Taxedermy question

Okay, with your guys help, I called the wildlife department and got tag numbers, found out who he sent them to which is H&H fur dressing, called them and they did confirm that there is fur slipping on my two bobcats

She is going to look and see how bad it is and call me back
 
if fur has slipped, i would think that was more due to the handling and prepping of the hides before they ever got to the tannery. that would be on the taxidermist in my opinion.

i am going through pretty much the same thing you are with a bear hide i took to a taxidermist just a few days over a year ago. i did not want nothing fancy done with it. just a tanned hide with feet and face attached. that is all. all he had to do was skin out the head and the feet and whatever else they do to get it ready to send to the tannery.

it got really ugly the last time i went to his place to ask questions. i am now banned for life from his entire property. my wife will need to pick it up if the time ever comes.

i am giving him 2 more months. if he does not have it by then i will start small claim court proceedings.

and by the way, i had to prepay before he would even take the hide. and it was a lot more money than you are talking about. stupid me.

good luck to both of us.
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotif fur has slipped, i would think that was more due to the handling and prepping of the hides before they ever got to the tannery. that would be on the taxidermist in my opinion.

Yup, he forgot to throw them in the freezer after you dropped them off.

At least they have them and you'll be getting YOUR hides back, not someone elses or one he bought to cover his a**
 
Okay, I guess it was one of the main guys from H&H that called me back and said that the the fur was matted and balled up and needed about three hours of grooming to be done, and that might save them, but he said they were pretty much ruined

Now, I call the Taxadermy man back, I tell him what the tannery said, and I ask for my money back

Pretty much get a NO answer with excuses, and put the blame back off on the tannery

Now, the tannery said they received them in march, so, by being in a freezer that long, if not properly skinned, would that not cause fur damage?

I firmly believe the guy from the tannery was being honest with me, cause he said my two bobcats and a coyote he sent in had fur slippage

Costly lesson learned on my part

My question to you all is, do you blame the Taxadermy man or the tannery?
 
Taxi not tannery fault.

Hide prep makes all the difference. The tannery can't work wonders if they get a mess.

Hair slip tells me that something happened between Dec (when you dropped it off) and March (when they got to the tannery)

The whole order thing is non-sense. When you ship furs, you send a packing list of what you want done. (look at the moyles site) you print that off and add it to the packaging. The other thing that would and could happen is that you ship with you client information (meaning the taxi guy) and when it gets there, they would call and he would then tell them what he wants.

Sounds fishy all together to me and that he may have sat on the animals, then thawed them out, and then took a few days to get to them, skinned and fleshed, and packed up to ship. Then when the order got there, he didn't give them instructions and the tannery was sitting on it waiting. (given the comment about the order)

Now what you are left with is.. What about my hides??

you could call the Tannery back and ask if they are done? If so, you can explain what has happened and ask them to ship your furs back to you. Given that you had the tag numbers that should be very believable and you have the number for the game department for them to call and verify that it's infact your cats.

I would then either go in with the hides and again ask for a refund, and record the conversation, and if you don't. you can eat the cost of a painful learning lesson, or take the case to small claims, which is fairly easy. It takes some time, but this is easy.
You had a pic of the cats, i am sure, and you can when you call back the tanner ask about the condition again, and record that call, and write down the information. THen in small claims you can say this is what it looked like. this is the time line, here is the phone call with the tannery and the end product of what they sent back. You could contact a local buyer and have them give you a quote on the hides (as they would have been, if not ruined and then with the damage) get their card and add that to the total.

It's a pain, but doable and something you are going to have to decide to accept and do.
A tanned cat hide, even with slip around the head is still going to be worth something if you don't want to keep and hang them. (I wouldn't sell them to a buyer until it's all settled though) I get it, it would just make me mad every time i looked at them.
 
Here’s the thing, he acted really pissed that I called them.

He said that was his job as the Taxadermist to make sure everything was good

Now, he called the tannery and he told me that they told him it could have happened in the tumble process

I do not believe that at all

The guy from the tannery I feel was being very honest with me, and said there were balls, and mats all over the fur and in his opinion, they were ruined

The guy from the tannery said it looked as if both bobcats had a undercoat slipping, as if they were shedding there winter coat, I told him they were harvested in December and he said, that was not the case then

I am not going to file a small claims due to the fact that the state biologicst said that bobcat furs last year were selling for $40, so there is no point in getting more in the negative

The tannery said that both needed to be groomed and that’s $50 a hour and he said that both would need at least 3-4 hours of grooming and he doubted it would save the fur

The Taxadermy guy said he did his job, and does all these competitions and stuff and on and on, and kept saying it wasn’t his fault when I told him I wanted my money back

Lesson learned on my end
 
Well, nothing left but to expose this taxidermist. I wouldn't feel bad about it at all, terrible customer service, terrible experience.

