10 Point Taxidermy in Marysville....I fell like i got my bear stolen!

[irishevox]

So as most of you that know me know I shot my first bear ever in Wa in Aug 2014.  Which I was proud I brought it to 10 Point Taxidermy in Marysville Wa.  I filled out the paper work and didn't put a down payment down b.c the guy understood I was deploying soon and he was ok with it.  So as some months pass I call to check on the rug before I deploy no answer so I just blow it off maybe he was busy.... My wife calls multiple times while I am still on deployment here and no answer my wife and I emailed him several times with no response.... at this point I am a little more than agitated! I mean if it was a simple duck mount a something yea what ever I can shrug it off.... but it being my first bear and I was a getting a rug done it has gotten to the point that I am at a loss. Shortly after I return from deployment I do not have time to track this guy down etc... I am transferring I was hoping to return home and pick it up .  Any help would be great guys.... What can I do?  I am literally on the other side of the world and my wife is at home she works and we have a new baby at home.  So Advice please..... 

[Skyvalhunter]

I fell for you I mean feel for you. There is nothing worse than not getting your trophy back in a timely manner. Might be worth your wife going over there with a friend to talk to this guy face to face. I don't know of this taxidermist but if he is worth a hill of beans he would make sure his customers are happy. There are a few around that just don't get it and only cut their own throat buy not keeping communication open. But they just don't get it.

[NW-GSP]

I live in that area. Do you have his address?

[bearpaw]

I live in that area. Do you have his address?

If someone local can help, the address and phone number is here: http://10pointtaxidermy.com/

[NW-GSP]

I will see what I can do.

[Born2late]

I can stop by if you want me to. I live 2 minutes from his house and drive by every day. I had him do a european for my son this
last december and turned out nice. I know he works a day job and took a while to return my phone calls also. Still pretty easy to make
a quick phone call to let a guy know how its going.

[irishevox]

anyone that can help and pressure this guy would be amazing!  I would greatly appreciate it.

[Tbar]

I can swing by there this weekend if you don't get things worked out sooner.

[Magnum_Willys]

 
Thanks Tbar for offering to step up to help our huntwa soldier out !

[irishevox]

T bar I doubt I will.... if I do I will post something but if not please do.

[Tbar]

I've never used him and have only heard good things about him so I'm hoping for the best.

[irishevox]

Me to but I am really worried at this point be so far away please let me know what you find out

[Born2late]

I stopped by and talked to him. If you can call him tonight he's
Home and wants to talk to you. 425-879-4837 don't email him
He doesn't do email, and he said he hasn't got any messages from
You. I don't know if you left messages or just hung up cause he
Didn't answer. Let me know if you need more. It's only been 10
Months so I don't know if time expectations were discussed or not.
But obviously you two need to talk.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I would not get to excited yet ..it takes months for the tannery to return them ..when did you actually take it to him ? August or later ? Not saying you should not follow up and make sure it is getting taken care of 

[Buckmark]

Hope this all works out, I have used him alot and always no problems, glad someone talked to him, if need be im like 5mins from him also and can stop by..

[irishevox]

I stopped by and talked to him. If you can call him tonight he's
Home and wants to talk to you. 425-879-4837 don't email him
He doesn't do email, and he said he hasn't got any messages from
You. I don't know if you left messages or just hung up cause he
Didn't answer. Let me know if you need more. It's only been 10
Months so I don't know if time expectations were discussed or not.
But obviously you two need to talk.

He did email me but I can't call him I am on deployment... it is impossible.
  I truly appreciate helping me with this and getting a hold of him  the biggest issue is that if he doesn't do email he needs to remove the email from his Website.  You have no idea how grateful I am you helping me with this.

[bobcat]

Can your wife call the taxidermist?

[TVHunts]

I stopped by and talked to him. If you can call him tonight he's
Home and wants to talk to you. 425-879-4837 don't email him
He doesn't do email, and he said he hasn't got any messages from
You. I don't know if you left messages or just hung up cause he
Didn't answer. Let me know if you need more. It's only been 10
Months so I don't know if time expectations were discussed or not.
But obviously you two need to talk.

Awesome, thanks to all for helping Irishevox out,  I also live close to the taxi.

Irishevox PM me if you need it picked up and shipped in the future, I would be glad to help out anyway I can.

Thanks for your service!

[Magnum_Willys]

Born2Late 
Thanks for helpin out !

[rasbo]

what a site,

[Gringo31]

Can your wife call the taxidermist?

My wife calls multiple times while I am still on deployment here and no answer my wife and I emailed him several times with no response....

[Kuduman]

I have a problem when I read this thread and I have a few questions for the OP


1. What was the stated turn around time on your rug.
 IMHO your way to wound up over waiting a whole 8 months for a bear rug when the industry standard is 18-24 months.

