Bad taxidermy or high expectations?

[ez_willie]

I have a Whitetail spike mounted.

About 30 years ago, it was the 1st buck I ever killed with a bow. I had a cousin who was trying to be a taxidermist, so he asked to mount it for me, for cost. $40.

Haha let’s see that beast!

 

[LostArra]

Here are a few I've got at my place. View attachment 587210View attachment 587211View attachment 587213View attachment 587215View attachment 587217View attachment 587218View attachment 587219

I'm not a fan of shoulder mounts in general but johnnycake has an impressive collection to my eye.

 

[ODB]

I don’t have enough money to pay for really good taxidermy or gun engraving. So I do neither.

 

[mi650]

Haha let’s see that beast!

 

[Harvey_NW]

Here's a couple for comparison. The 2 in the middle are nothing above and beyond, I would say decent but minor flaws that I think should have been addressed, similar to your situation. The other 2 are outstanding in my opinion. No flaws in either, and ironically they were the cheapest. I feel fortunate to finally have a go to guy, and if anyone is interested his business is God's Creation Taxidermy in NE WA.

 

[Cubby]

That mount that mount that has it's head turned is awesome, never seen one like that before.

 

[johnnycake]

I'm not a fan of shoulder mounts in general but johnnycake has an impressive collection to my eye.

Thanks! Those ones were all done by Yuri Rulin between 2000-2010. His work is really just phenomenal. It'll be 2 years, and it won't be the cheapest, but it's always great quality and he's never pushed back a finish time.

I've got a few others I've had done over the years, but by and large I switched to soft tans and euros just for the cost savings.

 

[CMP70306]

Here is some of the work our guy has done.


Don’t have a lot of experience with taxidermy but this guy definitely does better work than our old guy. He uses better quality forms that make the deer actually look like the rutted up bucks they were compared to the thinner forms the other guy used.

Still not as bad as the one my uncle had done, that guy messed up the hide and ended up using a doe cape and form which was very apparent since his buck dressed over 200 pounds and the doe was maybe 100 pounds. Probably the worst mount I’ve seen.

 

[Txarcher]

I have a buddy that's a taxidermist, he says if you pay average pricing you get an average mount. By average pricing he means generally the pricing for a wall mount for the average hunter. There will be slippage and some imperfections. The goal is to have something that looks good on the wall from 10 or so feet away. If you want competition quality mounts they have to spend more time on it making it perfect and price will double or more. These guys are trying to turn out as many mounts as they can in a timely manner and keep people from bitching about prices. After he won a couple competitions he increased his pricing 33% hoping to loose about 25% worth of work but so far he is staying just a busy. His deer shoulder mounts are $1200 on up.

 

[DLIP]

I would be pissed if I spent $800 and that was the outcome. Would rather have a euro mount. Unless the trophy is something I'm willing to spend >$1,000, I'm not shoulder mounting it.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Beings you are the one paying for it, or did pay. It's up to you to decide if it meets your standards.

 

[Fowl Play]

It’s fine to have high expectations when spending your hard earned money. Unfortunately, looks like this guy was not the caliber you wanted and you will need to do more research. There are some true artists, but they are going to charge quite a bit more than typical and will have longer wait times. (1-2years). These taxidermists will have a full showroom full of competition work they have done for you to check out before you put in your deposit, etc.

Here’s an example. I’ve had Chad Cooper do several mounts for me. Im sure you can find someone of similar quality local.

https://m.facebook.com/CoopersTaxidermy

 

[mi650]

That mount that mount that has it's head turned is awesome, never seen one like that before.

Thanks!

It took me 2 tries to get it. Don't recall the exact date, but I shot a nice 8 point early in the season. He wasn't big enough in the neck for the form. I shot this one about a month later, during the rut when his neck was more swollen.

 

[stonewall]

Not to hijack the thread but why don't we post some other mounts to compare, rather than 15 people who admittedly only do euros telling us what they think.

I do taxidermy as a hobby and have mounted all of two mule deer. This is one I did for a friend in 2016. it’s decent but certainly not the best. the fellas I recommended are better imho