taxidermist any more !

Cats are very challenging. This is my first attempt. Looking for honest opinions.