2. Why state that you feel that your bear was stolen
   IMHO your insinuating that this taxidermist ripped you off yet from what I can see you have offered no clear evidence that there is any wrong doing on his part except possible poor communications on both parties part. Clearly there are circumstances here that lend themselves to poor communications which is why if you were going out of conus you should have taken care of prior to departure. I see absolutely no reason to call out this business online in an attempt to discredit his business.

I'll leave you with this note:
 You paid nothing down, gave no indication of an expected turn around time and Incited the hunt wa community to PRESSURE this business. There are far too many people here that have waited FAR FAR FAR FAR longer than 8 months to receive their goods from their taxidermists. Personally I think you should have thought twice before posting this with the business name attached to it. 

[Gringo31]

Can't say I disagree with you Kuduman...

[jackelope]

I have a problem when I read this thread and I have a few questions for the OP


1. What was the stated turn around time on your rug.
 IMHO your way to wound up over waiting a whole 8 months for a bear rug when the industry standard is 18-24 months.

2. Why state that you feel that your bear was stolen
   IMHO your insinuating that this taxidermist ripped you off yet from what I can see you have offered no clear evidence that there is any wrong doing on his part except possible poor communications on both parties part. Clearly there are circumstances here that lend themselves to poor communications which is why if you were going out of conus you should have taken care of prior to departure. I see absolutely no reason to call out this business online in an attempt to discredit his business.

I'll leave you with this note:
 You paid nothing down, gave no indication of an expected turn around time and Incited the hunt wa community to PRESSURE this business. There are far too many people here that have waited FAR FAR FAR FAR longer than 8 months to receive their goods from their taxidermists. Personally I think you should have thought twice before posting this with the business name attached to it. 

Multiple good points. Especially since you can't call the guy due to your deployment....

[irishevox]

I have a problem when I read this thread and I have a few questions for the OP


1. What was the stated turn around time on your rug.
 IMHO your way to wound up over waiting a whole 8 months for a bear rug when the industry standard is 18-24 months.

2. Why state that you feel that your bear was stolen
   IMHO your insinuating that this taxidermist ripped you off yet from what I can see you have offered no clear evidence that there is any wrong doing on his part except possible poor communications on both parties part. Clearly there are circumstances here that lend themselves to poor communications which is why if you were going out of conus you should have taken care of prior to departure. I see absolutely no reason to call out this business online in an attempt to discredit his business.

I'll leave you with this note:
 You paid nothing down, gave no indication of an expected turn around time and Incited the hunt wa community to PRESSURE this business. There are far too many people here that have waited FAR FAR FAR FAR longer than 8 months to receive their goods from their taxidermists. Personally I think you should have thought twice before posting this with the business name attached to it. 

Kudman... You assuming I didn't take care of as much as I could before hand is insulting.  I did when I talked to him about turn around time he didn't not give me a guaranteed date, but provided me with a round about date.  After several emails etc... his excuse was he doesn't check emails.  If that's the case remove email from your website. Secondly  The communication was done countless times by my wife and I emailing and my wife calling.  And I do not care what other people have done it's not me I am the customer.  The fact is and the amazing thing is one person stopped by and I got an email. Imagine that.   Yeah I think that if you are going to run a business you should keep constant communication with your customers and keep up on your emails.  Electronic communication is a big thing in the 21st Century.  I didn't directly state that he stole the bear I said it feel like it was.  If it was "stolen" I would have taken a different route.  I am not really wound up about the 8 months to be honest I am wound up about when I ask a question or have a request, and my wife calls and her and I email several times and hear nothing back... there is a problem here, not with me per say, but with how a business is run.  IMHO please know facts before I give your or feel free to PM me if u have any other questions I can answer for you

[Kuduman]

Irishevox:
 
 had you gotten on here and ask if anyone could assist you in getting in contact with your taxidermist seeing as you are deployed.... Hell I would have wanted to help. But that's not what you did... You started out by inferring that you feel like you got ripped off. If you equate missed calls and unanswered e mails to being ripped off  then brother you need to look at some other threads on here.

Again I ask what was the turnaround time. that caused you to feel this way after 8 months.

There are allot of good people on there that have been blatantly lied to and have far better reasons to rant so quite honestly your whole approach to this baffles me.

GOOD LUCK

[Threewolves]

WOW, sorry to hear about this seems to be a whole lot of mis communication and or one sided attempts at communication. Communication is the key if both parties want to keep things positive.

  And holy crap 18 to 24 months as an industry standard---screw that. If the longest term part of the project is getting it tanned. I would suggest using Moyle Mink & Tannery in Heyburn ID. I have had bear and elk hides done in one to two months.  The do garment grade or taxidermy grade. Seems like otter, bobcat, coyote  and beaver come back pretty quick. Just reminder to have the cities tags on otter and bobcat no one will touch them without the tags.

