Whats an acceptable time frame on getting your animal back

[BLKBEARKLR]

I've had an animal in the shop since August of 2010 and was given a 1 year date give or take a few months.  Very exceptable turn around.  I'm willing to wait for a great mount.  I emailed numerous times and no returns back.  I finally called and was told that in 2 to 3 weeks I would be able to come out and select my mount style and to pick up my skull back in July of 2011.  I waited for my call back and nothing.  I assumed with the new season starting up they were busy so I was not pushy about anything.  I waited til november to email again and still no response back.  Also sent one in December.  Is 16 months of waiting and not even being able select a mount worth it?  Is waiting this long worth the wait if communication from the taxidermist is pretty much non existent.  I want the best mount possible done and don't want to pressure anyone just to get crappy work.  Just a phone call or email back might calm my nerves a little.

I am trying to understand why you did not pick one out in the first place?? I always try to have my customers pick out their pose from the start. That way I can order supplies while it is being tanned. You get things back and you start the mounting process. 

[sirmissalot]

The taxi I use doesn't ask about poses and background scenery until he gets the hide back from the tannery as well, he said he'd just forget all the details anyways so he just waits until its closer to actually mounting it to ask specifics about the mount. 

[Hornseeker]

As this thread shows, there are a lot of variables involved and there are people that are just chill about the whole thing and people that get real worked up. Having a business like this, or as a bowyer like I have done, has a lot of complexities...then there are personal and business related factors. Lets say "John" starts being a taxidermist...and he does a great job. He is ambitious to create a thriving business, doing what he loves. Everyone loves John, he's very friendly, loves his work, and does a KILLER mount.

John is a "new" to being a business man (John had been a carpenter/acct.../whatever for the past 15 years and with his new idea figured going into business would be a good deal). I know, excuses, excuses. But since I've lived through it, I can definitely empathise with these Taxis. You dont want to turn work away, because...well...you just dont know if the clients will continue to roll in... plus, being a friendly, personable and passionate guy, you hate to tell someone no when they seem so interested in your product...

So after a year or two of doing a great job, John has quite the following. He's doing the best he can, but the load keeps adding up... Then, as has been pointed out in this thread, John's tannery throws a curve ball at him that sets him back a couple months, maybe 4 all told. There was something else that took John away from his work for a couple weeks here and there and next thing he knows he's 6 or more months behind. He nearly completed one complex mount when he realized..."I cant give this to the guy, it just doens't live up to my standards and I want him to have the best product I can give him... I've got to strip this, trash that *censored*ty form, and start over. "

Hunting season comes and goes and 30 more guys tell him , "I dont care what the wait is, I want you to mount it"... John struggles with it, then caves and takes their business...there animals...their deposits... he gives them what "HE" thinks is a very conservative delivery date... Once again... he later finds out he'd made yet another mistake!! He was too optimistic... shoot... John is an optimistic guy!

The difference between a contractor and a taxidermist...or bowyer... is that a contractor can always find a decent sub to pick up the slack and get things done. Even if the contractors wife is dying of cancer and he has to abandon his daily routine of building, he "can" rely on others to help. Not so much with the taxidermist. Maybe a big outfit like Jonas brothers that has ? who knows how many guys working for them, but not "John"...he's a one man shop.

The communication is absolutely key though, and honesty. John HAS to tell the guys... "I'm sorry, things are not going the way I expected and I'm gonna tell ya straight up I think your mount is still a year out "(its been sitting there for a year now). I can refund your deposit and give you your critter back, or you can wait... thats the bottom line. John is overwhelmed and wondering how the hell he got himself in this spot. Its not "his" MO... he's never not held up his part of the bargain. He feels like CHIT... John has a lot of pride... and its killing him to keep guys waiting.

Lots of rambling here, but unless you've been in a similiar business, you might not understand how a one man show can really be challenging. NO ONE else to fall back on for help. All you. Not whining about it... just stating some facts. I learned a LOT about this situation when I was a pro bowyer. IF I ever get back into building bows professionally, I will do a lot of things differently. I've been in the same situation. I never had an instance where I couldn't email or call the guy though and explain the situation, confess that I could NOT hold up my side of the deal...their bow was going to be delivered much later than I told them... not once did they get angry and tell me to F off or give their deposit back. I'm sure a few were close though!!

There are some crooks out there. Period! I have been around the forum for a while though and the ones that are being implicated here do not seem that way to me...I think they are just working through the trials and tribulations of small business...and life! However... communicate. Email or call your customers and apologize and 99/100 of them will understand. Been there....dun that... (I am not SURE who all is being implicated, just guessing that there are a couple of "our" guys that are under the eye).

Anyhow...

[WCTaxidermy]

As this thread shows, there are a lot of variables involved and there are people that are just chill about the whole thing and people that get real worked up. Having a business like this, or as a bowyer like I have done, has a lot of complexities...then there are personal and business related factors. Lets say "John" starts being a taxidermist...and he does a great job. He is ambitious to create a thriving business, doing what he loves. Everyone loves John, he's very friendly, loves his work, and does a KILLER mount.

Hornseeker, I'm assuming your talking about me.  Thank you very much for the compliment. John at Willow Creek Taxidermy:chuckle:   Had to try and shed some humor on this thread..... 