Get the cats back regardless of condition then tell this guy to F off. You'll never get your money back from him, in fact he'll probably want the balance before he gives you the cats back.



 
Originally Posted By: LARUEminatiWell, nothing left but to expose this taxidermist. I wouldn't feel bad about it at all, terrible customer service, terrible experience.

Get the cats back regardless of condition then tell this guy to F off. You'll never get your money back from him, in fact he'll probably want the balance before he gives you the cats back.





I understood they were paid in full at $300 total.

??
 
Yeah, right at the end of our conversation he said when cats come in, he would contact me and I could pay what I thought they were worth from the way I took it

Like I said, he was really pissed that I called the tannery

But in no way did he admit fault, kept blaming the tannery and there tumbling process

And even the guy that called me back from the tannery said they came in in bad shape and so did the women who I first spoke to
 
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Stories like this make me ill. I've seen lots in my day when it comes to hide care..good .. bad.. and ugly.

Please tell me you did not put them in a trash bag after you shot them.
 
Really sucks to have nice fur ruined however it happened.
frown.gif
 
Sorry that happened.

My similar experience is why i learned to skin, flesh, and stretch the hides.

I am a strong advocate for getting the basic gear, and learning how to use it practicing on coyotes. No, hurt feelings if you mess up on a early season coyote.

I also, after learning think that you have to skin out and prep at least 10 to get the hang of fleshing and using the tools. Better to do 20, but 10 would work fine if you do a couple and take them to a buyer for grading and ask for advice on what you can do better, then do it again, and go back.

I didn't care that i was getting $20 for each of the pelts. I was preparing for the day when i got the cats that were going to be worth $500 and there have been a couple, but I didn't want to risk messing up on them.
 
No, I did not put them in trash bags. But I do not know what he did with them after I dropped them off

I do not know who to blame on this deal, he blames the tannery and two different people from the tannery said they came in in bad shape

So my two bobcats and a coyote had fur slipping that he sent in

And this is what I kinda find amusing is he got really upset that I called the tannery and talked to them

Why get mad that I called to find out the truth and get there opinions

The guy from the tannery even offered to take pictures and send to me to prove and show what kind of shape they were in, but I just took his word for it

But, in the end of this deal, I will NOT be using this gentleman again for Taxadermy work
 
heres The kicker of the deal is the Taxadermy man said when the furs come in, he would call me and I could pay what I thought they were worth

What the [beeep] kind of answer is that? He actually wants me to give him more money after ruining two furs, screw that
 
I use to have a taxidermist take care of my hides. Only had 1 fox tail slip. He started complaining about me bringing him whole animals to skin. Said if I was going to play this game then I needed to learn how to skin them myself. So I did. Also learned how to split the ears and the lips and do the paws. Guess what? What do I need the taxi for just to send in hides? I now skin, flesh,turn ears and lips, and salt for the hides i want to keep and send them to the tannery myself. He just screwed himself out of a job as far as my hides were concerned.
 
Originally Posted By: crapshootI use to have a taxidermist take care of my hides. Only had 1 fox tail slip. He started complaining about me bringing him whole animals to skin. Said if I was going to play this game then I needed to learn how to skin them myself. So I did. Also learned how to split the ears and the lips and do the paws. Guess what? What do I need the taxi for just to send in hides? I now skin, flesh,turn ears and lips, and salt for the hides i want to keep and send them to the tannery myself. He just screwed himself out of a job as far as my hides were concerned.

This is EXACTLY what happened with me, ended up saving me a ton of money. A cat i'd probably still bring to him just because i'd want it perfect and he does a great job.

I can see why they don't want to deal with it though, for all the other more expensive work going on the last thing they want to do it skin and flesh a stinky a** yote to make only a couple bucks. He wants to do full mounts, where the money is at.
 
I took my moose,antelope,and afur badger to the taxidermist never got any back but a nice fur badger showed up at weber state university.so I don't have much trust in them oh a bobcat,and ringtail cat to a different one that I did work for.many years ago but they all had good memories.
 
Some fur buyers will skin,flesh and dry for a fee. 5-7 dollars for raccoon,Fox. Couple dollars more for coyote, beaver and otter etc. Some will even taxidermy skin(higher cost). I had 3 beaver I spring trapped,one I skinned,two I dropped off frozen with the skinned one. Sent them in after they were stretched and dried, Moyles had them done in about 6 weeks.
 
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