I have had a bear and coyotes done taxidermy grade just in case I every wanted to do anything with them. The bear I have hanging over an elk hide on a half wall and looks pretty cool that way. I would have the bear rugged out, but I have a bigger one on the wall already and the only way I would rug another one is if it was significally bigger and a different color phase. For 140.00 to a 150.00 a running foot that taxidermist want a 5 1/2 foot bear is going to cost you 825.00 plus tax

I think MM&T charged me 60.00 for the bear, maybe it was 90.00. So, I was thinking I have a bear hide tanned out, watch a you tube video, buy a head form for a rug mount, some felt for the border and presto! a bear rugged out. Nope, it is fine just as it is, I just need to get a bigger bear

I don't know maybe taxidermists are being overwhelmed and are super backed up. I do know that I can get coyote tanned for 25.00 and they make great wall hangings (case skinned, not rugged out) next to your elk or deer mounts. 25.00 for tanning is cheap if you have ever spent the time and energy trying to tan something your self. I should have added my thoughts time frames and taxidermist, but that is also in my list of replies. Communicate. Paul A.

[Kuduman]

Threewolves:

 You are absolutely right MM&T can get your hides out pretty quick and your also right that they do garment quality tan. I know this because the last time I used them to tan a cougar hide  it came back with a missing ear so their line between garment quality and taxidermy quality can get pretty thin and that's simply not acceptable to me. 
 
Now i ask you. what do I tell the customer that hires me to mount his once in a lifetime cat when his hide come back with a missing ear, that you wanted to save money on the tan.......... I wanted it quicker........ 

Good commercial tanneries that consistently put out a quality tanned hide can be extremely busy and backlogged. The longest I've waited for a tanning order is 12 months. my current fall 2014 order has been at my tannery since January. Once the hide is mounted and stretched it has to go to rugging and that can take an additional 4-6 months depending on how busy the rugger is. 

I think it great that you dabble in taxidermy when you get items you want tanned but do me a favor. take the time you have invested in that one bear that you had tanned and times it by 20 add 50 deer 12 elk 5 cougars half a dozen bobcat, coyotes and about 25 pheasants, quail and grouse 12 bear skulls 6 European elk and a dozen deer European mounts with a smattering of antler and horn mounts   and you might start getting a better perspective of what running a shop is all about.







 

[bearpaw]

This is really none of my business and I was only trying to encourage someone to help irishevox find out about his bear since he is deployed, but it sounded like there was no down payment, the taxidermist will incur expenses like tanning before he even gets started on the mount. I would advise irishevox to have his wife find out how much down payment the taxi needs. If I was a taxi I wouldn't incur expenses until there is a down payment. 

I also should mention that kuduman is correct, most good taxis are backed up 18-24 months or more. Depending on the procedure used by the taxi sometimes turnaround is much faster with deer but a bear rug usually takes much longer. Just trying to offer some friendly advice! 

[CoryTDF]

For what it is worth I know that a bunch of Taxi’s in this state are a little behind because of tannery issues. I use a Taxi who also runs a tannery and because of the backlog that he took over from other tannery’s that have gone under even his times have gone up. This is understandable and the fact that he is his own tannery and it has effected him can only lead a person to believe that if the tanning is not done in house it is going to take longer. I know that my Bull has been with him for the past year and a half and I’m not surprised as that is just the nature of the business. Once you make it to 2 years plus it might be time to start asking questions. Anyway, hope you get it figured out I just wanted to give you some perspective on timeframe. Also, stay safe on your deployment! 

[Kuduman]

Bearpaw:
 I think you hit the nail on the head. there has to me more that were not privy to concerning this situation. Id be willing to chalk this up as  a bad communication problem but to say you feel that your bear was stolen when there's no deposit.

I know of few taxidermist that actually do work without a deposit. That said....I will only if its been a long standing customer but most of them know how I operate and seldom expect me to work for free. especially when its an item that goes to the tannery.

At the end of the day the taxidermy industry is allot like life...... Money talks and BS walks. I almost never work on projects that I haven't been paid to work on. Its just not fair to the people that have put money up front.

[irishevox]

I understand what you all say about down payment.  Nothing was mentioned on that and I assured him that the rug would be paid in full at the time of pick up... Also he did eventually email me after some pressure from other people.  I am speaking with him to see what I need to do.... regardless it has been one and only one email.  How am I supposed to communicate with that?  My wife called him yesterday and no answer this time she did leave a message.  I will keep ya posted as things continue.  Thanks Bearpaw and Fud for giving me insight and seeing both parties views...