[cedarriver]

  Hornseeker, THANK YOU!, VERY well said. You hit the nail on the head! I've been trying to get time to get on here and say pretty much the same thing. There is a couple things I will add as a taxidermist my self, and a little behind too. You guys got to understand once October 15 rolls around we lose up to 2-3 months of mounting time because all we have time to do is skin and salt. So that alone cuts are time frame down to 9-10 months. I'm not complaining because I enjoy the work. Take a bear for instance, they gobble up a lot of time. If a bear comes in that we have to skin the head and feet out it takes me around 3 hours at least to completely take care of it. I took 31 bears in last year, you can do the math. I guess what I'm trying to say is we take 70%-80% of our work in in a 3-4 month time frame., not like we can pick and choose when we want work to come in.
  I've had this business for 5 1/2 years, and my work week has been about 70 hours a week since(more during the hunting season). So when some of these unforeseen things happen like Hornseeker mentioned it's very hard to get caught back up because of the hours we put in. Just not enough hours in the day. Why so many hours you might ask, because we take a lot of pride in what we do and what we tell you our customer, trying to keep that 12 month time frame. Hope this sheds a little more light on things. I'm new on here but from what I have read on here about most of the taxidermist on the site, they are good people, try to be patient. Communication is the key though no excuses there. 

[ICEMAN]

cedarriver, when would you advise someone to worry about not geting back their rug or mount? What is too long? 14 months? 18 months? 24 months? 28 months?

[cedarriver]

cedarriver, when would you advise someone to worry about not getting back their rug or mount? What is too long? 14 months? 18 months? 24 months? 28 months?

 Well iceman in a perfect world all those you mentioned are too long! I know how I do my rugs but not sure on others. I jump my rugs up, (get them done before other mounts) so I can send them to a company in Montana to do the felt work and backing, so they come back before, or about the same time I get to the other mounts in that same time frame of coming in. With that said I had a tannery a couple years ago that had some of my stuff for over a year, a little hard to get things done in a timely matter that way. Needless to say I don't use that tannery any longer. Type of mount and when you bring it in makes a big difference too. lifesize may take longer, and if you bring something to me in late November your behind a lot of other work, bring me something in in September or early October your at the front of the line.
  Not sure what you were told when you took it in but, I would be talking to your  guy if you have one out that long. Just be honest and hopefully they will be honest back. I can only tell you how I try to run my business, I try to be a man of my word.  Hope that helps iceman, be glad to answer any other questions.

[ICEMAN]

Thank you.

[Bean Counter]

Sounds like a labor shortage in the industry. A hunter out of a job could consider taxidermy. 

[Hornseeker]

Ice man... it is totally a personal call, its not our call, or even the taxidermists... its up to you how long you think is acceptable after the agreed upon time frame.

I am not going back to read everything, but were you told a certain time and heard nothing since or have you been in contact and given a new time frame or what? Just curious. I think bottom line is, if there isn't decent communication and it takes longer than you like, the whole dam thing ends up tarnished and you dont even want to hang the thing on the wall!!

Good luck!

[cedarriver]

Ice man... it is totally a personal call, its not our call, or even the taxidermists... its up to you how long you think is acceptable after the agreed upon time frame.

I am not going back to read everything, but were you told a certain time and heard nothing since or have you been in contact and given a new time frame or what? Just curious. I think bottom line is, if there isn't decent communication and it takes longer than you like, the whole dam thing ends up tarnished and you dont even want to hang the thing on the wall!!

Good luck!

[Rainier10]

My stuff always takes about a year.  I got my bear back in less than a year, shot in May and all of my deer have been right at 12 1/2 to 13 months, but they were shot in late November.  The way I see it is I put in a lot of time to get the animal and don't shoot one every year so I don't mind waiting because I figure it will be on my wall for the rest of my life once I get it back.  Each of them has been years apart to actually kill so another year to wait before having it on the wall forever is worth it.  And I don't have to wait that whole year without seeing my trophy, my taxidermist let's me bring the antlers home and I put those on the wall until he calls and says he is ready to do the mount.  There is no point in leaving the antlers in his shop to collect dust or worst case scenario as one guy mentioned the shop could burn down or get broken into and I could loose the antlers, you can always get another cape.  With the antlers at home they keep my attention until the mount gets done.

[cedarriver]

   Good point Rainer. Thanks
  I can tell you guys one thing, if  YOU  do your homework and choose a taxidermist that cares about their mounts and their quality of work and clients. There is nobody that fills worse about the situation than your taxidermist. A tremendous amount of time and effort goes into all this, and sometimes things happen that are out of our control, or projects just don't go the way we would like. Try to understand and be in good communication with them.

[NWBREW]

The taxi I use doesn't ask about poses and background scenery until he gets the hide back from the tannery as well, he said he'd just forget all the details anyways so he just waits until its closer to actually mounting it to ask specifics about the mount.

To me that just doesn't make any sence. That's what a pen and paper is for. I took care of all the details and background scenery when I dropped my whitetail off with a taxi from this site. I know what I asked for and he knows too. It is all written down on the reciept form that I have a copy of. I just find waiting to tell them what you want very strange.  Seems easy enough to take care of it all in the same trip when you drop it off.

Whether it is 12 months or 15 months....I am willing to wait for quality.

[crnbndr]

At a certain point in life, (when you have alot of gray hair) you wonder if you are going to see them again. I say if the more gray the closer to the front of the line!!!