i saw pat's rockin teal trio and checked out his site like j.j. suggested and then i also saw dixie's ad for fish scale taxidermy and i'm a bit confused because the standing widgeon pic and the flying spec pic are on both websites. so who's actually doing the work? i would really like a straight answer because i expect my birds to be done by the taxi i speak with. i have been burnt in the past by getting crappy birds back by taxidermists that claim work as their own but really subbed my birds out to unlicensed people with no shop.

Good catch...I would put money that Pat did them and he does wholesale work for the other guys..I'm hoping. However you see all kinds of threads on taxinet where people use other peoples pictures without them knowing...

X2

Alot of shops farm out work. But, then again alot of people steal pics. So, who knows...they will have to answer this one.

There are no "licensed" shops in Texas, none required, as for as wholesaling out work, I know of 2 that turn out mounts far better than anyone in the shops they do work for. It's not necessarily a bad thing, more times than not the customers never know, and always keep in mind that even if the work was not done by the taxi. you talked to that shops name and reputation is still on the line, you never hear anyone say old soand so's wholesaler does crappy work. It's never take your stuff to xyz taxidermy there stuff is crappy work.

Kevin at Fish Scales asked me if I would be interested in doing some wholesale work for him. Being that he is in Waco I told him yes. I also agreed to let him use some of my pictures. He is licensed to take in waterfowl. I hope that clears up any confusion on the pics.

Pat
www.avianarts.com

LOL you would be shocked at who we do fish for as far as taxidermy studios across the country. Just like the guy we hired to do our ducks is the most amazing duck guy I have ever seen in my 30 years of business. It's called wholesale guys. We dp over 800 fish a year, when can we have time to do birds? We can't so we hire the best to do them for us.Thats Avian Arts...................

So you are agreeing with me that people steal photos?

People do steal photos. yes.

Here's the deal guys. A good majority of taxidermy studios either wholesales out or does wholesale work for another shop. This is a standard practice in our industry. We wholesale out our birds and fish to a highly qualified specialist. It is no different then if we would hire that person as an employee (due to high employee taxes we have to chose the route of contract work). You think in a large shop the owner does all the mounting? He or she has qualified employees doing most of the work. Does a builder build the entire house himself or does he contract out all the jobs like plumbing, electricity, sheetrocking, etc? The name of the business still goes on the mount and if the mount is of mediocre quality then the business gets the blame for that not the wholesaler. We also do a bunch of wholesale work for other shops especially on our cats and reptiles. In the end all that matters is that the mount was done right and the customer is happy with the result.

ok cool. so just curious why people advertise a service they dont actually perform instead of just pointing the customer to the right person.... for example fish taxi could point somebody to the big game taxi for a deer customer, or bird taxi could point out the fish guy to a trout customer. wouldnt that be easier to ensure that everything runs smoothly? seems like a lot less to worry about? also if a service is subbed out, does the customer receive knowledge that the original taxi they contacted and paid wont actually have their trophy? also since their is more people making money does this mean a markup on the price? if its similiar to construction like Mike said above then i know there has to be some kind of markup..... right?

Go back to the example MikeB gave you. Do you want to deal with 1 general contractor on a house or 15 sub contractors?

Regardless if work is outsourced or not, if you bring it to my shop, it's my name and reputation on the line. It's my job to ensure that I am working with others who provide the level of quality I expect. Its really no different than hiring someone to work in my shop, I am still accountable for thier work.

Customer dont always know things are being outsourced. If that is a concern, ASK before you give someone your mount. Either way, it's that taxi's job to make sure your happy in the end. If he outsources it and your happy, you dont care who did it. If he does it in house and it stinks or sends it out and it stinks, your mad either way right? Either way its that taxi's responsibility.

As far as the markup, for the most part, there is not a mark up. (At least not for me) Taxi's will typically work out a wholesale rate with other taxi's. Volume is the key here. Another taxi can send me a large amount of work compared to the average hunter. With that in mind, I can slightly cut my cost and leave room for the other taxi to make a little something for the shipping / handling / logging / etc.

Hope this helps.

Dan

The best way I can think of to answer your question is that taxidermy is a business, just like your reference to construction, we are in business to make a profit, most of us by putting out a good product, at a fair price. Any markup will be what that particular shop needs to make a profit. There are no more or no less dishonest people in this industry than any other.Problem is you hear of very little of the good guy stories, but a bad taxidermy thread will last for a good week on this forum and most others that I've been to. I refer people to TTAI.org often, it is the state association for taxidermist here in Texas. Research any and all taxidermist BEFORE you need one.If you would like to discuss this further feel free to pm me, I don't mind helping anyone, but this is way more typing than what I have time for and no better than my typing skills are, stand a very good chance of making myself look like an idiot rather than being of some help.

good info. thanks fellas.

Actually, when I had my house built, I knew the contractor would hire subs to complete the work, along with it being in the contract. But, if I take my duck to a taxi, who has duck mounts at the shop or on a website, I would expect them to do the work... unless they tell me they send it out. I would think most on here have no idea that some taxi's wholesale work out.
As for me, I would rather deal direct with the person doing the mount, than being happy thinking someone did the work, but someone else is getting the credit.