Urgent! Need Taxidermist! East Texas

Need buck mounted . Preferably in the Nacogdoches to Tyler range but will drive further for quality

Wildside Taxidermy in Celeste, TX

Bit of a drive for you, but very high quality. Julie is the wife of a guy at my station. For me she has euro mounted whitetail, feral hog, full body mount a bobcat, and a full shoulder mount bull elk. She is a miracle worker!

Lee Richards is the top in the area in Central Heights....you're looking at 15-18 months on getting it back though.

URGENT! WE NEED PICS!

Sportsmans Memory Shop in Grapeland. I'm picking up my mule deer shoulder mount Saturday. They do Clayton Williams' family's taxidermy work FWIW.

That's what I was thinking.

Richards in nacogdoches is good.
Steven Godfrey in nacogdoches is good too. Several people I know in nacogdoches take there's to grapeland to sportsman memories, I think.

Godfrey ruined my brother's brown bear, or allowed it to get ruined. He took over 2 years to even get started. He blamed the hairless rug on the lady that does his quilting. The scull looks just as dissolved as if it were a sugar cube in hot coffee; this he blamed on the expediter in Anchorage, an outfit that has faultlessly taken care of a brown bear, black bear, moose, and caribou for me.

YMMV, but it's my personal opinion that Steve should have stayed in law enforcement.

Lee Richards is the best on deer - one of the best there is IMO. A true artist.
If the Good Lord ever grants me that east TX buck of a lifetime, he is going to Lee (with a few extra C notes to hopefully move me up in the queue).

When I don't feel like waiting 18mos - 2 years I go to Sportsman's Memory Shop in Grapeland. They have done a wonderful job for me on deer, fox, and birds too.

How did your muley hunt go this year? I remember you talking about burning your Colorado points.

It went well. I got a nice eleventh-hour buck. I'll post some photos and a story in the next few days.

Good deal.

Rodney Alexander Trenton Tx or
Ressurection Taxidermy Bonham Tx
Both do great work and I am very picky

I use Galen Logan out of Gilmer. (903) 790-0577 https://www.facebook.com/Lifes-Pursuit-Outdoors-718318431556700/

After moving to East Texas, I took some time off from hunting while starting my business and building my home. Over the last couple of years I started looking around and was really disappointed in what I was seeing in my area. The most obvious was a lack of talent. Just because somebody calls themselves a taxidermist does not mean they can make a mount look lifelike. I also found that a lot of guys can do a decent job on a whitetail, but fail miserably on other species. If it's just a whitetail, you should be fine with half of them out there. Just be sure to look at their work. Are the eyes level and set the proper depth? Do the ears and nostrils have depth? Are the muscles natural looking or did the get carried away and make it look like it's on steroids? How natural do the antlers look? For some reason around here, they love to paint the antlers, which I hate.

If I like the way their mounts look, I ask where they get their hides tanned. If they say anything other then a commercial tannery, I walk. I will never consider having a mount done with anybody who does their own tanning. For me, it has to be at a commercial tannery!!!!!

Then I ask about forms and eyes. If it's a commercial brand, I'm good. IF they make their own forms, I walk away. I don't see too many guys making their own forms very often, but it was still pretty common back in the 90's.

If everything is good, then turn around time is secondary. I've gladly waited two years for mounts to come back from my guy back in CA because he was that good. Galen is a lot faster and is getting them out to me about one a month after they get back from the tannery. He sends all his hides to Golden State Tannery, which takes about six months or more to get back. Longer if you want a rug made because it's a more drawn out process.

There are two reasons for ugly mounts. The taxidermist doesn't have a clue, or he cut corners on tanning. I want my mounts to look fantastic for the rest of my life. It's why I have them mounted, so a little more money, or a little more time mean nothing to me in the grand scheme of things. Fortunately, Galen is fair in his pricing and his turn around is pretty good.

Hands down all American taxidermy in wills point