I need help finding a taxi that knows what they are doing. I made a huge mistake and went with a cheap taxidermist and I got exactly what I paid for... cheap work. the deer i shot was by no means a huge trophy deer, but it was still a trophy for me. I am posting before and after pics to show what kind of work was done for me from two different taxidermist that frequent this website. I will not say the names openly but if anyone wants recomendations on who to use and TO AVOID feel free to PM me.

The first pic is of me and the deer the day i killed it. NOTICE the spread(Its not close to a big spread, but once again i was very satisfied with it)



And this is the picture of the deer mounted. The spread is much less. The antlers are actually interlocking. when i questioned the taxi about this he attacked me saying I shouldn't shoot babies and he cant make them look larger than they are. I in no way wanted my deer to be made to appear larger than he actually was, I just wanted a realistic mount.



I am looking for a taxidermist that can unstitch, break, and reset the antlers in the proper position. anyones input would be greatly appreciated. Also my dads deer was done by the same people and needless to say his came out even worse than mine. Anyone ever see a hairless mount? Ill see if my dad will post pics of his, its a sight to see.

Looks like Ray Charles did this.....

same taxidermist

pic of one eye(same deer but pics of both eye)

That is more like a Stevie Wonder mount to me. That is awful!

I KNOW I'D BE UPSET ABOUT THAT!
THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP!

Please pm me who does this low rent type of work

Did he make you pay for those? No offense........

yep shoot me a pm also,,want to avoid this guy!

These pictures are from the same taxi. TCUhunter is my son and yes we both got taken badly. Cracker Barrel would send it back.

wow

Was he smiling like that when you shot him? lol Seriously sorry about that,thats a good example of cheaper isn't always better.

Wow . . . that's about all I can say. A PM would be appreciated.

What a nightmare!

Geez! I am pretty speechless.

The cracker barrel comment was great!

PM me a name when you get a chance.
Thanks

Please PM the name. Possibly the worst work EVER!

please PM me so I can avoid using them on my next mount.

Man thats terrible! I hope this taxidermist goes out of business.

Buck number one: Apears that the buck either fell off the wall dureing the drying process and landed on the right side, breaking the skull plate and pointing the ear in an upward angle. Looks like it wasnt found until after it has dried. Somehow the skull plate got broken, antlers skrink a little while they dry, hence the drying period for B&C, but they dont draw up like a jelly fish. Your not looking for someone to rehydrate the mount and break the skull plate hoss, your lookin at a tottal re do, and the plate by the way is in there already broke, held together with mud, paper mache, and screws. Somebody will have to remove the antlers, press the two (hopefully two) halfs together, and fill the brain cavity with bondo. Once the bondo has set, it can then be re drilled and mounted on a form in the correct attitude. If you can live with the rest of the mount, you can probably do this yourself with a little advise from the guys on here. My suspition is that you dont want the disapointment your going to feel every time you look at it, so get it re mounted. A deer cape is a deer cape, another one will look just like yours and will cost you around $40 dollars unless you or a buddy shoot one with a big enough cape this season. Looks like a 17 or 18 inch neck would do fine.
Buck number two: Im gona step on some toes with this one, but Im speaking from personal experience, so dont take this personaly. This could have been the hunters fault. Ok everyone put the knives and pistols away, cuz the taxi should have caught it. I cant tell you how many times i was brought a deer head by a customer that swore he just shot it and it was fresh, just to find out while in the middle of capeing the head out that the hide was slipping. I have never met a hunter that shot a good buck, that didnt hang that dude in a tree, bring all his buddys over to see it, throw it in the truck and drive around showing his friends, etc. By the time it gets to a taxi the hide on the inside where the meat used to touch neck meat is green. My friend, your cape is gone. Even if it survives capeing the face and gets frozen, as soon as its thawed back out to flesh the hide it will be slipping before the fleshing is done. Slipping is when the hide has rotted enough that the hair follicles wont hold onto the hair anymore, and it comes out at the slightest preasure. I demonstrated this to a customer once that was argueing with me about his obviously rotten hide. I started at the ear, and ran my finger from there down the neck of the cape and the hair piled up in front of my finger and left a bald streak behind it all the way down. Once slipping starts its done, get a new one. I always kept extra capes in my freezer, and charged the hunter $40 extra for wasting my time. It never ceases to amaze me how many hunters dont know or care about the fact that once your trophy hits the ground, the clock is ticking. Especially in October bow season. Take pictures of it and get it to a taxi. Again i will say, the taxi should have, and most definatlyt did notice when this happened, as it probably happened as he was finishing the mounting process and was brushing the hair in preperation to let it dry, and wam, it slipped. Thats a hard one to take, after working all day on it. I made the same mistake with a customer, and i decided to let it dry and see if it got worse. However i did call the customer and had him come see what was going on, and asked him to make a decision as to a new cape or leave it. He left it, and to try and make it up to him i told him his next mount would be free. Sounds reasonable right? Never saw him again. Loyal customer for years, gone.
To the man or woman that mounted these bucks: It was said that you frequent these forums, so i hope you read this. If you will notice i did not ask anyone to send me your name to add to my s--t list. I for one have been the one in need of advice, and couldnt get any from a Taxidermist as they didnt want another taxi setting up anywhere near them. I would advise you to buy tons of refference material, photos, casts of actual whitetail ear butt muscles in forward and ears back attitude, eye casts, nose casts, and study them, look at them until you can close your eyes and see them. When you look at pictures of animals, compare them to your work, and make adjustments. Keep yourself surrounded by it while you do your work. The best advise i can give you other than that is to buy a video and watch a pro put a deer together. Wealth of knowledge my friend, time saving tips, and techniques that will make you sit back and say OMG, thats easy. And do that for any animal you have never put together, in that order. Refference matterial, and a video. When you look through a magazine you should be cutting pictures out and putting them in an album of animals in there natural state. This is the advise i was given that turned me around, and i glady pass it on to you. You may email me any time, with any question, and i will do my best to help you. Lastly, word of mouth is everything in this busines hoss, and you have two unhappy customers you need to deal with. Man up and contact them and talk this thing out. Skinner

Short version to tired to read all that after staying on here til earlam this morning.

Short version is that it is the hunter's fault not the taxis

Maybe maybe not, if his work looks that bad he could have let the cape spoiled himself, you never know. All I know is if I showed up and either deer looked that he would be keeping them, I take care of my trophies, and I guess I am lucky to be best friends with my dermy dude!

I agree and was thinking the same thing about the taxi possibly being the one to let the cape spoil.