[h20hunter]

Irish....correct me if I'm wrong here. I think you got a little panicked......your on deployment....not wanting to ask you wife to get involved with whatever else she has going on. I think Kudu has made some very good points and I'm sure you and your taxi will get it resolved.

[kramer]

When did the industry standard become 18 to 24 months ? I could understand 12 to 14 but 18 to 24 seems crazy. I budget a thousand dollars a year for taxidermy and have never had anything take 18 months. We already have back one deer that was killed this year in November and wasn't taken in until December. Got it back a month ago.

[bearpaw]

When did the industry standard become 18 to 24 months ? I could understand 12 to 14 but 18 to 24 seems crazy. I budget a thousand dollars a year for taxidermy and have never had anything take 18 months. We already have back one deer that was killed this year in November and wasn't taken in until December. Got it back a month ago.

As I mentioned in my earlier comment, many taxis that get deer out quickly, often in a few months, most of those taxis are doing an in house tan, those deer hides are probably not going to a tannery. But, most taxis send bear to a tannery and many tanneries will take longer to get the hide back to the taxi than what it takes a taxi to do an entire deer mount. For this reason bear mounts usually take longer.

I refer dozens of hunters to about a half dozen taxis in 4 states every year. The two fastest taxis, one in Montana is about 6-12 months on average but at times he has taken longer. My next fastest taxi is in Utah, he was at about 12 months but it seems like 12-16 months is getting to be more his time frame. Most other taxis I have dealt with are running longer time frames except for deer which as stated are often done faster due to the in house process.

Keep in mind, in most cases this time frame is due to basic supply and demand, some taxis have longer time frames because a large number of hunters like their work and are willing to wait for their mount to be done by that taxi. Sort of like beauticians in my town, the one my wife likes to go to is booked out 1 to 2 months in advance!

[Bean Counter]

I for the life of me can't understand how a taxidermist can consistently be 12+ months turnaround. If they're good and have a steady intake of animals every fall, 18-24 month turnaround means they're always getting more and more continually backed up. Personally I'd rather drive halfway across the state to find someone of quality who will get it done in 6-12 months than settle on a local who takes 12+ to get it done. The hajj who did my elk last year shoots for a 6 month turnaround, and I had mine on my wall in 5.   

[kramer]

I understand taking longer on a bear. 14 months seems reasonable. It just seems like the new excuse is to blame tannery  when that's not the problem. Poor business seems to be the problem. Some of our stuff gets sent to montana and some of it gets mounted here. Just depends what it is . Price is cheaper and quality is good.

[bearpaw]

It's a free market system, hunters are welcome to patronize the taxidermist they choose. But, there must be a reason that certain taxis turnaround time is getting longer while other taxis is getting shorter, yet hunters continue to patronize certain taxis in increasing numbers! That's just how a free market works! 

[Threewolves]

K-man,

Ref tanning. What to you think happened to the cougar's ear? did the hunter split/turn the cougar's ear? did the ear turn up? did they ever find it? offer any explanation? did it look like it was just pulled off like it got caught in some kind of machinery? Remember I don't know the circumstances of the cougar's  ear did the hunter skin it out and forget to turn the ear or maybe rubbed salt it. Maybe something in their solution?

I don't think salt would be an issue since MMT tells people to use salt. As apposed to prepping hides for market at NAFA, just salting bear and elk hides for tanning seems easy at least for me.

[Kuduman]

3 wolves:
 I turned, fleshed and salted so I know that was done correct.

The ear was shaved off

[Threewolves]

K-man,

Crap, (the whole missing ear thing) that really blows. I've seen Taxidermist fix some pretty amazing issues, but for the life of me I can't thinks of what could be done about a missing ear. Take Care,

[irishevox]

So a quick up date.   My wife did make a down payment.  Since then she has called about  a dozen times and left messages.   Paul hasn't responded since receiving the down payment.

[Kuduman]

 
12 calls in 3 weeks. Im beginning to see the problem. 

[HntnFsh]

12 calls in 3 weeks. Im beginning to see the problem. 

Me too! The guy doesn't return calls! Great customer service!

[Kuduman]

 

[Natures Way]

No!  now that you finally gave him a deposit,  I'm sure you guys communicated a completion time. (right) With that being said doesn't give you the right to blow up his phone slowing him down. He's probably not returning your phone calls cause he's working on other peoples things that gave him a deposit and if you thought his communication was a problem before you should have not left your bear with him and or it could be bad communication!! A Taxidermist should never start any project without 50% down period if they do and I do sometimes that is just bad business. There is a lot of work, time and money that goes into a mount long before ever putting together. I sometimes take things in that the people don't have the money to put down at the time of drop off, so we put it on our contracts and your taxidermist who ever he/she is if they are legit should have one and how things work. Good luck!!

[pashok23]

You got your bear rug back ?